An innovative design program for engineering students.

Philip Jacob, is Program Development Coordinator, Segal Design Institute, Northwestern University, Evanston,, Illinois. The Segal Design Institute in the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University offers an innovative design course called Engineering Design and Communication (EDC). EDC is a required program for all engineering undergraduates and is generally taken in their freshman year. EDC is team-taught by faculty from both engineering and writing disciplines. EDC uses real projects for real clients to teach students how to (1) design effectively in response to realworld problems and (2) communicate effectively as part of the design process. EDC teaches a user-centered approach to design. It emphasizes that the most technically elegant design solutions are destined to fail if they do not address real user and stakeholder needs. Moreover, needs cannot always be understood by simply asking questions. It is also necessary to observe users in actual settings and to test prototypes with real users. EDC projects come from a variety of domains and are submitted by actual clients, including corporations, not-for-profit agencies, entrepreneurs, and individuals. These projects require students to use various engineering tools and techniques to define the problem, generate alternatives, observe and interview users, build mock-ups, conduct design reviews, and produce models or prototypes. Projects culminate in a prototype, written report, and oral presentation. Students have participated in designing solutions for a number of problems commonly encountered by people with a disability. The following three articles demonstrate this process and the design solutions developed by the students to assist stroke survivors in performing everyday tasks.