Introducing Freshman Engineering Students to Chemical Product Design

1 Department of Chemical Engineering, Rowan University, 201 Mullica Hill Road, Glassboro, New Jersey 08028-1701 2 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Rowan University, 201 Mullica Hill Road, Glassboro, New Jersey 08028-1701 3 Department of Chemical Engineering, Rowan University, 201 Mullica Hill Road, Glassboro, New Jersey 08028-1701 4 Department of Chemical Engineering, Rowan University, 201 Mullica Hill Road, Glassboro, New Jersey 08028-1701 5 Department of Chemical Engineering, Rowan University, 201 Mullica Hill Road, Glassboro, New Jersey 08028-1701 Abstract--Historically, design courses in the chemical and environmental engineering curricula focus on teaching process design rather than product design. To meet consumer needs and keep up with industry’s changing hiring practices and business models, products must be conceived and designed by multidisciplinary teams that include specialists from fields of engineering and business, fine arts and social sciences. If engineering students are to be ready to participate in product design, the curriculum must be adjusted to introduce product design. This paper describes an innovative effort to introduce freshmen engineering students to product design through reverse engineering. Three familiar commercial chemical products are used as a means of introducing the concepts of product design: beer, coffee and coffee makers, and water and water filters. Students analyze and evaluate commercial products through reverse engineering laboratory experiments. Through several other activities students investigate broader issues relevant to product design, including packaging, properties of consumer demands, intellectual property, ethics, environmental concerns, and marketing. Finally, students implement a general product design scheme to develop their own commercial product.