Experiences with Identifying Senior Level Engineering Design Projects to Meet Developing Country Needs

About Experiences with Identifying Senior Level Engineering Design Projects to Meet Developing Country Needs

Abstract

One method used to ensure that engineering students have learned the engineering design process and are able to put the process into practice is to require them to complete a senior level engineering design project. There are many different ways that the projects are identified. They can be generated to meet the needs of local industry, to meet the needs of some other influencing body or to meet the perceived needs of the students and faculty. The success or failure of the project may depend upon the project itself, how and why it was identified and the practical aspects of completing it under the given constraints. During the past several years the students, faculty, and the administration at Grove City College wanted to investigate if there were reasonable design projects that the students could complete that would meet the needs of developing countries and still also meet the requirements placed on the students of completing a senior level engineering design project. Recently, several faculty members from the mechanical and electrical engineering departments at Grove City College traveled to East Africa on two separate trips to investigate potential projects for the senior design programs of the College. Because both of the engineering programs are ABET accredited, a requirement for the projects was that they would meet the definition of design from the ABET perspective. Another requirement was that the students should be able to complete the projects even though Grove City College is approximately 8,000 miles from East Africa. This paper describes the methods used to identify appropriate projects, suggestions as to how the constraints could be overcome and the knowledge gained from our experiences.