CONN 129 | Solving Real World Problems with Engineering and Design

In this course students will learn and practice the human-centered engineering and design process with the goal of contributing to a pressing real-world problem. Problems could include homelessness, salmon restoration, water pollution, microplastic pollution, or the need for inexpensive prosthetics in the developing world. Students will work in groups on a semester-long project to either design, prototype and build a device or to collect and analyze data to address the chosen problem. Each student group will determine their own device or research question related to the real-world problem being studied. As part of the engineering and design process, students will consider their real-world problem from a variety of disciplinary perspectives and will also learn established processes to design for equity.