Engineering, Design and Society

The Department of Engineering, Design and Society (EDS) engages in research, education, and outreach that inspires and empowers engineers and applied scientists to become innovative and impactful leaders. We specialize in sociotechnical integration, design problem framing, and real-world engineering design educational experiences. We seek to educate future leaders who will address the challenges of attaining a thriving, sustainable global society.

Design Engineering Bachelor of Science Degree Program Description

Design Engineering is an interdisciplinary engineering degree program that focuses on the creation of innovative solutions to the challenging problems facing people, societies, and the environment. Through a sequence of Integrated Design Studios that bridge first-year Cornerstone Design and senior-year Capstone Design, Design Engineering students become experts in design methods that deploy engineering principles to address human problems in real-world contexts. Design Engineering provides the flexibility for students to create specialized degree plans that suit their individual career and personal interests, and it ensures they gain practical skills applying sociotechnical perspectives to maximize impact in their chosen future endeavors.

Program Objectives

The objectives of the Design Engineering program are to produce graduates who, within five years of graduation, will:

• Apply their creative interpretation of complex problems and propose novel solution concepts within unique social, technical, ethical and environmental constraints.
• Serve as innovators, bridging the gap between social, technical and creative design disciplinary teams, all while incorporating a high level of ethical standards, social consciousness and technical expertise.
• Seek to contribute to interdisciplinary endeavors and establish positions of leadership through service activities within their profession or community.

• Actively engage in lifelong learning, demonstrating continuous professional growth

Student Learning Outcomes

The Design Engineering program has adopted the ABET Student Outcomes, establishing that our graduates have:

1. an ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics
2. an ability to apply engineering design to produce solutions that meet specified needs with consideration of public health, safety, and welfare, as well as global, cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors
3. an ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences
4. an ability to recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in engineering situations and make informed judgments, which must consider the impact of engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental, and societal contexts
5. an ability to function effectively on a team whose members together provide leadership, create a collaborative and inclusive environment, establish goals, plan tasks, and meet objectives
6. an ability to develop and conduct appropriate experimentation, analyze and interpret data, and use engineering judgment to draw conclusions
7. an ability to acquire and apply new knowledge as needed, using appropriate learning strategies

ABET Accreditation

Our degree in Design Engineering has applied for accreditation by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, https://www.abet.org, under the commission’s General Criteria.

Program Educational Approach

Design Engineering offers a highly engaging, flexible, career focused program of study that extends from Mines' signature strengths in engineering and applied science. Design Engineering integrates:

1. The inspiration and engagement of studio-based design education focusing on technology innovation, open-ended problem solving, and social impact
2. The insights and analytic perspectives of a liberal arts education, which helps students focus their attention on identification of the most important problems and the best overall solutions

3. Mines' signature strength in engineering applications, built upon the fundamentals of mathematics, science, and engineering analysis, and extending to include creativity, professional development, and judgment

The Design Engineering curriculum revolves around hands-on, project-based design studios every semester, culminating in Capstone Design. We offer a unique educational experience through our Integrative Design Studios, which bridge the technical, social, and creative potentials of engineering problem solving. Additionally, Design Engineering provides a high degree of curricular flexibility to enable students pursue depth of study in an area of personal interest, emerging technologies, the application of technology to under-served communities, and the creation of new technology-driven startups. Design Engineering program details are provided under the Major tab above.

The Design Engineering program includes Cornerstone Design and Capstone Design, programs offered by EDS that also serve the larger campus.

Cornerstone Design introduces Mines students to the engineering problem-solving process. Cornerstone Design is a component of the Mines core curriculum that teaches open-ended problem solving, project management, professional communication, and team working skills—all within a human-centered design framework. Cornerstone Design immerses students in hands-on, open-ended problem-solving through iterative, project-based inquiry. Cornerstone Design combines engineering design, design thinking, and systems analysis to pursue open-ended problem scoping, definition, and articulation—all supported by direct stakeholder engagement and scholarly research. Students learn creative concept generation and selection techniques, solution validation and iteration, prototype development and testing, authoritative information gathering, and engineering analysis. Throughout these design experiences, students learn fundamental STEM analysis, a variety of design tools, and the professional communication skills necessary for academic and professional success.

Capstone Design offers a one-of-a-kind, creative, multidisciplinary, team-based design experience for participating students in Design, Civil, Electrical, Environmental, and Mechanical Engineering. Capstone Design embraces the uniqueness of each disciplinary approach while enabling students to address real-world, interdisciplinary challenges. Capstone Design is a culminating, two-semester senior engineering design sequence serving students in Design, Civil, Electrical, Environmental, and Mechanical Engineering. Capstone Design provides unique, client-sponsored, hands-on, interdisciplinary engineering project experiences for participating students.

Contact

Dean Nieusma, EDS Department Head, nieusma@mines.edu

Chelsea Salinas, DE Program Director, csalinas@mines.edu

Program Website: eds.mines.edu/design-engineering/

Page Owner: Samantha Cesarini, samantha.cesarini@mines.edu

Department Heads

Dean Nieusma, Department Head

Chelsea Salinas, Assistant Department Head; Director of Design Engineering Program

Professors

Juan Lucena, Humanitarian Engineering Director of Undergraduate Programs and Outreach

Jessica Smith

Assistant professors

Elizabeth Reddy , Assistant Director of Humanitarian Engineering and Science Interdisciplinary Graduate Program

Marie Stettler Kleine

Teaching Professors

Yosef Allam, Director of Cornerstone Design Program

Jack Brindgardner

Alina Handorean

Teaching Associate Professors

Mirna Mattjik

Mark Orrs

Aubrey Wigner

Teaching Assistant Professors

Cynthia Athanasiou

Duncan Davis-Hall

Michael Sheppard

Professor of Practice

Donna Bodeau

Garrett Erickson

Antonie Vandenberge

Staff

Becky Buschke, Program Assistant

Kimberly Walker, Department Manager

The Bachelor of Science in Design Engineering is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, https://www.abet.org, under the commission’s General Criteria with no applicable program criteria.

Program Educational Objectives 

The objectives of the Engineering, Design, & Society Bachelor of Science in Design Engineering program are to produce graduates who, within five years of graduation, will:

• Apply their creative interpretation of complex problems and propose novel solution concepts within unique social, technical, ethical and environmental constraints.
• Serve as innovators, bridging the gap between social, technical and creative design disciplinary teams, all while incorporating a high level of ethical standards, social consciousness and technical expertise. 
• Seek to contribute to interdisciplinary endeavors and establish positions of leadership through service activities within their profession or community.
• Actively engage in lifelong learning, demonstrating continuous professional growth.   

Student Learning Outcomes

1. An ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics.
2. An ability to apply engineering design to produce solutions that meet specified needs with consideration of public health, safety, and welfare, as well as global, cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors.
3. An ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences.
4. An ability to recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in engineering situations and make informed judgments, which must consider the impact of engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental, and societal contexts.
5. An ability to function effectively on a team whose members together provide leadership, create a collaborative and inclusive environment, establish goals, plan tasks, and meet objectives.
6. An ability to develop and conduct appropriate experimentation, analyze and interpret data, and use engineering judgment to draw conclusions.
7. An ability to acquire and apply new knowledge as needed, using appropriate learning strategies.

Bachelor of Science in Design Engineering

The Bachelor of Science in Design Engineering is a flexible, interdisciplinary program of study combining:

1. A unique set of six Integrative Design Studios, culminating in the two-semester Capstone Design Studio
2. An integrated educational experience spanning engineering, design, innovation, social sciences, and the humanities
3. The strength of a Mines’ technical degree with coursework in mathematics, science, and engineering fundamentals

The Integrative Design Studios teach students how to respond to authentic, open-ended problems by integrating diverse skills, perspectives, and disciplinary approaches. They also provide a broad set of design competencies that are applicable to solving problems in any domain. Students work on a wide variety of hands-on projects, individually and in teams, mastering the capacity and creativity to move from ill-structured problems to concrete, innovative, human-centered solutions. Through this journey, students also develop a diverse project portfolio, illustrating their unique skills and individual identities as design engineers.

In parallel with the experiential design approach of the Integrative Design Studios, students have great flexibility in selecting engineering fundamentals and electives courses from a variety of engineering disciplines. This flexibility allows students to chart their own technical engineering, systems innovation, or creative design pathways.

The program also includes a design applications experience (EDNS320) for students to develop a critical understanding of how engineers navigate the social and technical realms of open-ended problem solving, providing an early opportunity to explore the wide-ranging career options available to Design Engineers. It also helps them to better understand how their individual design expertise can contribute to a variety of engineering problems, organizational needs, and multidisciplinary teams. Together, the key components of the program provide a “design early, design often, design real” approach to engineering education.

Program Educational Outcomes

Within several years of completing the degree, graduates with a Bachelor of Science in Design Engineering will be engaged in progressively more responsible positions as:

Innovators who are comfortable taking risks and who are energized by the belief that engineers help make the world a better place by improving people’s lives through technologies designed with and for people and the planet.

Design Thinkers who confidently approach engineering problems from a human and environment-centered perspective and identify multiple design possibilities before converging on solutions that balance technical, economic, environmental, and societal goals.

Impact Makers who are much more than “just” engineers, with a broad perspective to responsibly envision, design, and implement new technologies that make a positive impact on people, organizations, the environment, and society.

Student Outcomes

Graduates of the program will have attained ABET Student Outcomes 1-7.

Curriculum

The Design Engineering degree program offers students a combination of courses that includes mathematics, basic and advanced sciences, engineering fundamentals, and foundational studies in the social contexts within which engineering practices unfold.

Due to the strong alignment of early coursework across engineering degree programs at Mines, it is easy for most students to enter the Bachelor of Science in Design Engineering degree program at any time during their first two years.

As students progress in their time at Mines, they complete fundamental engineering courses across the breadth of traditional engineering disciplines and pursue advanced disciplinary studies through additional engineering electives. This curricular structure emphasizes engineering’s breadth as well as commonalities among different engineering disciplinary approaches. Integrated with these traditional technical engineering requirements, students also learn about the human dimensions of engineering problem solving by drawing on perspectives from the social sciences, humanities, and design. Students will explore creative, social, cultural, political (including policy), economic, and business components of real-world problem solving, all of which is critical for responding to the big challenges facing society and the environment today.

A key differentiator of this degree program is the extensive degree of integration of technical and non-technical engineering skillsets in response to real-world problems throughout the Integrative Design Studios. This approach allows students to apply lessons from their other coursework to genuine, complex problems, increasing and solidifying students’ understanding of that content and providing an engaging and balanced education. The Integrative Design Studios culminate in the Capstone Design Studio sequence, where students draw together the entirety of their educational experience to solve client-sponsored engineering problems in specific areas of student interest.

Bachelor of Science in Design Engineering: ​Degree Requirements

The curriculum comprises seven groups of coursework and experiential learning for a total of 126 credits:

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Culture and Society (CAS) Restricted Elective courses, a minimum of 9 credit hours of upper-level coursework, as described in the Culture and Society Requirements section of the catalog. For Design Engineering students, EDNS220 serves as a mid-level CAS elective.

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ENGINEERING FUNDAMENTALS courses are: (1) one of the thermodynamics courses MEGN261 or  CHGN209 or CBEN210; (2) statics CEEN241; (3) one of the circuits courses EENG281 or EENG282; (4) one of the materials courses MTGN202, CEEN311, or MEGN212; and (5) one of the fluid mechanics courses CEEN310, or MEGN351. Prerequisites may apply.

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THEMATIC ELECTIVE courses are a coherent set of courses intended to broaden and deepen your knowledge in a particular passion area. These courses should be at the 300+ level and approved by your faculty advisor.

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DESIGN ENGINEERING ELECTIVE courses establish advanced skills in design theory, methodology, and practice. 

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ENGINEERING ELECTIVES are purposefully drawn from course offerings provided through other engineering programs. These elective courses should deepen your technical skills in areas adjacent to or supporting your DESIGN ENGINEERING ELECTIVES and THEMATIC ELECTIVES. The below list is not exhaustive; alternative courses can be taken upon approval by your advisor.

Bachelor of Science in Design Engineering: Thematic Electives

Thematic elective courses serve as a customized course of study along with an associated senior design capstone experience that is agreed upon by the student, advisor, and Design Engineering Program Director. Thematic elective courses are recommended and approved by the Design Engineering Program Director or Design Engineering faculty advisor. This set of courses aims to define a passion area for the student to develop a knowledge that is transferrable to their chosen career path alongside the supporting coursework required in the program. 

Bachelor of Science in Design Engineering: ​Engineering Coursework Requirements

A minimum of 45 credits of engineering content is required to be completed as part of the Design Engineering Coursework. The ENGINEERING FUNDAMENTALS courses, as noted in footnote ǂ above, fulfill 15 credit hours. The DESIGN ENGINEERING ELECTIVE courses, as noted in the footnote ǂǂ above, fulfill 6 credit hours. The ENGINEERING ELECTIVE courses, as noted in footnote ǂǂǂ above, fulfill 9 credit hours. This Engineering Coursework requirement combined with specific engineering content in the six INTEGRATIVE DESIGN STUDIOs (allocating 15 credits of the 18 credits for the design studios) and the Capstone Senior Design sequence (EDNS491 and EDNS492) produces 51 credits of engineering course work for this degree program. Students are encouraged to select ENGINEERING ELECTIVES to reinforce and complement the courses within the student's THEMATIC ELECTIVES and DESIGN ENGINEERING ELECTIVES. ENGINEERING ELECTIVES must be chosen from the list below or select 300+ level courses discussed with and approved by the student’s advisor. Finally, note that students must have at least 9 credits at or above the 300-level with the same course prefix to ensure a reasonable level of disciplinary depth in a single field of engineering. Furthermore, students must have at least 9 credits of engineering/technical content at or above the 400-level between courses within THEMATIC ELECTIVES, DESIGN ENGINEERING ELECTIVES, and ENGINEERING ELECTIVES to establish breadth.  

The complexity of integrating various department curriculum, the potential for missing prerequisites, and the need to follow an expected course sequence requires that students develop a 2nd, 3rd and 4th year plan with their advisor at least by the first semester of their sophomore year course of study, and to collaboratively work with their advisor and Program Director for curricular assessment and approval prior to registration for every semester. The course plan is expected to be a dynamic roadmap for a student’s particular degree curriculum.

The following engineering-content courses can be used to satisfy the 9-credit requirement for ENGINEERING ELECTIVES or the 12-credit requirement for THEMATIC ELECTIVES. Please be aware of course prerequisites, reviewed with the student’s advisor. The below list includes approved coursework but is not exhaustive. Students can seek approval from faculty advisor for a course not listed below.

Major GPA

The Undergraduate Council considered the policy concerning required major GPAs and which courses are included in each degree’s GPA.  While the GPA policy has not been officially updated, in order to provide transparency, council members agreed that publishing the courses included in each degree’s GPA is beneficial to students. 

The following list details the courses that are included in the GPA for this degree:

• EDNS100 through EDNS599

The Mines guidelines for Minor/ASI can be found in the Undergraduate Information section of the Mines Catalog.

Minor in Engineering for Community Development

Program requirements (18 credits)

Minor in Leadership in Social Responsibility

The Minor in Leadership in Social Responsibility will prepare CSM students to become leaders in identifying and promoting the role that engineers can play in advancing social responsibility inside corporations. Graduates will be able to articulate the strategic value of social responsibility for business, particularly in achieving and maintaining the social license to operate, and the role engineering itself can play in advancing a firm’s social responsibility program, including community engagement.

For CSM students to “solve the world’s challenges related to the earth, energy, and the environment,” they must also be able to navigate the increasingly complex social, political, and economic contexts that shape those challenges. Achieving the social license to operate, for example, is recognized as necessary for developing mineral resources in the U.S. and abroad. Stewardship of the earth, development of materials, overcoming the earth’s energy challenges, and fostering environmentally sound and sustainable solutions – the bedrock of the Mines vision articulated in the Strategic Plan – requires engineers and applied scientists who are able to work in local and global contexts that are shaped by the sometimes conflicting demands of stakeholders, governments, communities and corporations. Reasoning through and managing these competing demands is at the core of social responsibility.

Minor in Leadership in Social Responsibility (18 credits required)

Area of Special Interest in Humanitarian Engineering (12 credits)

Courses