EGR 121: ENGINEERING INNOVATOIN
Brief Description
When I started my freshman year, this was the introduction course available for Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering students. It has two main components:
Lecture: We met twice a week to discuss design principles and how to innovate in engineering.
Laboratory: This was the hands-on component of the class. We had multiple design projects that included individual assignments and group challenges. The individual assignments involved learning CAD design, microcontroller use, coding, circuitry, etc. On the other hand, the group challenges involved a big task that we had to design an innovative solution to address it. An example of such a project was designing a Happy Meal Toy using only 3D-printing and under specific constraints.
Reflection
This course was a fantastic way of being introduced to Duke, engineering and innovation & entrepreneurship. My original plan for my major was a double major between Mechanical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering, because I wanted to be involved in designing medical devices in the future. While this was course was then mandatory, it really opened my mind to the process and effort behind meaningful design.
I learned from people's experience and from my own experience what type of mindset I should have and what makes a design innovative. It also reaffirmed to me my passion for innovation and design. I remember some nights where I was working pretty late in our engineering labs to make a product work, and I was just so happy! I also learned that I really loved other parts of engineering design besides the mechanical aspects of it.
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I learned that I love programming, circuitry design, soldering and using sensors to add a peculiar magic to our product. I enjoyed these parts so much that this course was the reason that I ended switching my major to Electric and Computer Engineering in my sophomore year. Now, by having it as a double major with Biomedical Engineering, I have had many experiences creating innovative projects that implement all that I love about design.
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I also knew that, in my time at Duke, I wanted to explore and learn more about Innovation and Entrepreneurship. While I did not create any venture from our design projects, I learned in much depth about innovation and how to market a product. I also learned how to assess user needs and tailor a design to get the job done for a customer. I have carried this learnings until this day.