2008 NSF/ASME Student Design Essay Competition: Foundations of Design

Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

Student Design Essay Competition: Foundations of Design The objective of this award is to support undergraduate and graduate student attendance at the annual American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) International Design Engineering Technical Conferences. A secondary objective is to encourage students to think deeply about what engineering design will be like 20-30 years in the future. Students will communicate their thoughts on this topic in an essay which will be judged by a distinguished group of engineering design researchers and educators. Travel funds will be provided for students who are selected through the design essay competition. A poster session will be organized at the conference to give the students an opportunity to interact with researchers and discuss their ideas on the future of engineering design. This award supports the NSF goal of ?achieve excellence in U.S. Science, mathematics, engineering, and technology education at all levels?, especially, with respect to ?provide opportunities for young people that will attract them to and prepare them for careers in science, mathematics, and engineering?. The competition will be widely advertised through the ASME conference website and through emails to groups of researchers in engineering design. Posing the task as an exercise by an industry employee requires the students to consider the effect of global competitiveness on engineering design practices. Conference experiences promote growth in individual students and can also serve to strengthen the overall research quality of the research at the student?s home institution when this knowledge is shared among their peers.