Erath Byron D, Fite Kevin B, Kuxhaus Laurel
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Clarkson University, 8 Clarkson Ave Box 5725, Potsdam, NY 13699.
J Biomech Eng. 2024 Mar 1;146(5). doi: 10.1115/1.4064717.
Design projects, particularly those related to assistive technology, offer unparalleled educational opportunities for undergraduate students to synthesize engineering knowledge with a clinically driven need to produce a product that can improve quality of life. Such projects are most effective when engineering, clinical, and business perspectives are considered throughout. However, the logistics of successfully implementing such interdisciplinary projects can be challenging. This paper presents an auto-ethnography of 12 undergraduate design team projects in assistive technology performed by 87 students from five majors (including engineering, business, and clinical students) over the course of 5 years. The overarching goal of our work was to establish an undergraduate integrated design experience at a university in the absence of a dedicated biomedical engineering major. The focus of this experience was to foster the creation of student-led prototypes to address real-world problems for people with disabilities while keeping commercialization potential at the forefront throughout. Student participation demonstrated a clear enthusiasm for completing biomedical engineering-themed projects. To encourage the implementation of similar approaches at universities where a biomedical engineering major does not exist, we identify common obstacles that can arise and present strategies for mitigating these challenges, as well as effective approaches for catalyzing cross-disciplinary collaborations. High impact practices include close involvement of end-users in the design process; cross-disciplinary team composition (e.g., engineering, business, and health sciences students); and choosing cross-disciplinary leads for project management. Teams experienced a high degree of success with all 12 teams producing functional prototypes. We conclude that at universities that do not offer a biomedical engineering major, health-focused integrated design experiences offer students important interdisciplinary perspectives, including a holistic approach to project implementation. Furthermore, for many students, these projects ultimately served as a gateway to subsequent careers and graduate study in biomedical engineering.
设计项目，尤其是那些与辅助技术相关的项目，为本科生提供了无与伦比的教育机会，使他们能够将工程知识与临床驱动的需求相结合，以生产出能够提高生活质量的产品。当从工程、临床和商业等各个角度进行考量时，此类项目最为有效。然而，成功实施这类跨学科项目的后勤保障工作可能具有挑战性。本文呈现了一项自我民族志研究，涉及来自五个专业（包括工程、商业和临床专业的学生）的87名学生在5年时间里开展的12个本科辅助技术设计团队项目。我们工作的总体目标是在一所没有专门生物医学工程专业的大学中建立本科综合设计体验。这种体验的重点是促进学生主导的原型设计，以解决残疾人的现实问题，同时始终将商业化潜力放在首位。学生的参与表明他们对完成生物医学工程主题项目有着明显的热情。为鼓励在没有生物医学工程专业的大学中采用类似方法，我们识别了可能出现的常见障碍，并提出了应对这些挑战的策略，以及促进跨学科合作的有效方法。高影响力的做法包括终端用户密切参与设计过程；跨学科团队组成（例如工程、商业和健康科学专业的学生）；以及为项目管理选择跨学科负责人。所有12个团队都成功制作出了功能原型，取得了很高的成功率。我们得出结论，在没有开设生物医学工程专业的大学中，以健康为重点的综合设计体验为学生提供了重要的跨学科视角，包括项目实施的整体方法。此外，对许多学生来说，这些项目最终成为了他们后续从事生物医学工程职业和研究生学习的敲门砖。
