The Pearl Sullivan Engineering Ideas Clinic has had many years of program growth and adoption; as of winter 2024, more than 43,000 students have participated in an Ideas Clinic activity. Our design activities have provided real-world design activities for thousands of students across Engineering. Other initiatives, like our teamwork training modules, have similarly been a huge success, with almost 15,000 students benefitting from them since the program began in 2016.
As we seek to expand the number and diversity of immersive, engineering design activities in the middle academic years, the IDEAs Clinic has created an open call for new activity proposals, and have offered a total of $45,000 in funding for eligible projects. The full details of this program for 2023 are available in pdf form: 2023 Request for proposals (pdf) .
| Proposal Title | Brief Summary of Activity |
|---|---|
| Motion and time study and process optimization | Students will conduct motion and time studies of a conveyor system in MSCI 131 (Design and Facilities Planning), while fourth year students in MSCI 433 (Applications of Management Engineering) will use the skills they've learned in their program to optimize performance indicators of an accumulation/sorting process. |
| Integrating Authentic Design into Hands-on Laboratory through Project-Based Laboratory Learning | This proposal aims to develop real-world, student-centered project-based laboratories (PBL). Students will take part in project-based laboratory learning modules that focus on three high-impact ChE process technologies: lithium-ion battery, vanadium redox flow battery, and hydrogen-based proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). |
| Bridging the Gap | To expand on the theoretical knowledge our students gain in the classroom and help them develop a deep understanding of the behavior of full-scale structures, this proposal will leverage existing data from the pedestrian bridge component of the Living Lab system in Engineering 7 to develop an integrated evaluation of the structure, using several of the analytical lenses taught to our students throughout the Architectural Engineering (AE) and Civil Engineering (CIVE) curriculums. |
| Transforming the Clinical Paradigm for Assessment of Sensorimotor Skills and Cognitive Abilities in Children | This application proposed an interdisciplinary design workshop activity focused on the real-world challenge of assessing childhood development of sensorimotor and cognitive function. The workshop will assemble small, interdisciplinary teams of undergraduate and graduate students from the faculties of Health and Engineering to collaborate. |
| Proposal Title | Brief Summary of Activity |
|---|---|
| Model-based design toolchain for rapid control prototyping with emphasis on automotive systems. | Students will develop controllers for an autonomous vehicle in a simulation environment, and verify the functionality on a physical vehicle platform for real-world testing |
| Miniature House facade design | Second year Architectural Engineering students will design, construct, and test a miniature façade that aims to reduce electricity consumption in heating but also avoid overheating due to excessive solar gains through a window. |
| Modular Ultrasound-based Aeroponics Lab | This lab will provide undergraduate students with a hands-on introduction to controlled environmental agriculture, state-of-the-art ultrasound-based aeroponics technology, and an understanding of the engineering principles involved (including fluid mechanics, heat and mass transfer, transport in porous media, and plant biology). |
| Proposal 1 | Proposal 2 | Proposal 3 | Proposal 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sensors using capacitance. Details on the pilot offering can be seen here). |
Video game-based control systems labs | Metal casting lab | Entrepreneurial Mindset - Technology assets and IP literacy introduction |