Lafayette describes engineering studies as a major that “provides students with a platform to develop engineering habits of mind, such as problem-solving skills, analytical thinking, and an understanding of the design process. The coursework empowers students to meet the world’s complex, interdisciplinary challenges and devise creative solutions and ideas for them.” Over the past couple of years the engineering studies program has been reworked, remodeled, and reinvented to help adapt to a forever evolving technological world. With a constantly changing curriculum engineering studies (EGRS) students have been left with a false sense of identity. In order to recapture and truly define engineering studies we must find a way to successfully implement a new product to help current and incoming students gain a better understanding of EGRS. The best way to encompass engineering studies’ technology and society, sustainability, and policy studies aspect is to integrate a hand on interactive study that will help students fully visualize the interdisciplinary challenges and creative solutions that go into Engineering Studies.

Our research question was: How can we use 3D printing as a case study in ES101 to introduce students to the study of technology and society?  In order to successfully combine engineering and education we have developed a new entry-level (ES 101) course outline that will use the new pioneering technology of 3D printing/additive manufacturing to give students a life like interactive case study. With additive manufacturing on the forefront of engineering and technology, it pushes the limits of creativity, simplicity, and efficiency in all aspects of engineering contexts. Students will be learning about engineering, interacting with community manufactures, and developing prototypes with the intent to give students the ability to reflect and grow upon the courses experience.

 

 

Before we could design a project we needed to understand the context that allowed additive manufacturing to develop and its role in society. The first source we used was Fabricated: the new world of 3D printing. This book is a great introduction into 3D printing. It discusses many aspects of the field beyond the basic function of the machines. Hod Lipson is a professor of engineering at Cornell University and Melba Kurman is a technology writer, analyst, and popular blogger. Together they have written a book that addresses many technical aspects of the field, but does so in a very accessible and easy to understand way. This book is only an introduction into the realm of 3D printing and further resources were required to gain knowledge of details of the process and areas of concern. This book was very helpful in building a basis for the 3D printing aspect of the capstone project. Once we had a complete understanding of the basic concepts associated with additive manufacturing we need to research how to connect the technology and education.

 

We discovered and article called, Design to Manufacture by E.P. Flynn. His technical analysis of additive manufacturing is geared towards taking the educational theory learned in class about community and technology and applying it to a fully realizable product. He uses a in depth case study where they show how incorporating the technology of computation fluid dynamics simulation software to an internal combustion intake manifold system can improve the dynamics of a component. Flynn’s case study of the combustion engine describes the product design process that goes into developing engineering products while simultaneously incorporating advanced manufacturing techniques. This source proved extremely useful to our project and goal because it relates to our main idea of developing an actual product with the use of additive manufacturing. Since Flynn uses an actual technological case study, students will be able to learn the proper techniques of integrating new manufacturing techniques into education. We found additional articles from Forbes magazine and an article written by Hod Lipson that confirmed the approach and conclusions of Flynn.

 

The last aspect of the project that needed research was the possible future applications of 3D printing and the policy implications of the use of the technology. We found a variety of sources from highly reputable authors and journals that talk to this point. The most interesting pieces explored the possibility of tissue printing and the societal implications when the technology takes off. There were also many pieces that spoke to the policy issues of the technology in its current state and on future applications. These were helpful for collecting different viewpoints about 3D printing.

 

 

 

Once the initial research was underway the first step towards conceiving a final product was to look at the website of the previous year’s capstone project on additive manufacturing. They created a website that highlights the basic functionality of 3D printers and has examples of applications of the technology. They also included some links to articles that discuss policy issues associated with 3D printers. We saw this as an area we could expand upon in our project. The policy aspect of the technology was already a piece we wished to incorporate into our final project as a way to connect the technology to education and society. Besides this aspect of divergence from the previous group’s project is the creation and inclusion of a curriculum for an ES 101 module. We saw the module as an opportunity to improve the experience we had in the class our freshman year and more importantly, as an opportunity to expose freshman to the possibilities of engineering studies.

 

Engineering studies students thrive on the ability to see connections between technology and society. Because additive manufacturing is an emerging technology the implications of its use and the interaction with society are highly salient. This means that most students have some familiarity with the concept, but probably do not have a high level of knowledge about the technology and its contexts. As we began to see more and more similarities between the case studies in the capstone course and 3D printing it became clear how we should structure the course. It will begin with a discussion of technology and society, then move to information on additive manufacturing, then allow students to work on their own part to be printed offsite, then a discussion on policy about the technology, and finally a reflection on the process they went through and their perspective on 3D printing.

 

In order to ensure that our course design would be accepted by the faculty, we decided to contact professor and interim director of engineering at Lafayette, Scott Hummel. Beyond the basics of how the module should be constructed and what elements it needed to include, we also wished to learn about the history of ES 101 and the intended results of the course. By understanding the context that led up to the course in its current form we could show how our course design fit in the chronology of the introductory course. By understanding the intended goals of the course we could ensure that our curriculum would be accepted by the faculty and hopefully become an option for future Lafayette engineers.

 

Our group has been in contact with Jerry Lynch of Sigma design in Middlesex New Jersey. Jerry is the Chief Executive Officer of Sigma Design, which specializes in 3D prototyping and design. Mr. Lynch has been in the engineering and manufacturing business for over thirty years and has had experience with all the industries ground breaking technologies, but none of which have had the potential to change the landscape of manufacturing, engineering, and society. Mr. Lynch has a knowledgeable vision of where 3D printing is heading in the future and why it is so important to understand its capabilities as well as efficiencies. We will also be in contact with the engineers that interact with everyday clients in order to design the desired product. With the ability to gain both the engineers perspective on the evolution and importance of technological education with Mr. Lynch’s social and economic implications, we can create a final product that includes all aspects of Engineering and Education.

 

 

The final product of our project will be an interactive and educational website. The website will give information regarding 3D printing and show an interdisciplinary link between engineering and the rest of society. The website will give general information on the process of 3D printing. This includes how it works, its current uses and other information including diagrams for someone who has never heard of 3D printing. The website will also have a syllabus with information on the course instruction for ES 101, which will be the first course that will educate Lafayette College students on 3D printing. The website will also share how 3D printing goes beyond the classroom and is interdisciplinary. The website will describe the course schedule for ES 101, much of which includes educating the students on the curriculum and focus of the Engineering Studies Program. This will include how technology has affected society and how society affects technology, an introduction to 3D printing, the policy behind technologies such as 3D printing, and a general reflection of the project. The website will be a general description of the weekly 3D printing course and will provide information beyond the technical scope of engineering. The 3D printing course will give students a better understanding of the type of work engineering studies students will do in the future. The website will also have a section on policy issues as they relate to the products created by 3D printers. Policy issues would include topics regarding 3D printed guns and the potential conflict with patent law.  This will be integrated into the engineering studies curriculum of how engineers and society need to work together in order to obtain a technology that fits into a culture’s needs. Lastly, the website will have a section on the future capabilities of 3D printing. This section will show how multi-faceted 3D printing can be beneficial for society. The section will cover technologies such as, live tissue printing, food printing, and other endless possibilities that 3D printing can provide.

 

 

 

There has been concern about our final product in both the educational and physical website aspects. In terms of the curriculum individuals are concerned that 3D printing has either already reached its peak, or could become irrelevant in the future. Therefore we would have an educational curriculum focused on a technology that would not have enough social implications in order to fully educate students on technological societal impacts. The fact of the matter is society is just starting to witness the effects of 3D printing. Regardless of whether or it becomes the next revolution the technology itself for the sustainable future will act as a perfect case study for incorporating technology into education. Additive manufacturing is the ideal technology because it supplies students with insight on all contexts studied throughout EGRS. Additionally, our second concern is whether or not the website will have the ability to maintain relevance and stay up to date, not just over the course of a semester, but from year to year. In order to fulfill this requirement, our group decided to incorporate a related work section on the website where students submit their final projects. Allowing perspective students and individuals interested in the ES 101 module to view the progression of work done by student will give a better outlook of the course’s progression.

Yet, even though we have somewhat answered the initial concerns raised with our project, we still have future recommendations that if implemented properly will allow our project to be maintained. Our first recommendation entails finding a way for future students to update the website on a frequent basis. This could be incorporated as a part of the curriculum in the sense of a final project or weekly assignment. Updates could range from adding new related news to including new and more relevant case studies. Solving this problem will remove doubts of whether the website will remain up to date and relevant to the module’s curriculum. Our second recommendation is to in some way adapt the EGRS ES 101 module into a full semester course, which will serve as the Engineering Studies introductory course. We feel that using 3D printing technology as an educational case study provides enough contextual substance relating to Engineering Studies, that professors will not find it hard to integrate the module into a full semester course. Our group feels that fulfilling these two recommendations will provide future students enough work to suffice as an Engineering Studies Capstone project.