• Appreciate the impact of mechanical engineers on today’s 
society and the ethical responsibility of mechanical engineers.
• Understand the expectations of the competencies when 
transitioning into their professional practice, professional 
licensure, and practical experience.
• Draw on a wide range of creative thinking skills to support 
and enrich engineering design processes.
• Understand the design of systems, components, and processes 
to meet desired needs within realistic constraints.
• Develop abilities in identifying, formulating, and solving 
engineering problems.
• Work effectively in design teams and carry out meaningful 
performance assessments of individual team members.
• Communicate effectively in formal and informal settings and 
demonstrate these communication skills through presentations,  
class discussions, written reports, and digital media (e.g., 
websites, video, images, powerpoint).

1. Case study (e.g., Catalano’s story about a military academy 
capstone design project that resulted in unexpected outcomes 
for the primary stakeholder)

2. Design projects
   a. Stakeholder analysis
   b. Identify technical and non-technical constraints   
   c. Generation and selection of design concepts 
(brainstorming)
   d. Engineering analysis
      i. Establishing criteria
      ii. Tools
          1. Decision matrix
          2. Evaluating alternatives matrix
          3. House of quality
          4. Computer-aided analysis
      iii. Economic analysis           
          1. Capital investment analysis
          2. Net present value
          3. Accounting principles
          4. Time value of money
          5. Cash flow concept
   e. Prototype
   f. Test   
   g. Application
   h. Marketing of products

3. Team roles and phases
   a. Reflect on their team roles and phases throughout the 
design experience

4. Technical report writing
   a. How to write a report   
   b. Iterative writing of a report

5. Creative thinking strategies
   a. Theory
   b. Application

6. Entrepreneurship
   a. Leadership
   b. Bringing ideas to the market
   c. Social entrepreneurship

7. Professional practice
   a. Portfolio development (LinkedIn)
   b. Industry speakers
   c. Industry judges for design projects