Both Vanderbilt and Northwestern have a Biomedical Engineering Design Course, at the Senior Level *...

This discussion will only cover the senior design course at Vanderbilt, the long term goals of this project are held in common * Both also have introductory design ...

Overview • History • Current Structure • Process & Evaluation - first term • Process & Evaluation - second term • Output(s) • Example Projects • Goals of this ERC

History (Vanderbilt Sr. Design Course)

• 1989 - Optional 3 credit senior year (lab/project) few students • 1990 - Optional 3 credit (lecture/project) 9 • 1991 - Required 3 credit “ 24?

• 1997/98 - Required 3-3 (lecture/project, project) 60 • 1998 Continuing, required, 53 this year

Design in Biomedical Engineering • An integration of the engineering and life science backgrounds of senior biomedical engineering students through the presentation of design principles and case studies of medical devices and systems. A semester (+) design project is required, with oral, written and tangible communication of work performed.

Design at Vanderbilt • Web enhanced • Lectures by instructor: safety, consulting, professionalism, brainstorming, reverse engineering, forensics, Informatics • Short project (3 week) • Homework projects • Guest lectures: safety, patents, clinical trials, jobs, QA/QI, databases, internships • Semester + project, reporting - oral, web, proposal, progress reports, poster, final paper, ...

Design Facilities Supplied

• Microsoft Office Professional (MS grant) • Microsoft Visual Studio (MS grant) • Computer facility & network • designsafe (designsafe grant) • model shops, machine shop • design lab • Microsoft FrontPage • CAD planned (SolidWorks) • Stereolithography desired • Electronics Workbench

Project Solicitation • Vanderbilt: Request letter to past sponsors & likely sponsors, on campus & off, academic & industrial. • Some - strictly single assistive technology or rehabilitation project.

• Others - range from this plan to a list of canned generalist projects

Evaluation: Fall Term: • Class survey (1), CO2 homework(1) • JellyBelly Plant tour/itemization (1) • NSF assignments (3), Topic (1) • Midterm (30), Reports (10) • Database (10), Safety (3) • Re-engineering/Other Project (25) • Formal Proposal (10), Web (5) • VB extra credit assignment (5)

Evaluation: Spring Term • 10% Oral & PowerPoint Presentations • 10% Weekly reports the other weeks • 10% Complete web presentation • 10% Poster session judge 1 • 10% Poster session judge 2 • 30% Advisor grade • 20% Instructor grade

Vanderbilt Data 1998-1999 • 53 Students • 36 Proposers of projects • Device Development - 20 • System/Process Dev/Imp - 12 • Database & related - 18 • Rehabilitation/special - 23 • Total: 73 [** Opportunity for sharing/outreach]

Example Projects: Vanderbilt: 98-99 • Fetal Stabilizer Design [for spinal bifida surgery] • Development of implanted glucose sensor [with EE] • Ossicular Prosthesis Design [Otolaryngology] • Steerable Catheter Design [Cardiology, with ME] • FEL Guidance System for Orthopedic Applications [Ortho] • voice controlled wheelchair [Individual] • Sylvan Learning Center [Marketing] • … others

Student Evaluation Summary • Web postings - appreciated • Student web access - learned/useful • E-mail - efficient • Plan to continue/upgrade • Industrial projects - more needed!

• Course via web? TBA

Goal 1 • Development of a web-based resource for the capture and archiving of undergraduate student design projects in Biomedical Engineering. We propose to continue our current practice of archiving all student projects via the web, and make these generally available to the world...

Goal 2 • Development of a web-based resource for capture and dissemination of case studies for use in instruction outside of design. We propose to build a case file of projects and examples that can be used generally in precursor courses in this and other disciplines.

Goal 3 • Development of a library for design instruction, consisting of recorded lectures, PowerPoint presentations, course outlines, electronic texts, etc. We plan to archive information as it becomes available from other sources. We plan to implement NetShow and NetMeeting technologies in our instruction. We will develop outreach services.

Goal 4 • Dissemination of studies relevant to taxonomic analysis of design instruction at Vanderbilt, Northwestern, and co-operating institutions. We propose to offer our design courses as examples for analysis immediately upon initiation of this work. We plan to add to the definition of design as currently espoused by the Whitaker Foundation.

Goal 5 • Development of a site for collection of and dissemination of design projects from industry, academia, and entrepreneurs. We propose to offer exchanges of projects between any industry and university, facilitating this interchange via a common web site and tools such as NetMeeting.

Goal 6 • Development of inter-institutional and interdisciplinary design efforts and collaborations. With integration of tools such as NetMeeting and e-mail, and exchange agreements, there should be an ability to have the project source, advisor, and student in three locations. We have had experience with two, three just requires exchanges of effort.

Goal 7 • Development of improved methods for design instruction. The long term goal of this effort is an improvement in the conduct of design in Biomedical Engineering, on all academic levels. Improved Industrial interaction is an additionally anticipated outcome.

Vision • Education in Biomedical Engineering Design will be impacted by improvements in technology and close scrutiny and improvement of the mode and content of instruction and learning methods in the field.