University of Colorado Graduate Design Program in Mechanical Engineering
|above = Graduate Design Program
|label1 = Mission
|data1 = Focus on the processes and methods required to design new and innovative products.
|label2 = Established
|data2 = January, 2010
|label3 = Official Name
|data3 = Graduate Design Program in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder
|label4 = Enrollment
|data4 = 2010 Class: 18
2011 Class: 20 }}
The Graduate Design Program in Mechanical Engineering is one of nine Graduate Tracks offered within the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Colorado at Boulder, in Boulder, Colorado.
Background
The Graduate Design Program began in January, 2010. Five design faculty members in the Department of Mechanical Engineering are currently working to continuously improve, and expand, the Graduate Design Program.
Faculty
Curriculum
The Graduate Design Program is focused on educating Masters students through hands-on design learning and industry-sponsored projects. The cornerstone of this program is a three-semester sequence of courses that begin in January, and culminates the following year in May. The first course in this sequence is Advanced Product Design (APD). APD is a studio class that focuses on consumer product design and helps equip students with the tools necessary to complete the following, two semester Graduate Product Design (GPD) course. GPD is a projects course that meets formally once per week, but is geared towards teams of students completing a project that is industry sponsored. In GPD, the teams are composed of 4-5 students per team, the team has access to funds from the sponsoring company, and regularly meets with a mentor from the sponsoring company and a faculty advisor.
Admissions
Prospective Students
Admission to the Graduate Design Program in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Colorado is a two step process. The first is obtaining general admission to the Department’s Graduate Program.
Once accepted into the Mechanical Engineering Graduate Program, a resume and cover letter must be submitted. The cover letter should communicate to the design faculty why the applicant is interested in consumer product design and specifically what the applicant hopes to learn during their participation in the Advanced Product Design course. An applicant's resume should include past design experiences, GPA, and previous coursework.
Current Students
If an applicant is already a Graduate Student in the Mechanical Engineering Department, they must submit a resume and cover letter. The cover letter should communicate to the design faculty why the applicant is interested in consumer product design and specifically what the applicant hopes to learn during their participation in the Advanced Product Design course. An applicant's resume should include past design experiences, GPA, and previous coursework.
See also
- Design
- Product design
- Design engineer
- Mechanical engineering
- Creativity
- Ideation (idea generation)
Further Reading
- Rentschler, M.E., Zable, J.A., “Beyond Capstone Design – Developing a New Graduate Design Pedagogy and Program,” Capstone Design Conference, Boulder, CO, June, 2010.