Project Opportunity: ME310ABC
ME310A and ME310BC – Global Engineering Design Thinking, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship
ME310 students are among the very best engineering and design students in the world. Each year about 100 masters‐level students participate in ME310‐Global, including Stanford engineering students (30‐40), and students (40‐60) from eight to ten of the top global engineering and design universities in Europe, Latin America, China, Japan, and Australia (others pending).
The ME310 Design Process Tool Kit helps designers create breakthrough alternatives and make informed choices in context. Structured Divergence thinking is the process that creates choices, while Systematic Convergence thinking makes the best choices given constraints. Engineering Design thinking requires cyclic interaction between Analysis and Synthesis to explore the problem and solution spaces iteratively. Often, breakthrough ideas come from the tension created by the co‐evolution of design requirements and solutions.
The Design Paradigm in ME310 iterates through a cascade of structured abductive activities. Project work begins with problem (re)definition, followed by benefit finding (in contrast to need finding) and several divergent‐convergent ideation exercises that help create design choices. The heart of the ME310 design process is rapid, hardware/software/experience prototyping, where students articulate their vision, test their design assumptions and transform their ideas into tangible products. Learning from failed prototypes and experiments is encouraged. Through this iterative protocol, broad problem statements are refined into concrete concepts that become fully functional “reference model” prototypes in June.
ME310‐Global Industry collaborators work with two teams of three to four graduate students each. One team is enrolled at Stanford and the other is at another university (most are outside the US). Corporate involvement provides the reality checks necessary for individuals and teams to develop real‐world innovation skills and experience. These university‐industry relationships bring global diversity to the project teams and give students the opportunity to experience true global collaboration, a required skill in today’s connected world.
The Affiliate Member Company Liaison works closely with the students throughout the year, providing information and considerations from the corporate perspective.
Participating instructors: Professor Mark Cutkosky, Adjunct Professor George Toye
Project time frame:
Autumn (late September through mid-Dec) = Laying the framework
Winter & Spring (Jan - mid-June) = international team-work, system realization
Proposals requested by June 10; submissions through September 10 will be considered if there is an opening.
Fee: For one 3-quarter (9-month) project team: $150,000 Affiliate Membership Fee which includes prototyping materials and related expenses including the University infrastructure charge, teaching team stipends, laboratory services, travel and computer resources for academic year 2024-25. Fee subject to change in future years.
For more information:
ME310 website
Professor Mark Cutkosky, principal instructor
Adjunct Professor George Toye, Chief Technical Officer, co-instructor
Return to ME Design Project Opportunities for Industry
4/15/2024 kburns