Multi-disciplinary, Undergraduate Design Teams to Meet Healthcare Needs

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The "silo" academic structure necessary for specialization and depth in learning specific disciplines is detrimental to learning the applicatio of those skills to real-world applications, typically learned in the "Design" component of the education. Unfortunately, senior design project instruction is often incorporated into the silo model and students work in single discipline project teams on well-defined projects that are focus on the specific discipline. There is a critical need to break this model and develop multidisciplinary undergraduate design teams to meet healthcare needs. The current Case Western Reserve University design curriculum is based on the federal regulations for medical device design controls (21CFR820.30) and the regulatory controls for medical devices as controlled and enforced by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Projects that provide the most satisfaction to the BME students are those that directly interact with the clinical environment. Common feedback from clinical project sponsors, however, is that the students were capable and motivated, but the biggest challenge was getting them to understand the realities of the clinical environment. Hands-on experience is a strong catalyst for active learning but waiting until the senior year to introduce a design experience misses the opportunity to engage the students early in their educational development. In this project we will enhance the Case design curriculum through three specific aims. Aim 1 is to develop and implement a CSE multi-disciplinary senior design course. The center piece of the course will be a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary design experience. Aim 2 is to establish an immersive clinical experience such that the students understand first-hand the needs and environment of healthcare projects. Aim 3 is to introduce a hands-on, first-semester freshman design experience to biomedical engineering students. The objective of the course is to introduce students to the joy of engineering; understanding the constraints, goals, and ethics of biomedical design; and engage and motivate students for their BME education. In this project, we will enhance the current design program to create an active and engaging educational experience that starts in the freshman year and culminates with a multi-disciplinary senior design experience that prepares the students for maximum success in the theory and application of biomedical engineering.