What begins as a classroom project can become a lasting campus initiative. For students in ES 105, Introduction to Engineering Design for Non-Engineers, a semester-long exploration of recycling and sustainability has led to a project that will be implemented by the College’s Office of Sustainability.
The course introduces students to the fundamentals of engineering design methodology and challenges them to apply those principles to problems that extend beyond traditional engineering fields. Working in teams, students identify a problem, analyze potential solutions, and develop plans to propose, model, and potentially implement their ideas within the constraints of a single semester.
For visiting Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering Professor Peter Nguyen, teaching the course for the first time presented a unique set of challenges. Unlike a traditional senior design project, ES 105 brings together students from different class years and academic backgrounds, each with distinct experiences, expectations, and skill sets. Professor Nguyen initially found it challenging to determine how much to push students beyond their familiar interests while keeping them engaged with the problems they wanted to solve. Fortunately, students found common ground relatively quickly.
One team, focused on electronic waste, identified recycling and sustainability as its primary interests early in the semester. Although the group initially had not settled on a specific approach, its members took Professor Nguyen’s advice to explore the problem as broadly as possible.
The team interviewed many different constituencies on campus and contacted several outside organizations to better understand the issue. By looking beyond the College itself, the students recognized that their potential solution could address challenges extending beyond campus.
Professor Nguyen was particularly impressed by the team’s initiative and persistence throughout the semester, highlighting students Lily Nathan ‘27 (International Affairs Major, Data Science minor) and Caitlin Doyle ‘27 (International Affairs Major, Women and Gender Studies Minor) for their dedication to the project. He explained that he helped them develop a more realistic plan to build and implement the physical recycling boxes themselves, given the course’s time and resource limitations.
However, the project did not end with the semester. The College’s Office of Sustainability is adopting and implementing the physical boxes, allowing the students’ work to continue beyond the classroom. The project illustrates how engineering design can be applied to everyday challenges, even by students who do not necessarily have engineering backgrounds. By identifying a problem, consulting stakeholders, and exploring potential solutions, the team transformed an interest in sustainability into an initiative with the potential for lasting impact on campus.
For Professor Nguyen, the experience also demonstrated the value of giving students the opportunity to explore problems that matter to them. Through ES 105, engineering becomes not only a process of designing solutions, but also a way for students with different perspectives and skills to work together toward a shared goal.