The Design Stem encompasses a four-year program in engineering design studies.  Through the sequence of design courses, illustrate in Figure 2, students develop an understanding of and the confidence to address engineering design issues as they become more technically skilled. 

First-year students come into the CSM environment with strong math, chemistry and physics backgrounds.  They also exhibit strong creative potential.  This combination produces the right chemistry to focus the first phase of the sequence on concept design and visualization.  Once the project has been conceived, the design team begins to assess the resources necessary to implement the project.

Through data management, it determines the initial feasibility to continue the project. 

As students enter their third year, they acquire the technical skills to assess the feasibility of various subsystems for the project.  They realize the importance of the economic potential to carry the project forward.  By their fourth year they have gain the confidence and skills to synthesize the subsystems together in a manner to begin to optimize the design.  This phase truly addresses the ABET desire that the senior capstone course integrate the student’s academic career into an authentic engineering design project.  “Hands-on” application of engineering skills facilitates students’ learning in an “on-time” sequence of courses.  They realize the importance not only of the technical specifications but also economic, societal, and environmental specifications of the design.