Traditionally, teaching engineering design was largely left to companies after hiring new graduates; it was not the primary focus on engineering education in Canada. That has changed over the last 5-10 years as companies increasingly seek graduates who are job ready.

UNB has risen to the challenge with the help of Dr. Michel Couturier, who holds the NSERC Chair for Collaborative Engineering Design Education at UNB. And the formula that Dr. Michel Couturier has used to change how engineering is taught at UNB is also helping to drive the engine of the local economy. Through his work, he has been providing resources and guidance for the implementation of stronger design curricula in UNB’s engineering programs.

“Design is about taking a need society may have for a new product or process and synthesizing existing knowledge and creative thinking to come up with an artifact or system that meets this need,” he says. “It’s the role of engineers in society.”

According to Couturier, this transformation at the university level is the key to the future of our nation. “Students and faculty are now collaborating with local industry clients and practicing design engineers to come up with real solutions to real industry needs,” he says. “By having outside clients sponsor our senior design projects and by having practicing and retired design engineers as mentors for our students, we are producing engineering graduates with greater confidence in their abilities while helping local companies obtain innovative design solutions.”

Couturier describes the new direction for engineering education as a win-win arrangement. “Experiential learning in university is crucial as employers are seeking graduates who can immediately contribute to their firms,” he says. “Previously, new graduates had to wait until they entered the workforce to take part in design training.”

After three years of study, fourth-year engineering students get the opportunity to have two coaches: a practicing design engineer and a faculty member who remains the supervisor but gets practical training and learns from the experience as well. The client benefits by getting one or two solutions to a design need from one or two teams of students and, also, the opportunity to work with potential future employees. 

Bob Crawford, a retired design engineer, has served as a mentor for students in the program for a number of years. “This is the best method I have come across to prepare graduating students to transition into industry and succeed early,” he says. “The project poses a significant challenge and requires the teams to work effectively together while applying the concepts taught in earlier courses. I have weekly sessions with each of the four-student teams dealing with project-specific topics. The meetings allow me to pass along experience-based strategies and concepts as the students tackle the seven project milestones.”

In addition to building the design continuum in all of the engineering programs, the engineering faculty has added two key courses to its roster: the multidisciplinary design project in which students collaborate with engineering students from other disciplines on projects suggested by clients, and product design and development, offered by the Chair in Technology Management and Entrepreneurship. As part of the program, the engineering faculty hosts an annual UNB Engineering Design Symposium in which fourth-year students from all seven programs showcase their design work.

“I’m proud of what we have been able to do for students in these programs but I’m even more impressed by the relationships they’ve formed with industry partners and the work they have invested in their projects,” Couturier says.

From a client’s perspective, Keith MacLean from NB Power says that the utility likes to help support UNB and that it is great fun to work with students. “The benefit is that we can investigate a possible future project, have all the possible options explored and then select the best option or two to finalize and do some detailed engineering on and final cost estimates for, with just the token investment of our time to help guide the students,” he says. “We would not have the time to investigate the project details on our own.”

Couturier says a lot of time, work, and people have been involved in unfolding his vision for engineering design education at UNB. “Our overall goal was to produce innovators, not just engineering scientists, and innovators are being produced,” he says. “It’s great for students and exciting for faculty. We’re producing engineering graduates who are recognized by employers for their design abilities. We’re providing students with the opportunity to work under the guidance of practicing design engineers, and indeed serving as an engine for the local economy by working on industry-sponsored projects. We are leaders in that respect.”

To learn more becoming a mentor for fourth-year engineering students at UNB, or to have your company become an industry client, see details on the website, and email Dr. Couturier.  And please join us and 4th-year student teams at the 2018 Design Symposium on April 5th at the Fredericton Convention Centre.