Multidisciplinary Construction Engineering Design Projects

While the design process and design tools are described differently in different engineering disciplines, there is a core science of design. This shared core of design can form the basis for interesting, successful and engaging real world design projects in a multidisciplinary design program. At the Colorado School of Mines (CSM), a successful model for such a program exists, bringing together students from Civil, Environmental, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering to develop design solutions to complex problems faced by real world entities. This paper discusses the differences in design perspective between the disciplines and how these differences, both real and sometimes imagined, can be bridged by understanding how they arise from a common engineering core of design. As examples, we will draw upon a set of construction engineering design projects that engaged the breadth of our student population. Furthermore, we will describe the model for the program we have developed, the metrics by which it has been an assessed and how those assessments were received during our recent Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET) visit in 2013. The purpose of this paper is to stimulate discussion in multidisciplinary engineering and design collaborations and to demonstrate that these projects sample substantial real world design challenges.