ABET Definition of Design

According to mem.drexel.edu, engineering design is the process of devising a system, component, or process to meet desired needs. Often the decision making process is iterative. Teams work together and take basic knowledge about science, mathematics, and engineering and apply them to the goal. Some fundamental elements of the design process are the establishment objectives and criteria, synthesis, analysis, construction, testing and evaluation.

The following features are included in the engineering design component:

• Development of student creativity, 
• Use of open ended problems, 
• Development and use of modern design theory and methodology, 
• Formulation of design problem statements and specifications, 
• Consideration of alternative solutions, 
• Feasibility considerations, 
• Production processes, 
• Design verification, and 
• Detailed system descriptions. 

Also when devising a system, or a product, it is essential to keep in mind the constraints of your project, for instance, cost, safety, reliability, ethics, and social impact.

Marshmallow Challenge

In the Marshmallow Challenge, we used several components from the ABET Definition of Design. We definitely used the development of student creativity. My group and I had to construct a stable standing object with using certain items and making sure the marshmallow was at the top of the structure. This challenge was an open-ended problem, there really was no right answer. Every team devised their structure according to their design. I would say we used all of the components except for design verification and detailed system descriptions. We couldn't test our structure because there was a time constraint, so what we had built so far wasn't stable enough to stand up on its own. However, overall, we did use the majority of the components from the ABET Definition of Design.

Paper Clip Challenge
In the Paper Clip Challenge, we used most of the components from the ABET Definition of Design except for the last component, which is the detailed system descriptions. All of us had to creatively think of a way to create the one object that the other team told us to create with paper clips. Again this was an open-ended problem as well, there was no right answer. My partner and I both created a slingshot successfully, obviously using different designs. We considered an alternative way to create a sundial, which was our paper clip product, so we could beat the design of the other team. We verified the design, by making sure the product worked with the specific measurements we had set for the item.