The Aerospace Design Education Implications from the Eight Harvey Mudd Design Workshops

A great deal of content directly relevant to the teaching and learning of aerospace engineering design education has been generated as a byproduct of the biennial Harvey Mudd Design Workshop (MDW). It was originally convened in 1997 to address topics such as: the role of engineering in design education, the role of computing in supporting design education, the role of computing in design practice, the relation between design and analysis in education and the role of design centers. Clearly, after 14 years, the topic of even the very first (MDW) is still equally as relevant today. In his opening comments, Clive Dym stressed that design has been treated as a stepchild of engineering sciences, so that students don\u27t learn the rich languages of design beyond those shared with engineering sciences, that is, mathematics and analytical formulas. Much has changed with design in engineering education since that first MDW and in large part due to work instigated by the MDW series and its attendees. Most importantly, hard data has been produced to support the promotion of design throughout the undergraduate curriculum. Many aspects of design have been studied in detail and an overview of the aspects directly relevant to aerospace design will be provided in this paper. It is hoped that dialog can be stimulated within the aerospace profession by highlighting some techniques being implemented within other disciplines