Fall 2013 - Fall 2015. The objective of this EArly-concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) project is to to understand the design practices of contemporary engineering workplace and to understand how the design process is organized. A related purpose is to understand how professional practices relate to nominally similar practices in university engineering classes, and how any continuities and discontinuities between work and school might inform efforts to design engineering classes. These objectives are being accomplished through an exploratory, comparative, field-based ethnographic study of the design practices of professional engineers versus engineering students. Researchers are observing practicing engineers in the workplace - what they do, who they communicate with, what they say, and how they are organized. The results of the research will be the documentation and analysis of these observations.
The primary benefits of this research come in two areas: First, current theories of engineering design can be tested for validity against real data on what real engineers do every day. Second, education of engineers can be enhanced by preparing students more directly for what they will be doing in the workplace.