Aims

The aims of the course are to:

• Introduce students to the changing economic, social, ethical, and environmental contexts within which engineers work.
• Provide a sense of the 'bigger picture' within which any engineering-related organisation operates, including issues of risk and security.
• Show why an understanding of this ever-changing context is important and to raise awareness of the non-technical competences that engineers need to develop in order to be successful.

Objectives

As specific objectives, by the end of the course students should be able to:

• Appreciate the changing economic, social, ethical, and environmental contexts within which engineers work.
• Understand how these changing contexts influence engineering decisions.
• Produce a non-technical report on topics related to these contexts.

Content

1. Introduction - What do engineers actually do?

2. How is the world is changing for engineers?

3. Your world is manufactured – is that a problem?

4. How do you make change happen?

5. How do you make tough choices?

6. How do you access the resources you need?

7. How do we cope with rapid change … like AI/ML?

8. How you can engineer change to make the world a better place (and pass this module)

Assessment

To complete the Engineer in Society module you must write a report of approximately 1000 (+/- 10%) words over the Christmas vacation. 

You will be given the title and further instructions for this report in the final lecture of this module.

The report must be submitted by 16:00 on Friday 19th January 2024 via the Moodle website for this module. 

Each lecture / guest speaker slot will provide you with content to help you prepare your report.

The aim of this task is to give you experience in preparing a professional response to non-technical questions – something that you will be required to do throughout your career.

Readings

On-line resources for this module will be provided via Moodle.

Aims

The aims of the course are to:

• Introduce students to the economic, social and industrial context within which engineers work.
• Seek to provide a sense of the 'bigger picture' within which any engineering-related organisation operates.
• Show why an understanding of this context is important and to raise awareness of the non-technical competences that engineers need to develop in order to be successful.

Objectives

As specific objectives, by the end of the course students should be able to:

• Appreciate the economic, social and industrial contexts of engineering.
• Understand how these contexts influence engineering decisions.
• Produce a non-technical report on topics related to these contexts.

Content

1. Introduction - what engineering really is

2. Context, and Innovation (Part 1)

3. Innovation (Part 2)

4. How to lead change and save the planet

5. Engineering ethics - How to make difficult decisions

6. How to engineer better healthcare - Lessons from COVID (Part 1)

7. How to engineer better healthcare - Lessons from COVID (Part 2)

8. Module summary, key lessons and advice for courswork

ASSESSMENT

To complete the Engineer in Society module you must write a report of approximately 1000 (+/- 10%) words over the Christmas vacation. It must address ONE of the three topics below. The report must be submitted by 16:00 on Friday 21st January 2022 via the Moodle website for this module. The aim of this task is to give you experience in preparing a professional response to non-technical questions – something that you will be required to do throughout your career.

Write a report on ONE of these three topics:

1. Select one of the biggest sustainability or development challenges that could be solved by engineers and discuss why it has not already been solved.

2. Discuss the ethical challenges facing engineers seeking to develop and deploy technologies such as machine learning/AI, medical robotics or autonomous vehicles.

3. Describe some examples of how engineers have addressed COVID-related challenges, and explain how these illustrate that ‘technology is necessary but not sufficient’ when addressing complex problems.

Further information is available via the Moodle site for this module.

REFERENCES

Additional on-line resources for this module will be provided via Moodle.

Aims

The aims of the course are to:

• Introduce students to the economic, social and technical context within which engineers work.
• Seek to provide a sense of the 'bigger picture' within which any engineering-related organisation operates.
• Show why an understanding of this context is important and to raise awareness of the non-technical competences that engineers need to develop in order to be successful.

Objectives

As specific objectives, by the end of the course students should be able to:

• Have a knowledge of the economic, industrial and social contexts of engineering.
• Be able to understand how these contexts influence engineering decisions.
• Be able to produce a non-technical report on topics related to these contexts.

Content

A combination of CUED teaching staff and industrial speakers will address the following topics:

Please note that the order of these talks may change based upon the availability of our guest speakers

1. Introduction - what engineering really is

2. Economic context - everything is changing.

3. Engineering and ethics - doing the right thing

4. Engineering and entrepreneurship – making change happen.

5. Engineering and sustainability - saving our future

6. Engineering, complex systems and humanitarian aid

7. Bioengineering - engineering + life sciences

8. Beinging it all together, and setting the coursework challenge

ASSESSMENT

The topics for a report based on this lecture course will be set in the final lecture. Details on where and when to submit will be given at the final lecture and via email.

REFERENCES

Additional on-line resources for this module will be provided via Camtools

Aims

The aims of the course are to:

• Introduce students to the economic, social and technical context within which engineers work.
• Seek to provide a sense of the 'bigger picture' within which any engineering-related organisation operates.
• Show why an understanding of this context is important and to raise awareness of the non-technical competences that engineers need to develop in order to be successful.

Objectives

As specific objectives, by the end of the course students should be able to:

• Have a knowledge of the economic, industrial and social contexts of engineering.
• Be able to understand how these contexts influence engineering decisions.
• Be able to produce a non-technical report on topics related to these contexts.

Content

A combination of CUED teaching staff and industrial speakers will address the following topics:

Please note that the order of these talks may change based upon the availability of our guest speakers

1. Introduction - great engineers are........?

2. Economic context - everything is changing.

3. Engineering and ethics - doing the right thing

4. Engineering and entrepreneurship – making change happen.

5. Engineering and sustainability - saving our future

6. Engineering, complex systems and humanitarian aid

7. Bioengineering - engineering + life sciences

8. Beinging it all together, and setting the coursework challenge

ASSESSMENT

The topics for a report based on this lecture course will be set in the final lecture. Details on where and when to submit will be given at the final lecture and via email.

REFERENCES

Additional on-line resources for this module will be provided via Camtools

Aims

The aims of the course are to:

• Introduce and illustrate the use of Dimensional Analysis.
• Develop an understanding of dimensional consistency and how it can be applied: to convert from one system of units to another; to check the units of an equation; to check algebra; and to aid memory.
• Develop the techniques required to form dimensionless groups and relationships.
• Explain how Dimensional Analysis can be used: to simplify problems by reducing the number of parameters; to correlate experimental data; to assist in the design and use of scale models for testing.

Objectives

As specific objectives, by the end of the course students should be able to:

• Convert between different measuring systems.
• Produce dimensionless groups from a given set of physical quantities.
• Understand the importance of dimensionless presentation of physical relationships.
• Use dimensional analysis to simplify problems and to aid in planning experiments.

Content

1. Introduction
2. Basic and derived units of measurement
3. Scales of units and conversion between different systems of units
4. Dimensions and dimensional consistency of equations
5. Dimensionless quantities, equations and relationships
6. Buckingham's Pi Theorem
7. Forming dimensionless relationships
8. Writing governing equations in terms of dimensionless variables
9. Forms of dimensionless relationships
10. Similarity and model testing
11. Use of Dimensional Analysis to design experiments and present experimental data.

LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS

Use of Dimensional Analysis in model testing to obtain general expressions for a number of problems.

1. Dimensional Analysis 1: The deflection of an elastic beam under load.
2. Dimensional Analysis 2: (a) Temperature variation in two blocks initially at different temperatures; (b) The flow over a "V" notch weir.