Integrating concepts of decision making and uncertainty into engineering design education

Engineering design represents a process of decision making under conditions of uncertainty and risk, but today's undergraduate engineering curricula rarely include any principles of decision theory. This paper describes a pilot program that was recently started with the objective to prompt a strategic initiative for the development, implementation and assessment of novel approaches in engineering design education at Stevens Institute of Technology. Starting with a thorough feasibility study in two mechanical engineering courses, the goal will be to demonstrate that the concepts of uncertainty in data, decision theory and optimization can be integrated effectively into undergraduate education. If proven successful, the propagation of the approach to the capstone design sequence in the mechanical engineering department and to the entire engineering curriculum at Stevens Institute of Technology will be considered.