Principles of Engineering Practice
MIT OpenCourseWare offers the materials for this Materials Science and Engineering class on interdisciplinary engineering practice. The course combines a technical toolkit, a social science toolkit, and a problem-based learning methodology, having students work through real engineering projects alongside faculty and industry partners. The featured semester project centers on the engineering and economics of solar cells, with student teams building prototypes and producing mixed media reports. Exercises cover project planning, analysis, design, optimization, demonstration, reporting and team building, exposing students to the social, political, economic, and technological challenges that shape actual engineering work. Materials include assignments and project descriptions from the MIT course, suited to students who want to see how engineering problems get tackled outside a single-discipline classroom.