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Cornerstones of Engineering
COURSE OUTLINE

GE 1110 Engineering Design
GE 1111 Engineering Problem Solving and Computation

Combining GE 1110 and GE 1111 Instructor: Susan Freeman
Semester Offered: Fall 2014 Office: 368C Snell Engineering
Total Credit Hours: 8 credits (4 each) E-mail: sfreeman@coe.neu.edu
Phone: 617.373.4954 Mailbox: 368 SN

Office Hours: M 4:30-5:30 PM, W 1:30-2:30 PM in 368C SN. Lab Hours: T 4:30-6:00 PM in
429 Dana. Other times by appointment. You can stop by my office at any time. If Im free, Ill
be happy to work with you. If Im not available or cannot meet, we can set up an appointment.
Please feel free to email or call me with any concerns and Ill get back to you as soon as I can.

COURSE GOALS IN ENGINEERING DESIGN:
Introduce students to the engineering profession and creative engineering problem-solving through
design projects, presentations, and activities.
Familiarize students with the various engineering disciplines and their interrelationships.
Provide historical perspective on engineering design processes, successes, challenges, and failures
and their influence on contemporary society.
Inspire and instill an appreciation for the engineering profession, its ethics, and practices.

COURSE GOALS IN PROBLEM SOLVING WITH COMPUTATION - This course is designed to
help students:
Develop skills in algorithmic thinking by preparing computer programs to analyze and present engineering
data.
Properly evaluate and interpret the results of their work.
Develop the types of programs needed for engineering problem solving (in C++ and MATLAB).
Become familiar with a wide variety of interesting and challenging engineering problems that can be solved
with programmable algorithms.
COURSE OBJECTIVES IN ENGINEERING DESIGN:
Learn and apply all of the steps of the engineering design process in proposing and building working
devices or models in design projects.
Design and construct a working device or model that meets preset constraints and specifications.
Design a product or engineer a solution by applying the engineering design process steps and
documenting and reporting on each phase.
Describe the scientific principles and technical background required for the proposed design
project;
Outline the patents related to the proposed design and evaluate their pertinence to the solution.
Describe and consider multiple alternative designs, with analysis for selection;
Generate a report for the design project that reflects work completed in each step of the design
process and presents technical drawings that apply to the approved design;
Projects will be focused on service opportunities; in the community or worldwide.
Review and evaluate engineering failures and successes for their relationships to engineering design
problems, solutions, and processes.

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Apply the engineering principles revealed in class exercises on teamwork, creativity, problem
solving, and on evaluation, selection, and implementation of solution alternatives.
Develop and apply drawing and sketching skills to communicate design and engineering information
graphically. Apply the principles of orthographic projection in engineering design.
Learn and practice technical drawing and engineering graphics communication using AutoCAD and
SolidWorks. Apply skills of technical drawing to specific engineering projects.
Formulate engineering problems for numerical solutions, conduct relevant computations, analyze,
organize and present results using Excel software
Create and deliver individual and team presentations on engineering design projects and topics.

COURSE OBJECTIVES IN PROGRAMMING - The primary objective of this course is to have
students learn how to apply selected computational tools to solve engineering problems from a
variety of disciplines using C++ and MATLAB software applications. Specific skills include:
Formulate engineering problems for numerical solutions.
Select appropriate techniques and computational tools to arrive at a numerical answer.
Employ computational concepts and skills such as variables, functions, flowcharting, looping, and
conditional branching.
Apply computational techniques for analyzing data and for graphical presentation of results.
Present computational projects with organization and clarity.
Debug code and verify solutions.
Demonstrate facility with two specific software packages (MATLAB and Dev-C++) which can be used
throughout the Northeastern experience and beyond for both classroom and real-world problems.
Demonstrate facility in building and debugging microcontroller-based circuit breadboard applications.

REQUIRED MATERIALS:
1. Engineering by Design,2
nd
Edition Gerard Voland, Pearson Prentice-Hall Publishing Company, Upper
Saddle River, NJ (2004). ISBN 978-0-13-140919-4
2. Custom Text Engineering Design Graphics Communication with AutoCAD and SolidWorks,
Pearson Prentice-Hall Publishing Company, Upper Saddle River, NJ (2013). This text is only
available at NU Bookstore. ISBN 978-1-269-40457-4
3. Matlab: An Introduction with Applications, Gilat, A., Fifth Edition, Wiley, 2015.
ISBN 978-1-118-62986-4
4. Engineering Problem Solving with C++, Etter and Ingber, Third Edition, Pearson, 2012.
ISBN 978-0-13-249265-2
5. Computer storage media of your choice, (USB Flash Drive highly recommended). Come to lab
prepared to back up all of your work (you may also e-mail your work to yourself).
6. You are required to have your COE computer account operational for all lab work.

Computer Background:
No prior programming or CAD experience is required or expected.

Hardware/Software:
The software is available on COE/NUNET. C++ can be downloaded for free, instructions provided.
Software: Mathworks

MATLAB, Bloodshed Dev-C++, Microsoft Excel, AutoCAD 2013,

Solidworks 2013




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EVALUATION:
DESIGN: Final course grades will be computed using the following percentages:
5% Attendance, In-Class work
10% Coursework Quizzes
15% Design Projects
15% Worked Problems (Graphics, Excel, Other)
20% Exams: Midterm 10%, Final Exam - 10%
10% Quizzes (Graphics, etc)
25% Major Design Project: Term Progress - 10%, Technical Report - 10%, Presentation -5%

PROBLEM SOLVING : Final course grades will be computed using the following percentages:
5% Attendance, In-Class work
10% Coursework Quizzes
20% Lab Projects
10% Machine Science Tutorials
20% Machine Science Project
20% Exams: Matlab Exam, C++ Exam, 10% each
15% Individual Integrated Final Project

The written quizzes and exams will be based on class material, homework, handouts, and reading assignments. In
averaging your grade for the entire course, no grades will be dropped. There are no automatic make-ups for missed
quizzes or exams.
ACCESSING COURSE MATERIAL:
Course material (announcements, assignments, grades, etc.) is accessible using the Blackboard online system,
located at blackboard.neu.edu. It is under GE1110/1111 Cornerstone of Engineering. All materials and grades
will be under one class, at the end of the semester you will receive 2 separate grades for the 2 courses.

A mobile version of Blackboard is available for Apple and Android devices. The app is called Blackboard
Learn, and can be located on the Apple App Store and Google Play store.

Blackboard will be constantly updated with announcements, course documents, assignment instructions, grades,
and other material as they become available. It can help you communicate with the instructor and your peers, and
it is expected that you check it frequently for information.
COURSE POLICIES:
University policies on neatness, academic honesty and integrity (described at
http://www.northeastern.edu/osccr/academichonesty.html ) will be adhered to.
It is expected that those in the class will respect one another and contribute to a constructive
learning environment.
You will be an active learner and take responsibility for learning the material both inside and outside
of the classroom. Students are responsible for ALL topics covered in class and ALL assignment
material.
Students should get to class on time. Arriving over 5 minutes late to class will result in an absent for
the day. More than two absences in the class will negatively affect your grade. The instructor will
start and end class as scheduled.
Attendance is taken and counted as part of your grade, as it impacts your learning and teamwork in a
positive way.
All homework must be turned in at the beginning of class to be considered on time.
Late assignments are accepted with a 10% for everyday late up to 5 days. No homework will be
accepted after 5 days late.
No make-up exams are allowed unless made by prior arrangement which includes a necessary need.

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Professional behavior is expected. This includes:
Notifying the professor of a foreseen absence before class. Your advisor must be CCed on the
email to be considered valid.
Corresponding with the professor respectfully both in person and via email.
Respectfully written emails are likely to be responded to only during business hours Monday
through Friday 9am to 7pm.
Assigned pairs will work together professionally on all aspects of the lab assignments. If there are
any conflicts or problems, you will resolve them or bring them to me early in the semester to be
resolved.
Please turn off and stow your cell phone. In the event that a cell phone is found being used during
class, it will be taken from the student and given back at the end of the class time. Laptops are also to
be stowed away during design class. This is to optimize your learning and the class learning.
All assignments must be presented in a neat, organized, and professional manner and word processed
unless otherwise indicated. Project work will be submitted with a specified form of professional
correspondence, such as a memo, fax sheet, cover letter, list of contents or summary sheet. Work
should be submitted in an organized manner with all pages stapled together. Assignments presented
otherwise will be returned with a point penalty. You will also be required to upload in the
Blackboard/Assignments area. Please note that assignments may not be submitted by e-mail.

PARTICIPATION AND FEEDBACK ON COURSES:
All students are expected to participate in the course evaluation system, TRACE. This will be done online at the
end of the semester through your myNEU account. Please provide honest and constructive feedback for the course
during the course and at the end through TRACE. Thanks!
ETHICAL BEHAVIOR:
Plagiarism and cheating will not be tolerated. They will be dealt in accordance with University policies described at
www.northeastern.edu/osccr/academichonesty.html and in the student handbook. All engineering students
should be familiar with the Honor Code of our College of Engineering that is included in the GE 1000 course
material, and with professional engineering codes of ethics. See, for example, the NSPE Code of Ethics presented
in the Engineering by Design textbook on pages 577-580. Although students are encouraged to discuss homework
assignments and work together to develop a deeper understanding of the topics presented in this course, submission
of others' work and ideas as your own is not permitted.

Copying of computer code or any document contents is not allowed. On all individual assignments, each
student is expected to prepare and submit his or her own programs, reports, drawings, and other materials. If
multiple students' work is suspiciously similar, a penalty may be assessed to all involved students. If a situation
arises in which you are uncertain if cooperation with another student would constitute cheating or some other
violation of the honor code, please ask the instructor for guidance and clarification of these rules. Violators will be
referred to OSCCR for review and penalties may include, but are not restricted to, zero credit on the work, student
placed on probation and submission of information on the judgment in the students permanent record.
SPECIAL ACCOMMODATIONS:
If you have specific physical, psychiatric, or learning disabilities that you believe may require accommodations for
this course, please meet with me after class or during my conference hours to discuss appropriate adaptations or
modifications which might be helpful for you. The Disability Resource Center (DRC), which is located on campus
in 20 Dodge Hall (ext 2675) can provide you with information and other assistance to help manage any challenges
that may affect your performance in your coursework. The University requires that you provide documentation of
your disability to the DRC.

Good Luck, Work Hard, and Enjoy!