Bridging product design with materials properties and processing: An innovative capstone course

Innovative products improve the quality of our life and are important for the prosperity of the chemical and materials industries. This chapter introduces a product design capstone course for chemical engineering seniors at the University at Buffalo (SUNY), USA. The course encompassed the following themes: a general framework for product design and development (identify customer needs, convert needs to specifications, create ideas/concepts, select concept, formulate/test/manufacture product, intellectual property, safety, environmental, marketing and financial considerations); and (nano)structure-property relations that guide the search for materials (typically mixtures, blends, or composites) with particular properties. These two main themes are reinforced by case studies of successful products. The course material is integrated into nanostructured product design projects that are drawn from real-world problems. This chapter discusses the course organization, learning outcomes, teaching techniques, assignments, assessment, and student feedback. Throughout this product design course, students received significant exposure to real materials development problems and strategies.