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The Cooper Union�s New Integrated Learning and Teaching Environment for Engineering Design
The new Engineering Design Center at The Cooper Union is now under construction. The Center, which should be completed by spring 1998, will contribute to the notion of design as the intellectual centerpiece of engineering. In addition, it will create an integrated environment to enhance interdisciplinary design learning and teaching for students and faculty.
A Comprehensive, Integrated Engineering Education

As they work with the Design Center throughout their four years as undergraduates, engineering students will work in multi-disciplinary, "hands on" teams to define and solve open-ended design problems. Students will also design, build, and test real products with customer needs in mind. While experiencing the design process first-hand, students will learn to define client needs, sharpen their communications and presentation skills, work at team-oriented problem solving, and manage their time and the project�s budget.
The Design Center�s Integrated Facilities

The Engineering Design Center includes five integrated spaces�a design studio, a project/conference space, an auditorium space, a gallery space, and a prototyping laboratory�that showcase engineering design in ways very different from traditional laboratories. Together, these spaces offer flexibility to accommodate future teaching and learning methods, as well as opportunities for faculty and students to learn in new ways.

By transcending departmental boundaries and employing cutting-edge technology, such as three-dimensional modeling and simulation software tools or videoconferencing, The Cooper Union�s new Engineering Design Center will support diversity in learning styles, foster opportunities for open-ended discovery, encourage active learning as an alternative to lectures, and simulate "real world" engineering in industry.¨
For further information, contact:
Eleanor Baum, Dean of Engineering
The Cooper Union
51 Astor Place
New York, NY 10003
(212) 353-4285
[email protected]

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