Creating a Human-Centric Engineering Design Course

In 2009, the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at Ryerson University introduced a new course, MEC325: Introduction to Engineering Design, intended to address various perceived shortcomings in the Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Engineering undergraduate programs. The authors realized that there is very little literature on how human factors can be embedded ubiquitously in engineering design processes. As a result, MEC325 has become anchored on the concept of “human-centric engineering design.” This paper will describe the course’s initial state and summarize many of the efforts taken by the authors to tightly integrate engineering design and human factors, and to provide a valuable learning experience to both mechanical and industrial engineering undergraduate students.