Carnegie Mellon has always celebrated interdisciplinary education and research. But now the university's creative approach to education is turning heads and gaining notice worldwide.
The latest example? The American Society of Mechanical Engineers awarded Carnegie Mellon's Integrated Product Development (IPD) course the 2003 Curriculum Innovation Award last fall in Washington, D.C. Faculty from three different areas of expertise teach the course鈥擩onathan Cagan, engineering; Craig Vogel, design; and Laurie Weingart, organizational behavior and theory.
IPD unites engineering, industrial design and MBA students in interdisciplinary teams that create products for corporate sponsors. Previous sponsors of the course include Ford Motor Company, BodyMedia and Respironics. Ford was so impressed with prototypes created by the students in the past that the company has patented five of those for the Ford F-150庐 and the Ford Escape SUV庐.
鈥淪everal schools teach this kind of approach to product development,鈥� said Vogel. 鈥淏ut none teach it as completely as we do. Carnegie Mellon is the right size for true collaboration, and it鈥檚 simply not that common to find world-class programs in business, engineering and design all within a few hundred feet of each other. This is part of what makes Carnegie Mellon unique as a university and what makes IPD so successful.鈥�
In the course, students learn the ideal method for product creation according to Cagan and Vogel鈥檚 2002 book, The approach鈥攖eam integration based on fulfilling the needs, wants and desires of customers鈥� is organized into four phases: identifying, understanding, conceptualizing and realizing an opportunity to create a product that will be highly valuable to a customer.
鈥淚t is the best way to close what we call the 鈥楶roduct Opportunity Gap鈥� between what is currently on the market and new or improved products resulting from emerging trends,鈥� said Cagan. 鈥淓ngineers often skip the 鈥榰nderstanding the opportunity鈥� phase. Bringing the marketers, designers and engineers together at the beginning of the process can increase creativity, lower investment costs, shorten production pipelines and teach colleagues with different perspectives how to work better together.鈥�
鈥淚nterpersonal and intra-team communications, understanding and bridging perceptual gaps, and constructive approaches to team negotiation are critical to a successful process,鈥� said Weingart. 鈥淭eams learn to leverage their functional differences鈥攄ifferences that could otherwise lead to misunderstandings, lack of communication or irreconcilable arguments. By working together, team members develop an understanding of and respect for what the other disciplines can offer.鈥�
鈥淲inning the ASME 2003 Curriculum Innovation Award is a major achievement for the faculty teaching the course, the deans of the colleges supporting the course and the university for its commitment to interdisciplinary education,鈥� said Vogel. 鈥淲e may be the first university to receive this award with three faculty from different colleges named as recipients. It helps to confirm that Carnegie Mellon is helping to shape the future of university education.鈥�
