Design for Community (D4C) provides engineering students with practical experience in consulting while offering valuable engineering services to the University and industry clients. Our focus is on preparing students for the practice of engineering by acting as a consultancy for clients' engineering-related design and fabrication needs. Students may be expected to work in teams or individually under the supervision of project directors, depending on project scope. Each student or team will assist several clients during the semester. The D4C will pursue the following goals for its students: provide a practical just-in-time learning experience for students interested in engineering consulting; prepare students for the practice of engineering design with underspecified real-world problem sets; prepare students for the professionalism needed to interact with clients; provide outreach that connects communities outside the Department of Mechanical Engineering and serves clients that would not have access to engineering resources otherwise.
Clients of the D4C will be University of Colorado students, faculty, and staff, and, potentially, customers from industry in need of engineering services. Mechanical Engineering students will staff the D4C under the supervision of an instructor and graduate students who have industry experience. Students will interact directly with clients to provide engineering services for a wide range of projects including basic prototyping, design, and manufacturing. Typical projects are expected to be short-term projects that are schedule sensitive for the clients. Multi-disciplinary teams and projects will be encouraged.
Projects that would be a good fit for the D4C are as varied as the engineering field itself. Some examples include ( but are not limited to):
- Computer Aided Design
- Photorendering
- Rapid Prototyping
- Finite Element Analysis
- Engineering Drawings
- Product Testing
- Manufacturing
- Design Consulting
- Project Management
The D4C has a two-tiered approach to client costs:
- Students, staff, and faculty of the University of Colorado that are not part of a research grant will only have to pay for the materials that your project needs. This will allow us to assist entrepreneurial individuals who are bootstrapping their project without adding much overhead cost.
- Individuals associated with a research grant as well as outside organizations will be subject to the fees on our rate sheet. Please contact us for an accurate estimate for your project.