IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY MAGAZINE MAY/JUNE 2007 75

biomedical engineering/industrial design collaboration in senior design projects

When biomedical engineer-ing students enter theworkforce, they will beexpected to work on mul-

tidisciplinary teams. In industry, theseteams typically consist of members ofresearch and development, marketing,production, finance, regulatory affairs,and other departments. Depending uponthe type of products being developed,customer needs, and specific designrequirements, industrial designers maybe assigned to the project team to workwith engineers on the design of the newproduct. Industrial designers areuniquely qualified to assist with specificaspects of product design. However,many biomedical engineering studentsand faculty members are not aware ofwhat industrial designers actually doand the role that they can play in thedevelopment of medical devices. Toprepare biomedical engineering andindustrial design students for potentialfuture collaborations, it would be help-ful for them to understand and appreci-ate the contributions each can make tothe project team. This can be accom-plished through the senior capstonedesign course by forming project teamsthat include biomedical engineering andindustrial design students.

To appreciate the role of industrialdesigners in the design process, it ishelpful to understand the three mainaspects of medical device design [1].First, the technical aspects involve theassembly of parts and systems thatallow the device to meet the technicalrequirements. Second, the human fac-tors aspects deal with how well the userinterface enables the user to interactwith the device, encourages correctperformance, and discourages and pre-vents incorrect performance. Third, aes-thetic form can communicate how touse a device to achieve the intendedresult and can make a product easy to

use. Although the appearance of adevice has little effect on its user inter-face, it can have a strong psychologicalinfluence on the patient or end user. Allthree aspects of design help create valueand enhance the overall perception ofquality. A well-designed medical devicesatisfies all customer needs, meets allrequired specifications, incorporatesbasic human factors principles, and issensitive to aesthetics and market per-ception [1].

Engineers and industrial designerstend to emphasize different aspects ofdesign. Engineering students (and prac-ticing engineers) tend to focus on thetechnical aspects of design such asfunctionality and performance specifi-cations. For example, engineers devel-oping implantable devices areconcerned with issues such as corro-sion, wear, degradation, strength, andfatigue life. They perform calculations,use a variety of analytical tools (such asfinite element analysis), and conductbench tests to ensure that products aremade from materials with the appropri-ate design characteristics (strength, bio-compatibility, biodurability, etc.) andwill safely perform as required.Industrial designers focus on usability,safety, quality, and the aesthetics ofproducts. They are concerned withissues such as the psychological impactof a product’s design on the user orpotential customer, usability (ease ofuse, low potential for error), safety (nosharp edges or other potential hazards),quality of the overall product experi-ence, and perceived value of the prod-uct. Engineers are also concerned withthese issues, but engineering curriculatypically do not spend as much time onaesthetics and usability as do industrialdesign curricula. Both disciplines placeheavy emphasis on identification ofcustomer needs, manufacturing meth-ods, and prototyping.

During a tour of the MilwaukeeSchool of Art and Design (MIAD,Milwaukee, Wisconsin), I wasimpressed by the quality of the modelson display and the model-makingresources available to the industrialdesign students. Most of the modelswere not functional but were very pro-fessional looking. Historically, the pro-totypes developed by the students in mysenior design classes have been func-tional but not aesthetically pleasing.After seeing what the industrial designstudents could produce, I was con-vinced that including industrial designstudents from MIAD in the projectteams with biomedical engineering stu-dents from Marquette University wouldimprove the quality of the projects andresult in prototypes that were aestheti-cally pleasing and functional.

To encourage collaboration betweenindustrial design and biomedical engi-neering students, Pascal Malassigne,FIDSA, Professor of Industrial Designat MIAD, created a course that wouldgive credit to his students for workingon senior design projects with studentsat Marquette University. Due to sched-uling issues, the MIAD students wouldonly be available to work on theMarquette projects for part of the sec-ond semester of the two-semestersenior design course. At the start of thespring semester, three groups of threeMIAD students were assigned to threeof the Marquette projects currently inprogress. The MIAD students func-tioned as design consultants to the pro-ject team and used their model shop toproduce prototypes. This collaborationproduced professional-quality, aesthet-ically pleasing, functional prototypes.When surveyed about this collabora-tion, the MIAD and Marquette stu-dents said that they had learned aboutthe other’s discipline and the role eachplayed on the project team. They

Jay Goldberg

Senior Design

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76 IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY MAGAZINE MAY/JUNE 2007

Senior Design (continued)

developed an appreciation for the oth-ers’ contributions to the team and feltbetter prepared to work with eachother on product development teams inthe medical device industry.

At the University of Cincinnati,Mary Beth Privitera, M. Design, anassistant professor in the Departmentof Biomedical Engineering and theMedical Device Innovation andEntrepreneurship Program, teaches acourse that teams business, industrialdesign, and biomedical engineeringstudents with a physician to study aparticular device, learn how it is used,and determine how it could beimproved [2]. Each student bringshis/her unique skills and knowledgeto the project team. The business stu-dents identify stakeholders and deter-mine regulatory status, the industrialdesign students conduct task analyses,and the biomedical engineering stu-dents analyze the device and deter-mines how it functions. This courseprovides students with the opportuni-ty to work on multifunctional teamsand develop “cross-language skills”needed for careers in medical deviceproduct development. Biomedicalengineering students complete thiscourse prior to enrolling in therequired senior capstone designcourse. The business and industrialdesign students are invited to continuetheir multifunctional team experiencevia participation in senior capstonedesign projects.

Faculty involved in collaborativedesign project experiences from theMedical Device Innovation andEntrepreneurship Program at theUniversity of Cincinnati have madesome interesting observations concern-ing transdisciplinary learning amongstudents in different disciplines [3].➤ Biomedical engineering students

were familiar with the legal and reg-ulatory requirements for detailedrecord keeping of project activitiesand decisions. However, industrialdesign students were unfamiliar withthis practice. This presented a chal-lenge as they were encouraged torecord and document their activities.

➤ Engineers are perceived as think-ing in a more linear and causallylinked form as opposed to the morelateral or free-thinking style ofindustrial designers. An apprecia-tion for the merits of both styles ofthinking was necessary for all teammembers to feel that they weresuccessful contributors.

➤ The recognition of the value thateach discipline brings to the projectteam was an essential component ofeffective transdisciplinary learning.During technical design reviewmeetings where design progress waspresented to faculty, engineeringstudents learn to value the industrialdesign students’ ability to commu-nicate complex procedural diagramscoupled with new device conceptdrawings and the industrial design

students learned to value the engi-neering students’ ability to conduct,analyze, and present test data toprove the technical and clinicaladvantages of different designs.Students developed an appreciationof each other’s complementaryfunctional strengths.

In summary, collaboration betweenbiomedical engineering and industrialdesign students on senior design projectteams provides many benefits. First, stu-dents learn how to communicate withpeople in other functional disciplines.Second, students learn that no individualperson has all the skills and knowledgeneeded to complete a project, and theydevelop an appreciation for the comple-mentary skills each member brings tothe project. Third, students learn thatthere is more than one way to solve aproblem. This helps them develop anappreciation for different approaches toproblem solving and ways of thinking.Finally, the overall quality of productdesign increases when biomedical engi-neering and industrial design studentswork together.

References[1]. W.A. Hyman and M.B. Privitera, “Looking goodmatters for devices, too,” Medical Device Diagnost.Ind., vol. 27, no. 5, May 2005. [2]. W. Beckman (Sept. 2004), “Profile: Mary BethPrivitera, Master of Design” [Online]. Available:http://www.uc.edu/profiles/profile.asp?id=1913[3]. M.B. Privitera and B.J. Zirger, “Letting the grainout of the silo: Transdisciplinary product develop-ment education,” Innovation, vol. 25, no. 4, pp.49–51, Winter 2006.

partially walked in the shoes of theprospective patient beneficiaries.

My roles at the National Heart,Lung and Blood Institute and now as aprofessor at the University ofCalifornia, San Diego, have allowedme opportunities to lecture or speakwith hundreds of bioengineering stu-dents. I make it a point to ask thesestudents if they have had direct hands-on experience understanding the needsof patients or worked in a setting

interacting with patients. The usualresponses revealed that only a smallpercentage of students acknowledgeany personal experience with patients.The students indicated that eventhough they wanted to create solutionsto clinical problems, they had littleidea of what or how to determine whatthe patient really needed.

My recommendation is to enhanceABET bioengineering program-spe-cific criteria by adding a hands-on

experience for understanding patientneeds and clinical applications for thebenefit of our students, for meetingpatient needs, and for society. (*bio-engineering subsumes biomedicalengineering)

I would be happy to hear from ourreaders on your reaction to Dr.Watson’s proposal.

Until the next time,John Enderle

From the Editor (continued from page 4)