Concepts of
Engineering and Technology
Photo Courtesy of Gary Payne/Denton Record-Chronicle
Photo Courtesy of Steve Van Meter, VideoRay
Introduction to Engineering
Fundamentals and Civilization
Part 1 - Definitions
Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2012. All rights reserved.
1
Warm-Up Activity
Directions: Please take out a sheet of paper
and respond to the questions below. Please
check your spelling.
• In your own words, “What is Engineering?”
• In your own words, “What is Science?”
• In your own words, “What is Technology?”
Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2012. All rights reserved.
2
Questions to ponder:
• What is the difference between science and
technology?
• What are the greatest engineering accomplishments
of the 20th century?
• How do newer engineering accomplishments
compare to those throughout history?
• How does technology impact the world?
• What is the difference between innovation and
invention?
• What is an ethical design dilemma?
• Why did engineering societies develop standards?
Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2012. All rights reserved.
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ABET defines engineering as:
• “The profession in which knowledge of the
mathematical and natural sciences, gained
by study, experience, and practice, is
applied with judgment to develop ways to
use, economically, the materials and
forces of nature for the benefit of
mankind.”
Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2012. All rights reserved.
4
Engineer
• A person who designs products, structures, or
systems to improve peoples lives
• Mathematics is the language of science,
engineering, and technology.
• Engineers use math to describe objects in great
detail, and mathematical models can test designs
without actually building them.
• Engineers use scientific principles to guide their
design.
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• Engineers work in teams, and planning and
design is a large part of their work.
• Engineering is a form of problem solving.
• Engineers work in teams because different
people have different skills and can look at
problems in different ways.
• An engineer must look at problem criteria and
solution constraints.
• Engineering involves design and construction.
• Engineering is iterative.
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Example Engineering Requirements
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Performance and Functionality
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Will identify skin lesions with a 90% accuracy
Should be able to measure within 1mm
Reliability
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Operational 99.9% of the time
MTBF of 10 years
Energy
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Average power consumption of 2 watts
Peak current draw of 1 amp
Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2012. All rights reserved.
ECE 404 Scott Umbaugh,
Textbook: Design for ECE
Engineers, Ford & Coulston
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Constraints
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Economic
Environmental
Ethical and Legal
Health and Safety
Manufacturability
Political and Social – FDA, language?
Sustainability
ECE 404 Scott Umbaugh, Textbook: Design for
ECE Engineers, Ford & Coulston
Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2012. All rights reserved.
8
Technology
• The means by which humans modify the
world to address their wants and needs
• Involves an artifact
• Includes phones and televisions, and also
things like spoons and running shoes
• It even includes the kernel of the grass
grains we use in our cereal
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• Technology often involves a system, and
includes the people, infrastructure, and
processes.
• Involves the design, manufacture, use,
and repair of the object
• The innovation, change, or modification of
the natural environment to satisfy
perceived human needs and wants
• Human innovation in action that involves
the generation of knowledge and
processes to develop systems that solve
problems and extend human capabilities
Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2012. All rights reserved.
10
Science
• Involves knowledge about the natural
world
• Often involves knowledge for its own sake
• Discovers and explains what is
• Engineering involves creating what has
never been
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11
Technological progress promotes science
advancement
This mass spectrometer helped make the
decoding of the human genome possible.
Courtesy of: www.scienceaid.co.uk.
Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2012. All rights reserved.
12
The Scientific Process
Courtesy of: Science Buddies
http://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentoring/project_scientific_method.shtml
Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2012. All rights reserved.
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The Engineering Design Process
Courtesy of: Engineering is Elementary
http://www.mos.org/eie/engineering_design.php
Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2012. All rights reserved.
14
The seven key resources for
engineering are:
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People
Energy
Capital
Information
Tools and machines
Materials
Time
Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2012. All rights reserved.
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Engineering and Technology, 1st ed.
Hacker et al. Delmar Cengage Learning
(2010).
Engineering Design: An Introduction, 1st
ed. Karsnitz, O’Brian, Hutchinson, Delmar
Cengage Learning (2008).
Engineering Your Future, 2nd ed, Gomez,
Oakes, Leone, Great Lakes Press (2008).
Gateway To Engineering, 1st ed. Rogers, Wright,
Yates. Delmar Cengage Learning (2010).
Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2012. All rights reserved.
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