Engineering Program
As part of our ongoing commitment to interdisciplinary excellence, Brandeis is launching a new interdepartmental program in Engineering Science, which will foster research, education, collaboration and innovation at the interface of engineering, the sciences and the liberal arts.
Brandeis already possesses the core elements to become a leader in engineering research and education, as evidenced by the success of our basic science programs, our NSF-funded Materials Science Research and Engineering Center, and the MakerLab. Our new program will grow these strengths by embedding engineers across our existing departments, seeding and nurturing enduring collaborations with and between Brandeis faculty and students in the sciences, humanities, social sciences, creative arts, business, and social policy.
The School of Arts and Sciences is currently developing a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering Science, to be offered by academic year 2026-27. The curriculum is designed for ABET accreditation, and will provide students with the essential skills to think like engineers, and design solutions to complex problems. We will draw inspiration from areas of engineering that align with Brandeis' existing strengths, including bioengineering and materials science, while enhancing our existing undergraduate and graduate programs. Together, we will explore new approaches to issues of ethics, design, equity, sustainability and entrepreneurship, through collaborations, capstone projects, and team-taught courses with faculty from across the university. In the liberal arts tradition, our graduates will be outstanding communicators, writers, and stewards of social justice, and be poised for impactful careers as engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs, policy makers, and more.
Brandeis Engineering will catalyze the university’s mission of advancing knowledge to enhance and enrich the human experience. Our new program will infuse engineering thinking and culture to all facets of our university, transforming our research enterprise and creating a cohort of uniquely Brandeisian engineers who will create sustainable solutions to the great challenges of our time. Beginning in F2023 we will offer introductory engineering courses in preparation for the major's official launch (which is slated for F2026, with our first graduates anticipated in the class of 2030). We encourage current students to take advantage of these new Engineering courses and facilities as they become available. Join us in this exciting endeavor as we shape the future of engineering education at Brandeis!
Courses of Instruction
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An introduction to the engineering design process, with a focus on human-centered design. Students work in teams to solve authentic design problems under the theme of “Design to repair the world”. Students are guided through a highly scaffolded process in which they form an idea, sketch it, and develop it through multiple iterations leveraging quick feedback loops and the Design Thinking methodology. There will be two parts to the semester: (1) an individual project to build an upper limb prosthesis from a publicly available open source design, in which students will learn the prosthesis platform, learn to navigate open source designs and documentation, learn to operate the necessary digital fabrication workflows (CAM for 3D Printing, Laser Cutting, CNC) to manufacturer it, perform failure based testing, and develop material literacy; and (2) a team project to create an open-source assistive device for an actual client to accomplish specific tasks. This second component will include modifying available open source designs for fittage (unique physiology) and function (specific tasks), as well as adding design elements to achieve an occupational therapy goal. The emphasis will be on quick-minimum viable feedback loop testing, ideation for augmenting the client, design (CAD), project management, consuming and producing documentation, communication, teamwork, and human-centered design in a global context.
ENGR 11a cross-listing:
- Biology: General science elective
- HSSP: Additional general science elective
- Neuroscience: Science elective & 4-credit lab
- Physics BA: Additional elective
- Physics BS: Additional upper-level science elective or lab course
- Business: Business & society elective
The engineering design and analysis process relies on measurements and data collected from the physical world. In this hands-on, project-based course, students will be introduced to concepts, mathematics, hardware, software, methods, and mindsets for making measurements, collecting and interpreting data, and conducting engineering experiments using the scientific method, with a focus on biomedical engineering applications. Following an orientation to the tradeoffs among precision, accuracy, reliability, error, cost, and accessibility in measurement, students will explore topics including electronic circuits and sensors, computer-based data acquisition, data visualization and representation, and experimental design. In the first half of the semester, students will conduct scaffolded projects applying concepts learned in class to measuring properties of the human body such as temperature, force, electrical activity, and walking gait. Students will then collaborate on a team project to design and build more elaborate biomedical instrumentation to collect and analyze data such as pulse, blood oxygen levels, blood pressure, or pulmonary function. Throughout, we will engage with the ethics of measurement and experimentation, explore ideas of frugal engineering; and be introduced to social science research methods relevant to engineering design and analysis such as surveys and interviews.
Building models of complex physical systems is a critical aspect of problem-solving in science and engineering. While the models themselves are expressed through the languages of math and physics, developing an effective and efficient approach to modeling requires drawing on one's experiences and mental pictures of the systems at hand. Towards providing students with this experience, this course will build connections between the theoretical, the experimental, and the designed. Students will be guided through a structured series of labs exploring modeling and simulation in a variety of system classes, with an emphasis on environmental and engineering applications. In this course, students will learn to construct models from scratch and use pre-built modules for analyzing data, numerically solving dynamical models, fitting models to data, and visualizing results. Practical coding skills, such as debugging, documenting code, and learning to leverage open-source software, will be taught in a lab environment where students and the instructor can readily collaborate and solve challenges. In addition to computational modeling and analysis, some labs will involve the use of digital fabrication (3D printing or laser cutting) to build and test physical versions of the models. This course is intended as a first exposure to modeling. Prior experience in programming is not required.
ENGR 13a cross-listing:
- Biology: General science elective
- Neuroscience: 4-credit general science elective or 2-credit lab
- Environmental studies: Natural science elective
- Physics: Lab requirement (by petition only)
The way we produce, use, and dispose of materials and products today is unsustainable. Resource extraction destroys ecosystems and biodiversity worldwide; manufacturing is responsible for an enormous fraction of global greenhouse gas emissions; and waste plastics are now found in every corner of the Earth, including our bodies, with as-yet unknown consequences to human and ecological health. The circular economy is a model of production and consumption that offers a potential solution to these problems—where all materials and products are designed to be used, reused, and recycled again and again, minimizing environmental impact from resource extraction, manufacturing, use, and final disposal.
In this class, students will learn what is required to realize this vision of a circular economy from an engineering and design perspective. Based on a methodological foundation from industrial ecology, students will use life-cycle assessment and material flow analysis to characterize the profound issues with contemporary manufacturing and waste systems and justify the principles of materials and product stewardship that underpin the circular economy model. Students will also learn to critique materials management and circular economy proposals at various scales, including materials and product design; so-called “circular business models;” and municipal, national, and global materials systems. Finally, students will use what they have learned to propose new engineering design solutions to real-world challenges.
Faculty
Seth Fraden is a Fellow of the American Physics Society, and has been the director of the Brandeis Materials Science Research and Engineering Center since 2011. His research group focuses on four core areas: non-linear chemical dynamics, active matter, microfluidics technology, and colloidal self-assembly. He earned his Ph.D. in Physics from Brandeis University and holds a B.A. in Physics from the University of California, Berkeley.
Jonathan Krones is Brandeis's first professor of engineering. He comes to Brandeis in the summer of 2024 from Boston College, where he helped to launch their new Human-Centered Engineering program in 2021. His research in the field of industrial ecology focuses on environmentally sustainable materials systems with a focus on solid waste management and the circular economy. He holds a Ph.D. in Engineering Systems and an S.B. in Materials Science and Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an M.S. in Earth Resources Engineering from Columbia University. He is teaching ENGR 11a and co-teaching ENGR 13a in Fall 2024.
Michael Norton is a researcher in the Brandeis Materials Science Research and Engineering Center studying Soft Active Materials. Through modeling and simulation, his research develops means for controlling pattern formation in non-equilibrium materials and living systems. He holds a Ph.D in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics from the University of Pennsylvania, and B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the Rochester Institute of Technology. His hobbies of metalworking and sculpture complement his computational focus and inform the hands-on approach he brings to teaching ENGR 13a: Modeling and Simulation (Fall 2024).
Avital Rodal is a Senior Investigator in the Brandeis Materials Science Research and Engineering Center. Her research is centered on intracellular transport in the nervous system. She holds a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley, and B.S. degrees in Biology and Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Ben Rogers is leader of the Brandeis Materials Science Research and Engineering Center's “Self-limited assembly” interdisciplinary research group. His research is aimed at uncovering the fundamental physical principles governing dynamic pathways for the self-assembly and self-organization of materials and living systems. He holds a Ph.D. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, and a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Delaware.
Ian Roy is the Director for Research Technology and Innovation in Brandeis University's Library. He is also the Founding Head of the Brandeis MakerLab. His group (Research Technology and Innovation) manages the three public Makerspaces in the Brandeis Library: The MakerLab, The Automation Lab, and the Digital Humanities Lab. Ian's passion lies in design thinking, digital fabrication, and social impact of real-world solutions. He graduated from Brandeis with a B.A. in Philosophy and Economics with a concentration in Film Studies.
