The dual major program in Product Design and Innovation (PDI) is jointly offered by the Schools of Engineering, Architecture, and Humanities and Social Sciences, and has two tracks-one satisfies the requirements for the B.S. programs in both Engineering Science and Science, Technology and Society (STS); and the other satisfies the requirements for the B.S. Programs in both Building Science and Science, Technology, and Society (STS). For the first option in the catalog. For the second option see below. This track in PDI prepares students to become innovative designers who will develop and design the advanced products and technologies for the coming century. Built around a design studio every semester, PDI combines the technical, aesthetic, and cultural sophistication of Rensselaer’s building science curriculum with the insight and vision of the humanities and social sciences disciplines in the STS curriculum.

The core of PDI is the design studio that students take every semester, giving them a hands-on opportunity to bring together the two major curricula. The building science curriculum provides a fundamental education in building science and architectural design through basic and advanced courses in structures, environmental and construction systems, as well as physical and theoretical approaches in design. The STS curriculum provides a fundamental education in the economic, ethical, cultural, and political dimensions of product development and innovation, including numerous case studies of successes and failures that will give students the opportunity to learn what it takes to be effective leaders of design teams. On this basis the design studios help students to explore and develop their creativity while building a portfolio of design experiences continuously throughout all four years.

The design experiences range over a breadth of problems, from larger systemic problems to smaller focused problems, so that students have a broad exposure to all the different applications of design practice. Some fall and spring semester studios are taught as a sequence to give students experience with the design process from beginning to implementation. The studios also aim to develop students’ skills in using computers and other advanced tools and techniques, as well as in drawing, visualizing, communicating, and working together. In short, they provide all that is necessary to put their creativity to work as leaders of design and innovation, whether it be in a multinational business at the cutting edge of the global market or in a smaller business that creates an unusual solution to a local problem. The degree requires 132 credit hours.

PDI Curriculum in Building Science and STS

1. This course is under development and is not listed in the course catalog.
2. For PDI students, Design Studio 3 can be substituted for the second STS concentration option.
3. The science sequence may be selected, with the assistance of the students’ adviser, from among 1000-level introductory sequences in Biology, Chemistry, Geology, or Physics, including ERTH-1030, ERTH-1040 Natural Science I, II.
4. Candidate courses include: STSS-4350 Politics of Design; STSS-4960 History of Design; STSS-4960 Invention, Innovation, and Design; STSH-4230 Engineering Ethics; STSS-4110 Social Effects of Science and Technology; STSS-4250 Human Dimensions of Biomedical Technologies; STSS-4310 Politics of Science and Technology; STSS-4560 Gender, Science, and Technology; and STSS-4650 History of American Technology.
5. The STS Senior Project is combined with the Capstone Design Studio to make an 8-credit capstone studio project.

GENERAL NOTES:

A. The degree requires 132 credit hours.