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Design Engineer, Case Study Specialist – Chair in Design Engineering (CDE)

Department:

Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering

Effective Date: May 2011
Grade: USG 10 Reports to:

Chair in Design Engineering

General Accountability

This position is accountable to the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) – Waterloo Chair in Design Engineering (CDE).   This is an initiative funded under NSERC’s Chair in Design Engineering program.

The Waterloo Cases in Design Engineering (WCDE) group has the mission to develop a culture of learning excellence based on the philosophy of design and the mechanism of cases.  This will be achieved by developing and implementing design cases, derived primarily from student co-op term experience and student design projects, across the Faculty of Engineering.  This is a faculty-wide initiative, the Chair being administratively housed within the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering (MME).

The Design Engineer is accountable to the CDE for functional leadership in the implementation of design cases and the case method throughout the Faculty of Engineering, generation and development of design cases, liaison with faculty instructors, industrial contacts, participating in internal and external committees, liaising with key stakeholders, functional management of co-op student staff, and other administrative functions as required to support the teaching, learning and research goals of the CDE.

Nature and Scope

The Design Engineer, case study specialist is one of three positions reporting to the Design Chair for the express purpose of developing, implementing and promoting cases throughout the Faculty curriculum.  The Design Engineer will work with the Design Chair team, including the Design Chair, an existing design engineer, Administrative assistant, as well as faculty members, staff, undergraduate and graduate students.  The Design Engineer will be responsible for the leadership and supervision of co-op students and teaching assistants (TA) employed by the CDE. 

The Design Engineer will interact with course instructors, student authors, industry partners and internal/external committees supporting the Design Chair program.  This will include interactions with Design Champions, one selected from each department in Engineering, the Pedagogical committee, personnel from the Centre for Teaching Excellence, as well as the Industrial Advisory committee, consisting of representatives from industry and senior University administration.  Detailed relationships that are additional to the CDE organization are identified below.

Significant internal relationships:

Significant external relationships:

The case development process is highly collaborative requiring outstanding interpersonal, oral, written and presentation communication skills.  A good understanding of learning and teaching processes and the university-level educational environment is also important

Statistical Data

The Waterloo Chair in Design Engineering (CDE) program was awarded in 2004 and was renewed for 5 years commencing in January 2011.  Total program funding (direct and in-kind) is approximately $2.5M over five years.

Specific Accountabilities

Management

Case Implementation

Development

Promotion

Project Management

Administrative Aspects

Working Conditions