Skip to the content of the web site.

DESIGN ENGINEER, Waterloo Chair in Design Enginering (WCDE)

Department: Mechanical & Mechatronics Engineering (MME) Effective Date: October, 2009
Grade: USG 10 Reports to: Professor Stephan Lambert

General Accountability

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

The Chair In Design Engineering (CDE) mission is 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 is one of four positions reporting to the Design Chair for the express purpose of developing and implementing cases throughout the Faculty curriculum.  The Design Engineer will work with the Design Chair team, including the Design Chair, Assistant Director, Design Lecturer, Administrative Staff and 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.  Detailed relationships that are additional to the CDE organization are identified below.

 

Significant internal relationships:

 

Significant external relationships:

Industrial Advisory Committee

 

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 started in January 2005.  It is a five year program, with potential of renewal for an additional 5 years.  It’s first term was recently extended to the end of 2010. It is supported by a Title Sponsor, and other key industrial sponsors.  Total program funding (direct and in-kind) is approximately $2.5M over five years. 

Specific Accountabilities

Management

 

Development

 

Promotion

Promote the CDE program by giving presentations to key internal and external stakeholders

Support the Design Chair and Design Lecturer in liaison and presentation activities with existing and new industrial and government partners and other case donors

Support the Assistant Director in generating and editing internal and external communications, such as the web site, newsletter and special event announcements

Lead the organization of special Design events, including developing media release information

 

Project Management

Lead members of each case development project, such as industrial partners, faculty instructors, co-op students to maintain and enhance case quality, timely release and high work efficiency

Perform project tracking and reporting

Manage project risk by identifying, assessing and highlighting risks, and presenting valid and timely mitigation plans

Identify and implement continuous improvements for case products and CDE processes

 

Administrative Aspects

 

Working Conditions