Date:	June 2014
Reports to (Job Title):	Lab Director – Systems Design Engineering
Jobs Reporting (Job Titles):	Teaching Assistants, Co-op student (on occasion)
Location:	Systems Design Engineering Main Campus
Grade:	USG 12

Primary Purpose

The “Design Instructor” is a key resource for the undergraduate students in Systems Design Engineering and Biomedical Engineering. The incumbent provides instruction, guidance, and technical assistance for those enrolled in all departmental workshops, design-projects, lab courses, and courses with lab components. The incumbent assists students with their design projects, identifies and fosters design projects with high viability, and provides guidance on entrepreneurial development. In addition, the Design Instructor initiates, designs and offers workshops on best design practices relating to hardware, software, and fabrication, and takes an active role in the teaching and administration of the undergraduate laboratory courses.

GENERAL ACCOUNTABILITIES:

The Design Instructor has four principal areas of responsibility and the incumbent must have strong and demonstrable expertise in all of these domains:

The Design Instructor will establish and run an in-house design-project-incubator that will help students, in Systems Design Engineering and Biomedical Engineering, with outstanding design projects to further their progress, and to guide and direct these projects towards possible commercialization. To support this activity, the incumbent will develop and conduct appropriate workshops and courses directed towards entrepreneurial endeavours including intellectual property. In addition, the incumbent will establish and maintain working relationships with the UW Waterloo Commercialization Office, UW VeloCity, The Accelerator Centre, appropriate government offices, and industrial partners in order to mentor students and potentially commercialize exceptional design projects.

As a hardware/software/mechanical design consultant, the Design Instructor will help students to both conceptualize and realize their engineering design goals, and direct them to appropriate resources both inside and outside the University. Therefore, the incumbent must have comprehensive theoretical and practical knowledge of multi-disciplinary systems including: i) electronic components, ii) circuit design and fabrication, iii) embedded software and control, iv) software design, v) sensors, vi) actuators, vii) user interfaces, viii) mechanical components, ix) mechanical fabrication including machining and 3D printing, and x) other common technical areas found in the Systems Design and Biomedical Engineering curricula. The incumbent will have a broad and in-depth knowledge base from which to generate solutions to highly unstructured and complex problems at both theoretical and practical levels and will need to apply a sound analytical and interpretive level of critical thinking to achieve this goal.

The Design Instructor also seeks sponsorship for student design projects by establishing relationships with industrial/commercial entities. Correspondingly, the incumbent is expected to participate in improving departmental design space, workshop and lab facilities, and this is often accomplished via preparation of WEEF (Waterloo Engineering Endowment Foundation) funding proposals and the like.

The undergraduate teaching laboratory is devoted to the three core undergraduate courses for each Systems Design and Biomedical Engineering. These courses currently span the areas of digital systems; circuits, instrumentation and measurements; and control systems. As such, the Design Instructor must be highly proficient in the material for all of the lab courses offered by the Department. In addition, other departmental courses may incorporate lab-components into their curriculum and the incumbent is expected to contribute to the development and running of these labs. Formal instruction can include presenting an introduction at the start of each lab session to highlight background information, relevancy of the lab exercise to course material, and problems students may encounter. In addition, it can also include classroom lecturing in consultation with the department chair and/or associate undergraduate chair. Informal instruction includes addressing student questions during lab sessions, during scheduled office hours, and through impromptu student interactions. In general, the Design Instructor will specialize in one of the three lab courses, but is expected to be capable of functioning effectively in any of the lab courses.

Key Accountabilities:

1.	Provide instructional support and mentoring to students in Systems Design Engineering and Biomedical Engineering workshop and design courses: Conceptualize and present a series of best-practice design workshops to students Actively participate in mentoring students taking SYDE/BME design courses Advise students on design project viability and how to realize their designs Provide expert guidance on mechanical, electrical, and software systems in student design projects Participate as a hardware and software technical consultant for students enrolled in Systems Design Engineering and Biomedical Engineering workshop and project courses distributed throughout the entire undergraduate program Participate as a supervisor/advisor for student design projects as time permits Resolve complex and non-routine problems in the SYDE/BME teaching lab and in student design projects Ensure that safe practices are followed in the SYDE/BME workshop and special project lab Demonstrate the proper use of workshop equipment and tools Manage and track departmental funds used to supplement student design project costs Stay current in their subject matter through professional development, through involvement in professional organizations, and attending professional meetings, conference or workshops. Works with the Lab Director as appropriate with program evaluations
2.	Provide design and entrepreneurial instruction for student design groups: Setup and manage an in-house incubator to assist students with outstanding design projects Develop and administer a by-invitation entrepreneurial course Maintain a comprehensive understanding of all departmental student design projects, identity those with significant potential, and partner with internal and external resources with a view towards further development and possible commercialization Conceptualize and run design competitions for departmental workshop groups Conceptualize and run design workshops relating to designing for manufacturing Advise students with intellectual property aspects of their projects Liaison with the UW Commercialisation Office on behalf of students Liaison with external organizations such as the Accelerator Centre, the Canadian Digital Media Network, Communitech, Governmental, and others, for funding and mentoring for design groups
3.	Provide instructional support and mentoring to students in the Systems Design Engineering and Biomedical Engineering laboratory courses as assigned by the Lab Director: Present theory and concepts to students pertaining to laboratory experiments Demonstrate laboratory experiments in Systems Design and Biomedical Engineering lab courses Present and develop information for students concerning laboratory safety Take the lead in the design, development and fabrication of complex laboratory experiments and equipment Prepare and modify laboratory manuals and procedures as needed Apply pedagogical expertise to continuously improve lab course structure and content; this may include independent and significant modification or redesign of lab material in addition to development of innovative material for new courses Collaborate with academic counterparts of lab courses to effectively synchronize the learning experience Enrich the student experience of the lab component through the development of multi-media instructional aids Participate in the structuring, design and running of new lab/design courses for both Systems Design Engineering and Biomedical Engineering
4.	Management of the Systems Design and Biomedical Engineering workshop and lab space: Prepare and maintain lab and workshop equipment Participate in keeping the labs and experiments current with new technology and theory Maintain the workshop design space in accordance with University health and safety standards Propose and implement improvements to the functionality and use of workshop design space
5.	Other duties, but not limited to: Acts as primary back up for the Lab Instructor in periods of absence and peak activity Participate in special projects (e.g. curriculum development, faculty-wide initiatives, special reports, etc.) as assigned by the Lab Director, Departmental Chair or Associate Undergraduate Chair The incumbent will occasionally be required to serve on committees pertaining to lab and workshop outcomes, departmental staffing, student experience reviews, safety committees and others as the need arises

Position Requirements

Education:

Completion of a bachelor’s degree in Mechatronics, Electrical/Electronics/Computer/Systems/Software engineering including the successful completion of undergraduate courses spanning ”linear control systems”, “digital circuits”, and “analog circuits, instrumentation and measurement”, and having current knowledge in these areas
A graduate degree in a related discipline is highly preferred
The successful applicant will be a registered Professional Engineer in the Province of Ontario, or be eligible to become one
WHMIS training is necessary and a current First-Aid certificate would be an asset

Experience:

Must have a minimum of five years commercial experience involving multidisciplinary design of consumer products
Must have a strong understanding and significant experience with full-cycle product design
Must have a solid understanding of the commercialization process including a strong knowledge of start-up companies
Must have in-depth knowledge of the core Systems Design and Biomedical Engineering lab course material including:
Solid knowledge of linear control systems including electro-mechanical system modelling, Laplace transforms, block diagram algebra, stability analysis, Bode and Nyquist plots, controller design techniques, state-space representations, sampling theorems, and other common linear system concepts
Solid knowledge of first principle electric circuit analysis using KVL, KCL, Thevenin and Norton, RLC circuits, filters, op-amps, A/D and D/A converters, and measurement theory
Demonstrable knowledge of number systems, digital circuits, gates, digital hardware, digital circuit simulation, digital circuit analysis
Must have significant experience using and programming microcontrollers
Must have a solid understanding and experience with software design and development
Must have knowledge and experience with biomedical systems and/or devices, biomechanics, or signals and imaging
Must have significant experience with intellectual property with particular emphasis on Canadian and US patenting processes
Must have a strong sense of pedagogy and how it is applied to diverse and changing student group
Must have practical experience with and sound knowledge of sensors, actuators, hardware design and fabrication, software design, embedded systems, analog and digital circuit design, mechanical systems, and mechanical system fabrication
Must have experience and proficiency using scientific and lab software applications such as LabVIEW, Matlab, circuit simulators, CAD, and others as the need arises
Must have experience with design of test plans, instrumentation usage and failure analysis
Must have the ability to liaise with organizations for the purpose of raising funding and/or for the purposes of attaining expert advice and mentoring
Must be able to work both with significant autonomy and collaboratively within a team
Must have excellent and demonstrable oral and written communication skills, including strong technical documentation and presentation/ facilitation skills
Must be experienced with, or have the demeanour and desire to interact with students in a professional manner to provide technical advice and instructional material
Must possess strong leadership and supervisory skills with the proven ability to mentor and develop staff
Must have excellent interpersonal, analytical, research, organizational, project management, and creative problem solving skills
Must have proficiency with Microsoft Office suite of programs

Technical:

MS Word	Excel	PowerPoint	Other

Nature and Scope

Interpersonal Skills:

Internally, frequent communication is required with staff, students, and faculty members in the department. In addition, the incumbent will occasionally present information to students with regard to labs and workshop courses. Externally, this position will occasionally require contact with vendors/suppliers/manufacturers for the purposes of purchasing and maintaining equipment. Additionally, incumbent will liaise with various stakeholders including UW Waterloo Commercialization Office, UW VeloCity, The Accelerator Centre, appropriate government offices, other academic institutions and industrial partners.

Level of Responsibility:

The job has specialized work with some supervision and provides guidance to others.

Decision-Making Authority:

Physical and Sensory Demands:

Requires exertion of physical or sensory effort resulting in moderate fatigue, strain or risk of injury. Lab supervision requires long periods of standing. Some lifting and transporting of heavy and/or awkward equipment will be required.

Working Environment:

Involves moderate physical or psychological risk resulting from unavoidable exposure to hazardous, disagreeable or uncomfortable environmental conditions. In certain cases, the “lab instructor”, the teaching assistants, and the students may work with hazardous voltage levels and electro-mechanical apparatuses. Consequently, safety procedures must be strictly enforced. Incumbent will work within an open concept laboratory and work is subject to several interruptions. Evening and weekend work will occasionally be required.