A Deeper Dive that Brings More Innovative and Credible Solutions

Unlike more limited design courses that develop a prototype or plan at the end of a semester, in ME310 graduate engineering teams -- at Stanford and at international partner institutions -- work for nine months to develop extensive new domain knowledge and numerous functional prototypes. They engineer solutions that consider design requirements, technology development, and deployment practicality. Often the information a team develops during its journey turns out to be more valuable than the final product a team produces.

A Global Experience that Reflects Modern Work Environments

Collaborating across international boundaries and cultural differences is hard. At the same time, global work is increasingly common, along with global markets. Students in ME310 learn to navigate the inherent challenges that come with a global perspective through the immersive nature of the course. They navigate relationships not only with international students, but also international coaches, industry affiliates, and faculty, all the while being coached on best practices by seasoned alumni in the Silicon Valley community.

Advanced Methods Derived from Design Innovation Research

The ME310 GEDI course has evolved over time, responding to Ph.D. research findings accrued through more than 30 years of studying high-performance design teams at Stanford's Center for Design Research's (CDR). Over the years, doctoral dissertations have established critical factors affecting team performance, including: the role of physical representations for abstract concepts, information handling and team behaviors, the importance of emotion within a team, and many others. Now the use of emerging AI tools in concert with established best practices opens up a fresh frontier for design methodology. Students and industry affiliates benefit from learning methods that were developed from these findings and are, as a result, at the forefront of modern design practice.