’Imagine it, build it’ at MIT

In class 2.679 (Electronics for Mechanical Systems II) a hands-on approach provides the skills engineers use to create and solve problems. MIT class 2.679 (Electronics for Mechanical Systems II) offers a sort of alchemy that transforms students from consumers of knowledge to explorers and innovators, and equips them with a range of important new tools at their disposal, students say. "Topics which could otherwise feel intimidating are well-scoped each week so that students come out knowing not only what a concept is, but why it's useful and how to actually implement it," says graduating senior Audrey Chen. "I could consistently come in with no background and come out with practical experience I could use in future projects. I'd describe the class as a series of small crash courses [each of which] answers, simply, 'what do I need to know to do or use this thing?'" The course takes students through the process of design, fabrication, and assembly of a printed circuit board (PCB). Ultimately, that process, which has twists and turns depending on each student's project idea, culminates in incorporating the PCB into a device - in a sense animating that device to perform a certain function. "The design intent of 2.679 is to empower students to 'imagine it, build it,'" says Tonio Buonassisi, professor of mechanical engineering.