Design to manufacture — Integrating STEM principles for advanced manufacturing education

The community and technical college systems possess unique opportunities to showcase the integration of Science, Technology, Engineering, (Art), and Math (STE(A)M) programs into cohesive, collective, and collaborative learning environments. It will be shown that involvement from separate disciplines within STEM fields facilitates a learning environment greater than the sum of its individual parts. The essential challenge to take theory shown in class, to a fully realizable product, produced in a college laboratory will be explored. A distinction between classical and modern manufacturing engineering processes will be defined. In a design study, we will look at the fundamental engineering principles of an internal combustion intake manifold system to showcase the central integration of design within STEM education. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation software will showcase that artistic design can improve the dynamics of a component. Finally, it will be shown that STEM project/product design need to be developed around advanced manufacturing techniques, ignoring the limitations of conventional machining.