Engineering Design Center

• established in 1959
• renamed the Electronics Design Center in 1981

Text authored by Laurie Dudik, Managing Engineer, and Chung Chiun Liu, Distinguished University Professor, Wallace R. Persons Professor of Sensor Technology and Control Professor.

The Electronics Design Center, or Engineering Design Center as it was originally known, was established in 1959, by a group of faculty who hoped to create an interdisciplinary research center on the campus of Case Institute of Technology which is now part of Case Western Reserve University. A grant from the Ford Foundation assisted in establishing the Engineering Design Center, creating a goal-oriented research and development program that carried research projects from concept and design through to prototype construction and evaluation.

Prior to the actual construction of the laboratories, a fundamental philosophy was established by the faculty of the Electronics Design Center. These philosophical principles were:

• Design is the Essential Purpose of Engineering
  It begins with the recognition of a need and the conception of an idea to meet this need. It proceeds with the definition of the problem, continues through a program of directed research and development, and concludes its first phase with prototype construction and evaluation.
• Design is a Creative Activity
  It involves bringing into being something innovative and useful that has not existed previously. This total job is becoming more challenging and difficult as the demands of society require the engineer to deal with increasingly complex systems.
• Design is an Interdisciplinary Education
  Students actively participating in professional design experience the interaction and cooperation of many academic disciplines.

Based on these philosophical principles and recognizing the inter-disciplinary nature of research, the Engineering Design Center (EDC) was created at Case Institute of Technology in 1960.

The EDC became the site of the first cleanroom for microelectronics fabrication built on a university campus (known as “the bubble”) in 1962. This was just one of the many first accolades that the EDC received over its long and varied history in seminal academic and practical research and development endeavors.

The type of design and concept research conducted in the EDC have changed over its 60-year history. Consequently, the advancements in technology and the research interests and focuses of the CWRU faculty led to unique innovations in the research areas and needs from monitoring apparatus for newborn infants to microfabricated fuel cells to miniature sensors to the detection of biomarkers of cancer and other diseases. Biomedical related research was a long established multi-disciplinary focus of study in the Center, including early work in electrical stimulation systems to aid those with mobility problems.

Timeline of the History of the Engineering Design Center

• 1959: Establishment of Engineering Design Center
  A five million dollars over five years grant from the Ford Foundation provided the foundation of a goal oriented, inter- and multi-disciplinary research and development center. The center was to be research and development oriented, with an emphasis on professional and practical design. The focus was on a teamwork approach which brought students, technical staff, faculty, and industrial engineers together to work on industrial and academic experiments.


• 1959 – 1963: Initial Phase of Engineering Design Center
  In this initial period, major research and development efforts in EDC were:
  • Medical Engineering – Arm Aid (Prostheses, Hall Effect Transducers)
  • Digital Systems – Control Systems
  • Solid State Electronics – Telemetry (EMG, EKG) devices
  • Engineering Syntheses and Optimization
  • Aerospace and Industrial Thrust – 10-5 g, Control Systems, Fluid Logic


• 1964-1970 – Growth Period of Engineering Design Center
  Additional research grants from various Federal, state, and private foundations, as well as industrial support to the faculty and the projects, allowed the expansion of the research and development efforts in this period. Major research activities in the Center included:
  • Medical Engineering
    • Prostheses - Arm Aide, Hand Study
    • Biomechanics – Tissue Properties (electrical and mechanical)
    • Dental – Mechanics of Mastication (instruments and study)>
    • Microelectronic Laboratory for Biomedical Sciences (1966-1981 grant from National Institute of General Medical Sciences aimed at applying solid state electronics to biomedical instrumentation)
  • Digital Systems – Logic Synthesis, Speech Analysis, Optimum Rocket Control
  • Solid State Electronics
    • Clean Room and Facilities
    • Telemetry – K-1, K-5 and multiplex systems
    • Thin Film Material Study
    • MOS (metal oxide semiconductors) – Capacitors and Technology
  • Engineering Syntheses
    • Elementary Systems – Air Foil, Spring-Damper
    • Interrelation between Synthesis, Analysis and Design Philosophy
    • Operational Synthesis Capability
    • Synthesis Techniques
  • Control System – Fluid logic devices and systems, Control System Design
  • Urban Transportation