Students work on a wide range of exploratory design projects in inter-disciplinary groups of 25 to 30; the project may have external sponsors or partners who are available for consultation and support. A holistic approach to the engineering design process is adopted, emphasizing the often-conflicting demands of scientific, societal, environmental and sustainable requirements. Other key components of the course include an introduction to working in teams, written and oral communications, workshops on technical writing, oral presentation, library usage and information gathering. Each class will have a writing fellow assigned to provide support, workshops, and consultation on writing, reading, listening and speaking issues. All groups meet mid-semester to present their progress; the course concludes with a multimedia presentation and formal written report from each group.