Da Vinci Concentration
Mechanical engineering students at Notre Dame have the opportunity to enroll in the da Vinci Concentration: an academic track that allows students to explore another discipline of interest (from the College of Arts & Letters) and how it relates to mechanical engineering.
I chose to enroll in the da Vinci concentration in order to experience a more well-rounded education and take advantage of as many of Notre Dame's resources as possible. I chose to pursue Psychology as my secondary area of interest for two reasons: 1. to learn more about the users that we, as engineers, design and build things for - if I can better understand what, how and why users think certain things, then I can design and build more meaningful products and experiences, and 2. to learn more about the psychological basis of creativity - I consider myself creative and engineers often get misjudged as not creative, so I wanted to see if creativity is a power that can harnessed and learned and improved upon.
After taking classes in psychological practices, cognitive psychology, and personality and individual differences, I accomplished both of the goals I outlined above. My first two courses gave me great insight into the human thought process about why people choose to do certain things, how they react to stimuli, and what they expect out of people and products - all very valuable information for a designer or engineer. My third course put the spotlight on creativity and my extra research on the subject taught me that while creativity is almost 30% hereditary, the other 70% is built on the structures and environments people are raised, taught and work in. Living, learning and working in places and with people that value broad pool of knowledge and applying intellectual principles across disciplines on a consistent basis has been proven to increase both creative activity and achievement.
Below is the culmination of my da Vinci concentration studying, a 30 minute presentation integrating both my psychology courses and engineering education to form my well-rounded education.
