My favorite class in college so far was Design and Manufacturing (ME203) taught by Professor Dave Beach. From my experience talking with professionals and from my internship at Sigma Design, many engineers as well as engineering culture, try to separate the two disciplines; Design the product, then figure out how to make it. What I got a taste of in ME203 is what a flawed concept this is. How you choose to manufacture a product puts limits on the design. Or through a more optimistic lens, manufacturing processes enable the design of the product. The great thing about ME203 is that in addition to giving students an understanding of manufacturing by introducing machining (manual mill and lathe), casting, welding and other processes, it also allows the student to experience the link between design and manufacturing in the form of a personal project. Below is a photo gallery of my project and a description of the idea and the process used to create what I made: