2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), in criterion 5d, establishes the usage of appropriate engineering standards in culminating major engineering design experiences as an essential element of engineering education [1]. Use of standards is addressed during our senior design curriculum in the context of medical device design and design controls, but we observed during consultation with senior design students that this was often insufficient to motivate student engagement with standards when designing and testing their projects. The following lab exercise and assessment pair were developed with the goal outcome of teaching students to recognize, research, and utilize available standards during the engineering design process [2], [3]. Our first objective was to introduce students to standards use in a pre-lab lecture so that students will understand the role of standards in product/process/service development and testing process [2], [3]. Immediately following this, students work through a series of defined steps using a standards manual to setup, run, and report data from a compression test verifying the forces required to operate a standard syringe plunger with the objective of, applying standards to verification testing for medical devices, and analysis of test results. At the end of the semester, application of this skill is assessed during a practical exam. Students are evaluated on their ability to competently operate mechanical test systems while replicating a standard-defined test protocol to verify the strength required to open syringe packaging. The choice of sophomore biomechanics lab allowed us to incorporate a standard test protocol into our existing compression lab without developing a separate module. Obstacles to implementation included obtaining copies of the relevant standards manuals and fabricating custom fixtures to hold syringes in our universal test systems. We developed two methods for fabricating custom fixtures first with laser-cut parts, and later with 3D printed parts. The success of both methods suggests that fixture fabrication is not likely to be an impediment for use of this exercise in other departments and files and directions for each can be found in the appendix. However, the ability to collect the required parameters and graphs does require the availability of a universal test system. Although our initial focus was the biomechanics lab, the broad relevance of standards in biomedical engineering testing allows for the integration of practical standards instruction without requiring access to a mechanical testing lab and, as we've demonstrated, without the need to design a separate instructional module.
References
[1] ABET, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America, Criteria for Accrediting Engineering Programs, 2025-2026. [Online]. Available: https://www.abet.org/accreditation/accreditation-criteria/criteria-for-accrediting-engineering-programs-2025-2026/
[2] A. S. Khan, A. Karim and J. A. McClain, "The State of the Use of Standards in Engineering and Technology Education," presented at American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America, pp. 23.1233.1-23.1233.33, June 23-26, 2013, doi: 10.18260/1-2--22618.
[3] S. Kurihara, "Foundations and Future Prospects of Standards Studies: Multidisciplinary Approach," International Journal of IT Standards and Standardization Research, vol. 6, no. 3, 2008, doi: 10.4018/jitsr.2008070101.