MAE-162B was the senior mechanical engineering design course (Capstone Design Course) in which we had to design, analyze, and build an electro-mechanical device of our own creation. It was a very tough course. Each of the class’ 5-student member teams had to come up with a design concept that we would be able to fabricate and demonstrate within a span of 10 weeks. For a senior undergrad who had only taken fundamental academic engineering courses, this was a very big challenge. Before taking this class, I had no experience in solving real-life engineering problems. However, not only did we eventually succeed, but also our group was ranked first and won the “best design” competition. We developed an automatic tee-shirt folding machine, which with a push of a button folded a tee-shirt perfectly, every time. To this day, I am very proud of our design and of the final product, which we even powder coated. Had it not been for the lectures, design guidance, encouragement, and motivation by Prof. Shaefer we would most likely not have succeeded. Through the tireless hour-long weekly team meetings, which Prof. Shaefer held with every one of the 12 teams in the class, he would go over all our design, analysis, and fabrication issues and he would always be very encouraging never letting us lose our enthusiasm until the very end of the project. His lectures were very well organized, and the topics were directly relevant to the majority of the team’s projects. In addition, he introduced us to the Cambridge Engineering Materials Selector (GRANTA – M. Ashby) and he made the class learn the software and apply it to select the most suitable materials for our devices. Prof. Shaefer also introduced us to FEM analysis and mandated that every team optimize part thicknesses based on anticipated loadings. Needless to say, we learned a lot about real-life engineering in a very short time, because of his personal devotion to the class, which was evident in his willingness to help teams outside of class or lab time. I consider it an honor great luck and to have had such a caring and knowledgeable professor in the Capstone Design course, which was the last course of my B.S. education at UCLA.

I don't know why a fusion researcher would be the professor of a mechanical product design class. This quarter's pre-determined project was to fabricate a can-crusher. His lectures were boring to most students, and luckily they lasted at most 90 minutes. Instead of talking about theory, he should have lectured about the different materials and mechanical applications which are relevant to our projects, not derive the power screw equation. His meetings with the group were useless half of the time. Sometimes he would have no idea what out project is about and then ask random questions like "Do you have the torque-speed curve?" or "Did you buy your motor from Apex?"

Much of what is "learned" in this class is through machining and through trial and error. Shaefer only gives you advice. His motto is "I believe that students teach themselves and that the professor’s primary function is to guide the students." If you ask him about specific machining questions, he will direct you to the TA or Anatoly. He can only give you advice on whether your design is manufacturable, so after the design stage, he is virtually useless.

Luckily, he has simplified the projects in the past years, as in the past more challenging projects such as a lawn mower and other complex electro-mechanical machines were demanded. Also luckily, even if your project fails during the product demonstration, you still have a chance at an A. He is also very lenient on grading the reports (as long as you label your figures,) which makes up a significant portion of your final grade.