Dialogue of Civilization 2019 – Silicon Valley

Students jumping in front of Tesla building

Teaching Professor Bala Maheswaran led the five-week-long Dia­logue of Civilization program, titled, “Technical Innovation and Product Prototyping” at Silicon Valley, San Jose. The program explored the customer-driven market, technology innovation, and rapid product prototyping via experiential and interactive team-based, skill- and knowledge-integrated approaches using real-world situations.

Silicon Valley is ground zero for technology evaluation. Silicon Valley’s big corporations and startup companies provide an ideal setup for students to shape engineering applications through experiential learning. Silicon Valley is continuously producing new technologies and contributing positively to the world. Its ever-evolving technology transfer and startup companies create the finest system for the Dialogue of Civilizations to Northeastern University students. The “NU Silicon Valley Campus” provided the perfect facilities for classes and activities. Also, the group spent the end of the program in San Francisco and used the Northeastern University San Francisco campus at, “WeWork”, for activities.

The dia­logue offered two courses on customer-driven technical innovation and product prototyping, which included activities, such as, visits to several established and start-up companies, visits to Tech Innovation and Company Museums, listening to numerous guest seminars given by managers at the Silicon Valley companies, customer interviews, and social events. Stu­dents were required to present a case study on Silicon Valley companies, their failures and success stories, proposals for projects based on a customer survey, and designing, building and presenting prototypes, and write project reports with a business plan. Learning about Silicon Valley start-up and large corporation culture provides valuable opportunities for education, research and professional careers for Northeastern University students.

students in front of intel buildingstudents inside tesla building
students at silicon valleystudents in front of google sign
group of studentsstudents in front of santa cruz beach boardwalk

Student group photos as part of Silicon Valley Dialogue of Civilizations trip.

Related Faculty: Bala Maheswaran