Case Study: Northeastern University achieves hands‑on freshman engineering experience with MathWorks (MATLAB)

Northeastern University’s High-Tech Tools and Toys Lab Teaches Freshmen to Think Like Engineers

Northeastern University’s High‑Tech Tools and Toys Laboratory (HTT&TL) needed a way to teach programming and engineering to freshmen with widely varying backgrounds. Instructors wanted motivating, hands‑on projects that exposed students to real instrumentation and engineering tradeoffs rather than toy problems. They chose MathWorks products—primarily MATLAB with the Data Acquisition Toolbox and Instrument Control Toolbox—as the programming and instrument‑control platform for their required Engineering Problem‑Solving and Computation course.

Using MathWorks software, the professors outfitted workstations with GPIB‑capable test equipment, transducers, and stepper motors so students could build and measure systems (speed of sound, stepper‑motor control, subsurface ultrasound imaging, and color‑sorting vision projects). The MathWorks tools let students control instruments and analyze data in one environment, giving 50–100 freshmen per year real engineering experience, overwhelmingly positive feedback, and curriculum adoption by three Massachusetts community colleges; juniors also reuse the same MATLAB skills in advanced courses.

Northeastern University

Stephen McKnight

Professor