At Iowa State University, the Materials Science and Engineering Department teaches a course in the statistics of materials. Approximately one third of this two credit course is devoted to the design of experiments (DOE). A relatively brief introduction to the theory of DOE sets the stage for the inclusion of a software package used to assist materials engineers to design and analyze the results of experiments.

Texts for engineering statistics (1-3) contain chapters dealing with the design of experiments. Literature in materials journals routinely contains references to DOE (4-8). Coupling these texts and recent articles with some practical exposure to design of experiments and the software used to do this, allows students some exposure to industrial practice. In this course students are assigned a major project (20 % of the grade) to be performed in teams. In this project students are encouraged to draw from their co-op and internship experiences. They are also asked to consider to expand upon experiments encountered in other courses in the curriculum.