Students learn engineering principles through pottery design
Published: May 5, 2026 8:30 AM
By Dustin Duncan
Brenna McAlister, a freshman in chemical engineering, works on a pottery project during an engineering course focused on airflow, pressure and fluid movement.
When Brenna McAlister arrived on the Plains, she expected chemistry, calculus and physics on the path to a chemical engineering degree. She didn’t expect an engineering course where she’d build a working flute out of clay — or design a jar that only works if the physics is right.
McAlister, a freshman in chemical engineering, is enrolled in ENGR 1770 - Engineering Principles for Pottery led by Maria Auad, the Charles E. Gavin III Distinguished Professor and associate dean for graduate studies and faculty development, that blends ceramics with core engineering principles.
The class uses clay to introduce principles like airflow, pressure and fluid movement — requiring students to design objects that work.
“What looks simple isn’t,” Auad said, noting that small changes in angle or structure can determine whether a piece works at all.
The challenge increases because students get one chance to get it right before the clay dries and is fired in a kiln, where it’s permanently hardened.
In one assignment, students constructed instruments, shaping internal channels to produce sound. If an angle was even slightly off, airflow could stop completely, and the piece wouldn’t produce any sound.
Now, students are applying those same ideas to their final projects: puzzle jars. The vessels are built so they can’t be used like a typical cup. Instead, liquid moves through hidden pathways — including handles and internal chambers — and can only be accessed if the system is designed correctly.
McAlister's puzzle jar is called an “assassin’s teapot.” The teapot is divided into two separate chambers, allowing different liquids to be poured depending on which hole is covered. She plans to demonstrate this with colored liquids, highlighting the internal separation and controlled flow.
Other students are taking different approaches. One design drains excess water through a hidden channel once the jar reaches a certain level. Another builds a whistle into the handle, where tilting the vessel forces air through the chamber. A third incorporates multiple misleading openings, requiring the user to identify the correct opening to drink from.
Students said the class breaks from the lecture-heavy rhythm of early engineering coursework by allowing them to put engineering principles into hands-on practice.
“You have so much information that you’re absorbing in your classes,”McAlister said. “It’s nice to come here and actually work on something.”
Anne-Marie Easter, a sophomore in mechanical engineering, said her expectations didn’t quite match reality.
“I thought the class would focus a lot more on formulas, glaze composition and testing materials under different conditions,” Easter said. “Some of that is there, but it’s been a lot more engaging and hands-on than I expected. It’s probably my favorite class.”
Lauren Kim, a freshman in chemical engineering, said she initially assumed the course would function more like a traditional pottery class. Instead, she found it reinforced concepts from her other coursework — and required persistence to get there.
“It actually reinforced a lot of what I’m learning in other classes — things like polymers, alloys, strain and even how different glazes react,” Kim said. “Working with the clay lets you see those concepts instead of just hearing about them.”
Tarek Sheer, a freshman in civil engineering, said the class allows for a level of low-stakes creativity not always present in traditional coursework.
“In engineering, sometimes you have to make it work — otherwise the building is going to collapse,” she said. “Here, you can try things.”
Auad said the course is designed to expose students — many of them in their first or second year — to how engineering problems function in real-world conditions, before they reach more advanced labs.
McAlister said the experience has also changed how she views engineering.
“There’s the technical side of things, but the goal is to make society better,” she said. “And that can include making things that are creative or enjoyable for people.”
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