Historically, the first year of engineering education has had little engineering; instead, courses for students have been foundational courses in math, physics, chemistry, and biology. The new course Engineering Design and Communication engages all first-year students in an authentic, hands-on, project-based design course.  Student teams engage in the engineering design process and build low- and medium-fidelity prototypes to solve a community-based need or problem. SSRI has partnered with Pratt to understand the effect of this pedagogical redesign on students’ short-term and long-term academic development.