Studies show that the most creative engineers get their best

Hi cesium4u.

I'm glad to help.

First of all, I will generalize the stimulus as follows:
X is good
However, X is no longer available
Y that is simulated X is necessary

Assumption: Y should be at least as good as X.
Negation to confirm: If X is much better than Y, the conclusion fails.

APPLY TO THE QUESTION:
Fact: Most creative engineers get their best and most useful ideas only after doodling and jotting down what turn out to be outlandish ideas.
Fact: Now that many engineers do their work with computers instead of on paper,
Fact: Doodling is becoming much less common,
Conclusion: It’s necessary to create computer programs for engineering work included simulated notepads that would allow engineers to suspend their “serious” work on the computer, type up outlandish ideas, and then quickly return to their original work.

ANALYZE EACH ANSWER:

(A) Most creative engineers who work with paper and pencil spend about as much time doodling as they spend on what they consider serious work.
Wrong. Out of scope. We do not compare “time” here.

(B) Simulated notepads would not be used by engineers for any purpose other than typing up outlandish ideas.
Wrong. Out of scope. We just talk about the usefulness of simulated notepads for creating outlandish ideas. Nothing about “other purposes”. The fact that simulated notepads can be used for other purposes is not the assumption of the main conclusion “simulated notepads can help engineer to create outlandish ideas”.

(C) No engineers who work with computers keep paper and pencil near their computers in order to doodle and jot down ideas.
Wrong. TEMPTING. But C has two problems:
(1) The fact clearly says that: “Doodling is becoming much less common”. So even when the engineers have paper and pencil, they will not spend time to doodle on paper because they are doing their “serious” work on the computer.
(2) Read the conclusion carefully: “…… computer programs would allow engineers to suspend their “serious” work on the computer, type up outlandish ideas, and then quickly return to their original work”.
The conclusion emphasizes that simulate notepads can help engineers who are doing “serious work” on the computer, so they can type and return quickly to their original work. In fact, paper and pencil can help engineers to jot down ideas, but the engineers can't return quickly to their "serious works". Thus, focus on each word in the conclusion is really important.

(D) The physical act of working on paper is not essential in providing engineers with the benefits that can be gained by doodling.
Correct. This assumption states that simulated notepads can definitely replace papers.

(E) Most of the outlandish ideas engineers jot down while doodling are later incorporated into projects that have practical applications.
Wrong. Out of scope. Nothing about “practical applications”.

Hope it’s clear.