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Session 3266

Lessons Learned in Mechanical Engineering Capstone Design Classes

Kendrick Aung

Department of Mechanical Engineering Lamar University, Beaumont, Texas 77710

Abstract

For all engineering students, senior capstone design course is a required course for completion of their bachelor degree. With more emphasis on the design contents in engineering curricula, the importance of capstone classes for students cannot be overemphasized. This paper described the author’s experiences in conducting capstone classes for the last three years in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Lamar University. The paper presented difficulties and problems encountered in completing these projects from the viewpoints of both instructor and students. Each project and the problems associated with it were discussed in details. The experiences and lessons learned from these projects are applicable to most capstone design projects and thus, the paper will be beneficial to other instructors teaching capstone design classes.

Introduction

Senior capstone design classes represent the penultimate experience for undergraduate students in completing their bachelor degree. These classes require higher learning skills involving analysis and synthesis of knowledge and information to solve a real-world engineering problem. In many engineering curricula, capstone design is the class where students gain experience with the complete design process including defining the problem, generating engineering specifications, developing and evaluating conceptual designs, choosing final design, and conducting engineering analysis on the final design. In some cases, students have the chance to implement and test their design to see whether their application of concept, knowledge, and analysis on their design work out as planned. With more emphasis on the design contents in the engineering curricula, the importance of capstone classes for students cannot be overemphasized.

This paper described the author’s experiences in conducting capstone classes for the last three years in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Lamar University. The paper presented difficulties and problems encountered in completing these projects from the viewpoints of both instructor and students. Each project and the problems associated with it were discussed in details.

Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright  2005, American Society for Engineering Education

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Aung, K. (2005, June), Lessons Learned In Mechanical Engineering Capstone Design Classes Paper presented at 2005 Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--14686