Session 1232 Capstone Design in the ECE Curriculum: Assessing the Quality of Undergraduate Projects at WPI William Michalson, Robert Labont6 Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Worcester Polytechnic Institute AbstractSince adopting the WPI-Plan in 1972 at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, one of the degree requirements forundergraduates has been the completion of a Major Qualifying Project. Although this project
successful and interesting projects, in its original format, the capstone course was tooshort and did not afford the students time to truly demonstrate their capabilities.Also, in order for the EET program to fullfill more strongly the ABET outcomes related todemonstrate that students are able to function on multi-disciplinary teams (outcome d), that theyshow a strong ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems (outcome e) andare able to understand professional and ethical responsibility (outcome f). Based on these goals,the EET faculty and its Industrial Advisory Board (IAB) agreed to modify and expand the EETSenior Project Course into two courses. TEET4610 is a 1-credit course offered in the fallsemester, and a TEET4620 is a 2
Session 2566 Managing a Capstone Design Clinic—Strategies for Pedagogic and Financial Success Dr. Charles Pezeshki School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering Washington State University Pullman, WA 99164-2920 pezeshki@wsu.eduMany ABET-certified programs in mechanical engineering have a team-orientedpracticum involving projects generated by outside industrial sponsors that are supportersof the university. A smaller subset of these programs are financially successful, andgenerate
and the solutions they comeup with into a broader social context.Experiences with Real World Multidisciplinary Design ProblemsThe mission of Rensselaer’s O.T. Swanson Multidisciplinary Design Laboratory (MDL)is to provide clinical real-world experiences that build confidence in and teach students tointegrate discipline-specific knowledge with practice on challenging design projects. The Page 11.806.3MDL provides a capstone experience intended to prepare engineering students to enterthe workforce. In the past seven years, since the MDL first opened, we have secured anddelivered results on 44 industry-sponsored projects from global companies
impact scientific research results. Dr. Jariwala has participated and led several research projects from funded by NSF, the State of Georgia and Industry sponsors. At Georgia Tech, he is responsible for enhancing corporate support for design courses, managing design and fabrication/prototyping facilities, coordinating the design competitions/expo and teaching design courses, with a strong focus on creating and enabling multidisciplinary educational experiences. c American Society for Engineering Education, 2017 Web-based Tools For Supporting Student-driven Capstone Design Team Formation Varun Agrawal
Integration of Capstone Design Experience with the International Exchange ProgramThis work presents an overview of our recent efforts introducing international aspects into thesenior capstone design curriculum. Partly based on our previous experience, we proposed andreceived funding for the integration of international design project collaboration into aninternational exchange program between U.S. and Brazil funded by the U.S. Department ofEducation’s Fund for the Improvement for Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE) and theCoordination for Graduate Studies of the Brazilian Ministry of Education (CAPES). Theproposal involves four universities, two from U.S. and two from Brazil and encompasses twomain research areas in aerospace
-ended qualitative questions. The survey results are presented, with some examples,qualitative responses, and discussion from the authors. By presenting and publishing this paper,the authors hope to learn from similar programs in practice, share our experiences, and perhapsinspire others to try such ventures.Literature reviewMany construction educators understand that learning through service can be very effective,providing students with opportunities to practice professional and independent learning skills inthe context of “real world” problems which they all seem to enjoy. According to Scott Stanfordet al. [1], service learning is one of the four emerging trends in engineering capstone courses,along with technology, multidisciplinary projects
courses throughprovision of projects and direct monetary support. Additionally, it has been our experience atCSM that industry advisory committee members from the three subject disciplines support andencourage the development of the capstone experience. Advisory committee members from thethree participating CSM departments, who are also potential employers, provide consistentencouragement for the continued development and improvement of the capstone coursediscussed in this paper. Interviews of recruiters from a variety of employers echo the support forthe capstone courses importance and significance. This interest likely arises from studies thathave shown direct monetary benefits realized through teamwork across the PE, GE, and GPdisciplines
nature of the teams were such that each student neededto provide specific skills in order to complete the project. After completion of the course,the authors noted that a key concern was that the civil engineering students did notparticipate as much as the students from the other disciplines.Another potential issue with multidisciplinary capstone design involving civil andenvironmental engineers is the scale of the infrastructure design projects that arecommon in these disciplines. Frank et al.5 described a multidisciplinary capstone seniordesign project program at Florida State University. Their multidisciplinary programincludes mechanical, electrical and computer, and industrial and manufacturingengineering. The authors report that the program
, the twosemesters follow each other directly, with students taking the first semester in late summer,followed immediately by the second semester in the Fall. In the other sequence, the students takethe first semester in early summer, and then spend 6 months on co-op before returning in theSpring to complete the second semester of Capstone. Although these two sequences weredeveloped simply to accommodate student schedules, this fact provides an opportunity todetermine whether the lag between semesters hinders, aids, or has no effect on whether studentsgenerate quality designs and use good project management techniques. Students who take theconsecutive sequence have the advantage of working continually on their design problem for 2terms
developed following a review of other capstone courses describedin literature. Open-ended design projects are developed with assistance from industry advisorsand presented to the students at the start of the course. The students then spend two semesterspreparing solutions to the problems. The first year the course was offered went much asexpected based on the instructors’ previous experiences. Students complained of vagueinstructions, too much work, and lack of experience. However, additional student concerns withfairness and inequitable workloads were expressed. Refinements to the project selection processand course administration were made to address these concerns.1. IntroductionThe relative newness of the Civil and Environmental Engineering
. She holds BA, MS, and PhD degrees. Page 14.1071.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2009 Start Earlier, Prepare Better: An Engineering Senior Seminar CourseAbstractThis paper describes a seminar course offered to senior engineering students to prepare them fortheir senior design projects and to prepare them for their future professional careers.Most undergraduate curricula, especially in the field of engineering, include senior design as oneof the capstone courses. Successful senior projects demonstrate the knowledge and problem-solving abilities of students as well as
engineering from the University of Stuttgart, Germany, in 1995. Page 25.88.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2012 A Pilot for Multidisciplinary Capstone Design incorporating a Systems Engineering FrameworkSynopsisIn this paper we discuss a pilot project to develop an approach to multidisciplinary capstonedesign that incorporates a systems engineering (SE) framework which can be a model for broadimplementation. It is a reflection of the growing demand for engineers educated to recognize theoverarching significance of systems engineering approaches for the
multiple functions in Understanding of PD costs and economy creating a new product (e.g. marketing, finance, industrial design, engineering, production). Ability to work out project plan and schedules, manage resources, manage risks, complete a Ability to coordinate multiple, interdisciplinary project successfully, and communicate and tasks in order to achieve a common objective. document effectively. Reinforcement of specific knowledge from other courses through practice and reflection in an action-oriented setting
,including biomedical and biotech industries, academic research, intellectual property, FDAregulation, consulting, finance, and other professional tracks. To address the need forundergraduates to possess adequate non-technical skills prior to graduation, BME curriculatypically use capstone courses as vehicles for teaching professionalism. In the BME Capstonecourse at the University of Virginia, we have instituted several mechanisms for instilling a widearray of non-technical professional skills in BME majors. An emphasis on career developmentbegins at the outset of the course with a formal project selection process that features a BMECapstone “Project Fair,” which is similar to a job fair where the students submit resumes andinterview with potential
Factors that Inhibit or Enable Success of Capstone Design Teams LeRoy Alaways Department of Mechanical Engineering Villanova University, Villanova, PA 19087Engineering capstone is considered the final and crowning design course in the engineeringcurriculum. A typical design team is made up with three to five students and is multidisciplinaryin nature. These teams are assembled either by project choice where a member is assigned to aproject, or by group choice where a project is chosen by an existing self-forming group. A self-forming group is characteristically a group of friends that clumped together during theireducational career. No
Evolution of a Senior Capstone Course Through the Assessment ProcessAbstractThe civil engineering senior capstone design course at the United States Coast GuardAcademy has evolved over the past fifteen years. Historically teams of cadets worked inparallel on one design problem with a single faculty advisor. The senior design projectsnow actively involve students in a variety of real world consulting projects to help theCoast Guard and local communities meet technical challenges. Each student team workson a unique project with a faculty advisor. The departmental assessment processconfirmed the educational benefits of student exposure to real world projects with clients,budgets, and deliverables
Evolution of a Senior Capstone Course Through the Assessment ProcessAbstractThe civil engineering senior capstone design course at the United States Coast GuardAcademy has evolved over the past fifteen years. Historically teams of cadets worked inparallel on one design problem with a single faculty advisor. The senior design projectsnow actively involve students in a variety of real world consulting projects to help theCoast Guard and local communities meet technical challenges. Each student team workson a unique project with a faculty advisor. The departmental assessment processconfirmed the educational benefits of student exposure to real world projects with clients,budgets, and deliverables
Evolution of a Senior Capstone Course Through the Assessment ProcessAbstractThe civil engineering senior capstone design course at the United States Coast GuardAcademy has evolved over the past fifteen years. Historically teams of cadets worked inparallel on one design problem with a single faculty advisor. The senior design projectsnow actively involve students in a variety of real world consulting projects to help theCoast Guard and local communities meet technical challenges. Each student team workson a unique project with a faculty advisor. The departmental assessment processconfirmed the educational benefits of student exposure to real world projects with clients,budgets, and deliverables
integration, optimization and customization of CAx tools, with a second focus in the direct machining of CAD topology. Page 12.1141.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2007 PACE Global Vehicle CollaborationIntroductionCapstone design teams have become an integral part of undergraduate engineering education.Through these programs, students have the opportunity to apply what they have learned in theclassroom to actual design projects. Capstone classes provide distinct benefits to students whoparticipate in them. Students are able to put to use their newly acquired “text-book” designexperience in
engineering capstone design course (Senior Design) at theUniversity of Arkansas has been structured to facilitate ABET 2000 Outcomes. Criterion 3Attributes “a” through “k” are listed and a discussion of how each of these attributes areenhanced in the course is provided. For example, capstone design courses offer a uniqueopportunity to learn about professionalism and ethics (attribute “f”) in a realistic, appliedcontext. Because the department does not have a separate ethics course, an ethics unit is taughtin Senior Design. The concepts learned are applied by the project teams to hypotheticalscenarios specific to their projects. The key is to make the ethical dilemma relevant to theirproject work.The University of Arkansas was one of the first two
Session 2425 Capstone Design in Electrical and Computer Engineering Delivery and Assessment of ABET Criterion 3 James A. Reising University of EvansvilleIntroductionSeveral changes have been made to the Senior Design Project Course Sequence at the Universityof Evansville as previously described in “Senior Design Project Course Sequence, Electrical andComputer Engineering”1 to provide students with additional exposure to the non-technicalaspects of engineering and to enable assessment of the outcomes of ABET Criterion 32, listedbelow for
. Page 25.590.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2012 Evaluation of Design Work and the Achievement of Learning Outcomes in Senior Capstone CoursesAbstractThe two-semester Mechanical Engineering Capstone course at Brigham Young University(BYU) was created in 1990 to help students learn a structured design process and assist them indeveloping design skills for the practice of engineering. Course outcomes were establishedbased on stakeholder input and students receive classroom instruction as well as do projectdesign work on projects provided by industry sponsors. To date more than 575 design and buildprojects have been completed for more than 300 industry project sponsors
the 2006-2007 academic year two MET students proposed, for their“senior project”, to convert an existing Mustang automobile to a rechargeable electric vehicle(REV) for commuter transportation. They derived a great deal of personal satisfaction byworking on a technically complex project.This paper will give a short description of the Mechanical Engineering Technology seniorcapstone design course sequence at University of Cincinnati, the list of pre-requisites of thissequence, and describe the 2006-2007 REV project, providing information about an affordable,efficient and cleaner method for commuter transportation.IntroductionCompleting a senior capstone design project is a graduation requirement for all students in theMechanical Engineering
stage. In the course, these process stages and visual steps are used tostructure and facilitate a semester long, student-directed, teacher-facilitated design project inwhich students are asked to design an innovative, inventive, or inspirational idea. Students arefree to choose a project focus in their area of interest. Students in the Digital Media program tendto choose topics such as: character, product, and game design, and architectural, interior, andenvironmental visualization. Self motivation, individuation, and actualization are pedagogicaldrivers that dramatically improve the students’ work ethic and academic performance.ScopeThe scope of this paper is intended to provide an outline of a design process and to describevisual thinking
condition surveys for various mechanical and electrical and systems. He has conducted several projects to reduce carbon dioxide and other building emission impacts by evaluating and improving the energy practices through the integration of sustainable systems with existing systems. His current research focuses on engaging and educating students in sustainable and green buildings’ design and energy conservation. He is currently investigating various ways to reduce energy consumption in office buildings. ©American Society for Engineering Education, 2023 Using Capstone PBL to Demonstrate Achievement of ABET OutcomesAbstractInteractive learning has been proven to increase students’ retention
design lifecycle Engage in community-based educational activitiesWith these goals in mind the Capstone Experience was designed so a team of three or fourstudents would form small “consulting engineering” companies and then, over the course of twoquarters (six months), work on projects submitted by companies in the area.The student teams are mentored by an engineer or manager at the company and “managed” atour university by part-time faculty from the local industrial talent pool. The Capstone facultybrings the necessary real-world experience and soft skills, such as creating and trackingschedules that students need to execute their projects within the allotted time.In Capstone I the student team creates their development contract. It is then
to cutting edge technology currently beingused by progressive industries, give students experience working in teams and making bothwritten and oral presentations. These objectives are in line with the ABET requirements forcapstone courses: (1) “draw together diverse elements of the curriculum,” and (2) “developstudent competence in focusing both technical and non-technical skills in solving problems.” TheSenior Design capstone course is a two semester course pair required of all graduating seniors inthe degree program. Students in these courses closely follow actual construction projects over thenine month course duration. Students choose from projects in commercial construction,residential subdivision construction, heavy highway or
AC 2007-266: USING INDUSTRIAL ADVISORY BOARDS TO ASSESS CAPSTONEDESIGN COURSESStacy Wilson, Western Kentucky UniversityMark Cambron, Western Kentucky University Page 12.1551.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2007 Using Industrial Advisory Boards to Assess Capstone Design CoursesAbstractThe electrical engineering program at Western Kentucky University (WKU) was created in 2001with a focus on project-based education. Faculty have developed a series of experiencesthroughout the curriculum to support this mission which culminates in a year long designsequence. In this sequence, students must plan, design, and
Paper ID #14630Transforming the CREDLE (Capstone Research Experience for Distance Learn-ing Executives)Dr. Malini Natarajarathinam, Texas A&M University Dr. Malini Natarajarathinam is an Associate professor with Department of Engineering Technology and Industrial Distribution. She teaches classes on strategic relationships for industrial distribution, distribu- tion information systems and new directions in Industrial Distribution. She is also the founding faculty and advisor for the Society of Women in Industrial Distribution (SWID). She works on many service learning projects with her students where they work