Automation of the Capstone Team Formulation Process
- Conference
- Location
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Marietta, Georgia
- Publication Date
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March 10, 2024
- Start Date
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March 10, 2024
- End Date
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March 12, 2024
- Page Count
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12
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--45509
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/45509
- Download Count
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17
Paper Authors
Wayne Johnson
University of Georgia
orcid.org/0000-0001-9897-2366
Wayne M. Johnson is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Environmental, Civil, Agricultural and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens, GA. Prior to joining UGA in 2022, he was a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Southern University-Armstrong Campus, Savannah GA. He received his Ph.D. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering (Cum Laude) from Louisiana State University. He has published 16 papers in peer-reviewed journals, 28 papers in peer-reviewed conference proceedings, and given 12 technical presentations on various topics including: additive manufacturing, mechatronics, biomechanics, and engineering education. He currently teaches the Engineered Systems In Society, Mechanical Engineering Professional Practice, and Capstone Design I and II courses.
Roger Hilten University of Georgia
Roger Hilten is an Assistant Professor of Practice at the University of Georgia in the College of Engineering's School of Environmental, Civil, Agricultural, and Mechanical Engineering. Dr. HIlten is deeply involved in Capstone Design at all levels, from project solicitation to individual student mentoring. Dr. Hilten collaborates with a team of instructors to develop and deliver Capstone course material while gathering data to continually improve the Capstone experience for students, project sponsors, and faculty involved. Administratively, Dr. Hilten works with the Capstone Industry Coordinator to seek out new project sponsors and develop projects to fit the needs of Capstone while also supporting students' on-the-ground procurement, prototyping, and testing efforts for over 100 Capstone projects. Dr. Hilten acts the Director for the College's Lab Support Team which manages instructional, fabrication, and testing facilities as well as the tools and equipment that support students to effectively complete all types of projects, Capstone Design projects included.
Kevin J. Wu University of Georgia
Kevin J. Wu is currently the Engineering Catalyst for Innovation Gateway at the University of Georgia and an Adjunct Instructor with the University of Georgia College of Engineering. Mr. Wu’s current research interests lie in examining the factors that affect innovation in undergraduate teams. Mr. Wu received a bachelor’s and master’s degree in engineering from the University of Georgia.
Jorge Ivan Rodriguez-Devora University of Georgia
Dr. Rodriguez serves as the industry capstone project coordinator for the College of Engineering at the University of Georgia. He is a faculty member of the School of Environmental, Civil, Agricultural and Mechanical Engineering.
Abstract
The team formulation process is one of the most time-consuming activities for senior design capstone course instructors. Some of the factors contributing to the complexity of the process include balancing students’ project interests, interest in working with specific students, personalities, and instructor/institutional project priority. Instructors have used various techniques and subsequent combinations to guide the capstone team formation process: student self-selection, instructor selection based on student leadership style, academic performance, and student “mingling” based on their project preference. Several attempts to automate the team formation process based on combinations of the aforementioned techniques have also been employed. Our capstone teams are multidisciplinary, with 52% industry-based projects; and the remaining 48% being either competition, entrepreneurial, or research-based projects, and require the placement of 200+ students across four sections of mechanical engineering capstone courses, with each section having an average 14 teams, with 3 to 5 students per team. The team formation process has typically taken four faculty, 80 hours (collectively) to manually construct the teams based on the prioritized criteria: institutional project priority, student preference (rating of their top 10 projects), discipline requirements, student’s self-identified personality (leadership) profile to account for a balanced team, and student’s self-identified skillset. We present two algorithmic approaches to automate the capstone team formation process based on our prioritized criteria. The Fall 2023 team formation process using the algorithmic approach took 10 hours (collectively) with an average student project preference rating of 2.5. Approximately 47% of students were placed on their top project, while 77% were placed on their top-3 project.
Johnson, W., & Hilten, R., & Wu, K. J., & Rodriguez-Devora, J. I. (2024, March), Automation of the Capstone Team Formulation Process Paper presented at 2024 South East Section Meeting, Marietta, Georgia. 10.18260/1-2--45509
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