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Ensuring the Success of Competitive Engineering Design Projects Through a Centralized Operation

Tina C. Yuille Clarkson University

ABSTRACT

In 1997 Clarkson University created the SPEED (Student Projects for Engineering Experience and Design) program to centralize the operations of its competition-based engineering design project teams. This paper describes the benefits of centralizing the operations of competition-based engineering design projects. Benefits of centralization include institutionalizing the activities of the project teams, pooling limited resources, decreasing the administrative responsibilities of the faculty advisers, enhancing the project experiences, increasing the effectiveness at which project activities are used as recruiting and marketing agents, and integrating “extracurricular activities” into the curriculum. Best practices gained during the over four years of SPEED’s existence are also described.

introduction

Many universities provide project-based team opportunities to their undergraduate students via competition engineering design projects. Usually these projects “live” in individual engineering departments; e.g. the Formula SAE Racing Car project is offered through Mechanical Engineering Departments and the Steel Bridge competition project is offered through Civil Engineering Departments. These department-specific projects tend to limit the project opportunities to only those students in the sponsoring departments. Also, having department-specific projects may limit the universities’ ability to provide adequate resources to ensure the success of the students’ experiences.

In 1997 Clarkson University created the SPEED Program (Student Projects for Engineering Experience and Design) to confront the challenges faced by department-specific projects. SPEED promotes and supports team-based engineering design project experiences. It provides an umbrella under which these engineering design projects exist to, among other things, increase the interdisciplinary nature of the projects, ensure adequate resourcing of the projects, and enhance the project experiences of the students involved. SPEED consists of 13 student-run, faculty advised competitive engineering design project teams. Clarkson’s Provost, the SPEED Director and the 13 SPEED faculty advisers received the 2001 Boeing Outstanding Educator Award for this innovative program.

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Yuille, T. (2002, June), Ensuring The Success Of Competitive Engineering Design Projects Through A Centralized Operation Paper presented at 2002 Annual Conference, Montreal, Canada. 10.18260/1-2--10569