 Real World Experience
The capstone senior design project is intended to be the culmination of the undergraduate experience, where knowledge gained in the classroom is applied to a major design project. The School of Engineering recognizes the value of having the senior projects be sponsored by industry and has the goal of having the majority of senior projects sponsored or defined and mentored in collaboration with an industrial partner. This provides meaningful projects of value to the sponsor, and it imbues a professional orientation in the student team as they work towards providing the sponsor with deliverables in a manner that simulates the environment in which they will shortly be operating. At the same time the project is crafted to meet the educational goals of the capstone design course, which runs the full senior year.
Images above are of the FSAE student design team of 2002 sponsored by....
TeamWork
Projects involve teams, typically 2-6 students, working approximately one day per week over two academic semesters. Multi-disciplinary projects are encouraged.
Suitable projects might include feasibility studies; design or redesign problems that are longer term and/or lower priority than the sponsor can tackle with their available personnel. This addresses the timing of Senior Design, which in both start time and project duration is not on the compressed scale of industrial activities. The goal would be to benefit the sponsor on a long-term basis rather than link the project to an immediate need. A Stevens faculty advisor will be assigned to guide the students in fulfilling the project requirements. Typically the sponsor will also provide an advisor.
The Mechanical Game of Life was a 2003 senior design project.... Benefits to the Students - It is an opportunity to work at meeting a practical industrial need rather than pursuing a purely academic goal initiated by a faculty advisor
- Industrially defined problems typically have a scope that favors solution by cross-disciplinary teams
- Interacting with representatives of the sponsoring organization helps students develop greater professionalism and perspective.
Benefits to the Sponsors - Sponsors can obtain solutions to problems or explore concepts that they cannot themselves address, perhaps because of time or personnel constraints
- Provides an opportunity to see potential hires in action and to establish a mutually beneficial relationship with these students
- Builds sponsor-faculty ties that may provide benefits in research and/or consulting in areas of interest to the sponsor
- Provides visibility for the sponsor on campus
- Affords an opportunity to assist in the education of the next generation of engineers in areas of interest to the sponsor.
Autonomous Underwater Vehicle multi-departmental team with sponsor (far left) Alumnus Bob Thoelen '74 of Hamilton-Sundstrand Corp.
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