ECE-ME Senior Design
Watson Capstone Projects is a collaborative effort between engineering companies, nonprofit organizations, and Watson College's Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and Mechanical Engineering (ME) departments. Students work in cooperation with industry, other external sponsors and clients, and internal university organizations on these design projects. Project teams typically consist of 3-5 of our Computer, Electrical, and Mechanical Engineering seniors. Some Biomedical Engineering, Industrial Systems Engineering, General Engineering Minor, and Computer Systems students also participate in these projects. Each team is assigned a Faculty Advisor, and teams sponsored by engineering companies have an Industry Mentor.
Our multi-disciplinary student teams spend two semesters applying their technical knowledge and creative minds to real engineering problems. They start by outlining specifications, proposals, time schedules, paper designs, and partial prototypes. Teams meet periodically with their client to review designs, provide written and oral progress reports, and then give a design presentation at the culmination of the Fall semester. During the Spring semester, students fabricate and test a final prototype, and finish with a project report and presentation. Evaluation is based on individual and team performance.
Senior Capstone Design provides these development facilities for the project teams:
- Projects Lab (LN-G111)
- Tech Lab (EB-A4)
- Vehicle Lab (EB-A3)
- Electric Vehicle Lab (EB-D1)
- Special Projects Lab (EB-A8)
Project Sponsorship
We invite engineering companies to sponsor a project for senior engineering students to work as a design challenge to their company's benefit, whether it be towards an internal goal or their own community outreach.
Non-profit engineering and civic organizations are invited to submit project proposals on behalf of other nonprofit client organizations. We also welcome informal submissions from non-profit client organizations, as we may be able to line up a sponsor for them.
