Senior Capstone Design Program

In ME 470 (the Senior Capstone Design course), students work in teams under the supervision of MechSE professors and company representatives to tackle real design problems, with multiple constraints, from manufacturers and service industries in the Fortune 500. Thanks to generous company sponsor donations, more than 4,500 senior mechanical engineering and engineering mechanics students have worked with 250 companies and institutions on more than 1,200 projects since 1991. Our students are well-prepared to develop and effectively communicate their design solutions with our rigorous hands-on design curriculum that begins during their first year.

Students gain a variety of benefits from this open-ended problem-solving experience, which requires them to synthesize and apply the knowledge they have gained through their engineering courses, to work within time, budget, and design constraints, and to present their progress and results through regular oral and written communications with company members.

Participating companies also benefit from the experience; they gain fresh perspectives on design issues, specific recommendations for resolution, access to outstanding potential new hires, and access to world-class faculty expertise and resources. Additionally, companies may readily retain intellectual property developed.

The MechSE Department has built an undergraduate program that ranks among the top in the world as a result of distinguished faculty, excellent undergraduate opportunities, state-of-the-art facilities, and exceptionally bright students. We educate students to become future leaders in engineering, science, technology, and other vital areas, leading the way toward improving our society’s quality of life.