Page 6 - ME Newsletter Fall

Industry and
Senior Design Capstone: Complete a Company’s Design Project
ME’s Senior Design course requires teams of undergraduate students to spend one semester working on a design project sponsored by a local company, entrepreneur, or UMN research lab, culminating in the Senior Design Show, pictured below. The course has three objectives:
1) For students to learn a structured engineering design process and to practice it by working on a real-world design project.
2) For students to use their engineering knowledge by applying it to an open-ended design challenge.
3) To return value to the project sponsor through the delivery of a completed design and prototype.
“In capstone design, students get to ‘show what they know’ by working on a significant, open-ended engineering design project for a client. They might be creating a new test stand to calibrate a sensor, or a steering system for an advanced cleaning machine, or a vision-based manufacturing machine, or a medical device, or a novel solar energy heating system. Students use their knowledge of thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, materials, control systems, and all of the other fundamentals of mechanical engineering to engineer novel solutions to a complex problem. Client companies benefit from fresh eyes looking at their problem, recruiting exposure
to talented students, and access, via the students, to University experts and facilities. In short, a win-win for all.”
— ME Professor and Director of Design Education Will Durfee
Would you like to partner with students in our department?
Co6 ntaMcEtNeWws Fiall 2D023urfee (wkdurfee@umn.edu) or Brett Schreiner (bschrein@umn.edu)