Elements of a Successful Capstone Project

Capstone projects require teams to develop a solution that meets an industry, market or social need through the use of a new technology or a new application of an existing technology. The project can focus on any of the three basic elements of this model (technology, solution, and need), with most projects including more than just one of the elements.

Successful Capstone Projects:

1. Have an engineering challenge that compels students to develop their technical skills

2. Focus on execution, pushing students to make progress towards a concrete deliverable

3. Are collaborative, requiring students to work in teams to reach project objectives

4. Involve a project management challenge that pushes students to: develop a vision of success, scope the problem, and achieve concrete interim deliverables

5. Involve a stakeholder-management challenge that help students to learn how to influence others

6. Involve communicating technical knowledge across expert and non-expert domains

* Engineering Leadership coursework (e.g., R&D Tech Strategy; Marketing; Teaming & Project Management; Communications, etc.) supports leadership, teaming, and communication objectives.

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