Effective November 1, 2022: Please view our Capstone Project Policy for MEng Students on the placement process.
During the two-semester, one year program, there are several advising roles associated with the capstone program depending on the type of project.
Faculty-led projects have a Faculty advisor.
Faculty Advisor is UC Berkeley College of Engineering faculty member who has responsibility for project definition, execution, and assuring that the educational objectives are achieved and measured.
Often, Faculty Advisors rely on Postdoctoral Researchers and PhD Candidates who work more closely with the MEng team. These mentors can be extremely valuable in helping the team succeed, since they have more time for direct involvement.
Faculty advisors who rely on PhD students / postdocs for advising support typically have a face-to-face meeting with their teams once per month.
Industry/Partner-led Projects have a Partner and Faculty advisor.
Partner Advisor is an employee of the partner company identified to be the principal leader of the Partner-Led Capstone Project. This person can engage other people within the company for specific roles, but it is important for the students to have a primary point of contact to help them define objectives, navigate the corporate structure, and obtain resources.
Faculty Advisor in addition to a Partner Advisor is a UC Berkeley College of Engineering faculty member who ensures that the Partner-Led Capstone project meets the agreed-upon educational objectives. To this extent, faculty advisors meet with capstone teams once a month in the Fall and Spring. Faculty advisors assign grades (with separate grades for each individual on the project team), based on the Partner Advisor's input.
It is important to meet the University Guidelines for IP that the Faculty Liaison not bring significant technical contributions to the project unless a prior agreement has been reached on how to manage any IP generated in the project.
Although the time required varies significantly by project, and even by phase within a project, a general guideline is that advisors should spend 2 hrs per week supporting their teams.
During MEng winter break, capstone teams *may* reach out to their advisors if they want to work during the winter break, especially if they are catching up/behind on their project deliverables. At the same time, we support the need for a break for students and advisors, so we leave the option of project work up to the discretion of the advisor and the student.
Advisors are the crucial resource for technical knowledge and domain expertise. They also help students develop additional technical knowledge/find the resources they need to execute the project.
Advisors monitor technical work and provide feedback to their capstone teams. A critical part of the program is to ensure that there is a clear set of project deliverables that everyone agrees to. While the deliverables may change over the year as your team learns new things, everyone must agree to changing the scope and deliverables of the project.
In the Fall term, students should receive an IP (=in progress) grade.
In the Spring term, Faculty are responsible for assigning grades, with separate grades for each individual on the project team.
Students receive a final capstone grade at the end of Spring semester. Several weeks after receiving the final grade for E296, the spring and the fall records are reconciled and “IP” is removed. More information about In Progress (IP) grades is listed in the A203 Berkeley Academic Senate webpage.
Grading criteria should be outlined in the Team Charter/Project plan (in a subsection titled “Definition of Success”) at the beginning of the project.
Advisors and their teams may consider the following when assigning grades in the spring:
Overall quality of the final technical deliverables
Final Report/Presentation
Consistency of effort throughout the two semesters
Extent of contribution of each team member to the overall project outcome
Although we do not have a grade distribution that we fit to, Capstone grading should be commensurate with other Masters level courses and UC. Less than an excellent performance should not receive an A.
All students, regardless of the capstone format, are expected to make a significant time commitment and a tangible technical contribution to their capstone. Also, they are expected to demonstrate leadership and professionalism characteristic of UC Berkeley graduate students.
University of California defines 1-unit as equaling to three hours of work per week; this translates into 45 hours in a 15-week long semester. MEng capstone is valued at 5 units over the course of the academic year, often split into a 2-unit course in the Fall (which translates into 6 hours of work per week) and a 3-unit course in the Spring (which translates into 9 hours of work per week).
During MEng winter break, capstone teams *may* reach out to their advisors if they want to work during the winter break, especially if they are catching up/behind on their project deliverables. At the same time, we support the need for a break for students and advisors, so we leave the option of project work up to the discretion of the advisor and the student.
Students take the leading role in managing their projects and coordinating their teams. Students take initiative in executing the project (i.e., they do not wait for their advisor to instruct them on what to do). Students act professionally in the course of executing the project including being accountable to their team, showing up on time for meetings, treating team members and advisors with respect, and behaving in a manner that reflects the high standard of the University and the MEng program.
Each student contributes individually to the project in his or her area of concentration. Students commit to contributing in a meaningful and substantial manner to their team and to creating value for their project advisor.