Student-Proposed Projects
WHAT ARE STUDENT-PROPOSED PROJECTS?
Student-proposed projects are opportunities for students to be involved in the ideation, proposal, and scoping of projects for the senior-design course as well as be assigned to the project they propose. They can be exciting opportunities for students to be more involved in the conceptual phase of the projects, while also offering entrepreneurial experience for students to be exposed to the proposal, financing, and selection aspects of interesting, evolutionary, and novel ideas.
The proposal process is intended to mimic industry aspects to prepare students for possible project proposals, start-up organization, or capital requests in their future careers.
Projects which are formally accepted will have a pre-disclosed budget allocated from the program for approved use during the project.
Projects which are formally accepted will have proposing students guaranteed a spot on their proposed project. (Max number of proposing students may vary by year.)
WHAT KINDS OF PROJECTS CAN BE PROPOSED?
In order to insure that projects are successful academic experiences and avoid conflicts and issues learned from past issues, there are several requirements of student-proposed projects:
Projects Must Contain Design:
What is the definition of Design?
For the purposes of the student-proposed project program, the Center for Engineering, Design, and Entrepreneurship uses the ABET definition of "Engineering Design."
"Engineering design is a process of devising a system, component, or process to meet desired needs and specifications within constraints. It is an iterative, creative, decision-making process in which the basic sciences, mathematics, and engineering sciences are applied to convert resources into solutions. Engineering design involves identifying opportunities, developing requirements, performing analysis and synthesis, generating multiple solutions, evaluating solutions against requirements, considering risks, and making trade- offs, for the purpose of obtaining a high-quality solution under the given circumstances. For illustrative purposes only, examples of possible constraints include accessibility, aesthetics, codes, constructability, cost, ergonomics, extensibility, functionality, interoperability, legal considerations, maintainability, manufacturability, marketability, policy, regulations, schedule, standards, sustainability, or usability." - ABET, Criteria for Accrediting Engineering Programs, 2022 – 2023
Projects Must be Appropriately Scoped:
What constitutes being "appropriately scoped?"
This characteristic is highly depended on the project itself, but projects must be sufficiently complex with enough deliverables to match the requirements of the program, but not so
How is "appropriately scope" determined?
The capstone committee will assess the project with the scope in mind.
Proposing students may request feedback from members of the capstone committee during to inform their proposal.
If the capstone committee assesses that the proposal is improperly scoped, the project will not be selected.
Projects Must be Accountable to an Outside Entity:
Why?
Student teams which are only accountable to themselves often have issues with scope-creep or lack of progress.
By having an outside individual or organization that the team is accountable to, student teams are held to requirements and/or objectives rather than being able to change them on their own.
What are examples of "outside entities" which may acceptable?
Student competitions such as SAE Baja, ASCE Concrete Canoe, or University Rover Challenge (URC) present good opportunities for external accountability as they have fixed rules-packages and deadlines which the students don't control. There are often clubs outside of the senior design project itself which act as external stakeholders to the project as well.
Students may find a local business or entrepreneur who is independent of the students who wishes to work with them as a customer.
Students May Not Have Special Ownership Rights or Disclosure Rights to the Project:
Why?
Students who wish to own the final product, intellectual property, or restrict its disclosure risk having an attachment to their project outcomes which is at conflict with the educational objective of the course.
The program does not wish to put students in conflict between being successful in their academic experience and owning a successful project, idea, or business that might come from the project.
How does this present itself?
Student-proposed projects which wish to have non-disclosure agreements, intellectual property rights, or deliverable ownership assigned to the proposing students or entities controlled by the proposing students will not be accepted.
An exemption is made for student clubs which may take ownership of product deliverables which are disclosed as part of the proposal. (E.g. a gear box designed and fabricated as part of a senior design project may be delivered to the SAE Baja club for use on a club car even if the student project team members are officers of the club.)
Intellectual property and invention rights will be assigned and granted to members of the project and the public according to United States law without modification.
Projects Must Have Sufficient Funding:
Why?
Projects without sufficient funding can end up stalled like bankrupt companies. In order to have a meaningful chance of success
How is "Sufficient Funding" determined?
The capstone committee will assess the project with their funding in mind.
Proposing students may request feedback from members of the capstone committee during to inform their proposal.
If the capstone committee assesses that the proposal is insufficiently capitalized, the project will not be selected.
How can students secure funding?
The Center for Engineering Design and Entrepreneurship will disclose an amount of funding available to student-proposed projects that are accepted (inquire about the upcoming year's amount with the Academic Director), and this alone may or may not sufficient for any given proposal.
If a project is unlikely to be successful with the program allocated funds, they may find outside sponsors interested in providing funding, funds may be available through grants, and certain clubs may have funds available for such purposes.
Funding should not be out-of-pocket from the students themselves as this risks conflicting with program objectives.
HOW DOES A STUDENT PROPOSE A SENIOR DESIGN PROJECT?
Note: All elements of the Student-Proposed project process are elective. Students are not required to participate and participating students may withdraw from the proposal process at any time prior to signing a final acceptance agreement without academic repercussions. Contact the Academic Director with questions.
Introductory Information
In spring semester, the academic director will send out an invite to a Kick-Off event and information for the specific requirements of student-proposed projects for the coming year.
The Kick-Off event will be hosted by the Academic Director and will introduce the proposal process, provide guidance, and field questions.
For further information, contact the Academic Director.
Proposal Process:
Students may work to draft a proposal which satisfies the requirements. Proposals will then be required to be reviewed according to the proposal process for that year. Throughout this process, students should be open to guidance and refine their ideas to best match program requirements and student interest. Signatures of key individuals may be required prior to submission.
Proposals are then submitted to the Academic Director via the proposal process.
Proposing students will then present their proposals at a Pitch Event in front of professionals according to the proposal process. At this event, students should be prepared to provide an overview of their objectives, deliverables, and desired results to a professional panel of evaluators. Following this, the students will field questions on the details of their project from those present.
Selection & Acceptance:
The program will evaluate the projects and will make the final project selections alongside externally sponsored projects. Multiple, one, or zero student-proposed projects may be selected based on program needs, fit, and opportunities.
Students may be notified via email at any time, including over summer break, to inform them of their project being declined or accepted. If accepted, students will be provided an agreement stipulating the final terms of the student-proposed project relationship with the school, and students will be given a specified time to accept and sign or decline participation.
