2026-2027 Capstone Submissions are Open until 10/5!!
The Capstone project is required for graduation while an internship or co-op program is optional. While an intern or co-op student may participate in a team project while on the job, the team design project is the essential part of the capstone experience. Students request assignment to specific capstone projects on the basis of their interests and backgrounds, and capstone teams are formed on that basis.
There is no fee or payment required from the capstone project sponsor. The sponsor will need to budget and pay for material costs, including components, printed circuit board fabrication, equipment, or software required by the project. We encourage you to submit projects even if you don't have a budget, student teams are often very thrifty.
For commercial firms sponsoring capstones that are able to contribute, we have a suggested donation of $5,000 per capstone.
Students are not paid. They receive course credit for their project work.
By default, students own the output of their work. If you specify it in your project proposal, the students can agree to assign their IP to you or your company. Students and faculty advisors are familiar with NDAs and assignments of IP rights; many capstones require NDAs and the assignment of IP, often centered around patents.
Yes, provided that it’s a team design project which other PSU seniors can be assigned to, meets our requirements (e.g. design methodology and documentation), and fits the time frame for project proposal, selection, and completion.
Most proposals get accepted and get a student team, but not all. Students are assigned to teams in a three step process:
Students read and discuss the capstone proposals.
They rank-choice vote (roughly) the proposals.
The capstone coordinator forms teams based around student interest and student abilities.
While most of our proposals get teams, not all do. While this can be disspointing, we feel it's better to have the students choose the projects they're most excited about. About 90% of our students get their first or second ranked choice.
Students should spend an average of 8-10 hours per week on the project over the winter and spring quarters.
Students typically meet with their community partners in December prior to the winter break. They are expected to begin research during break and begin work in earnest in early January. Projects are to be complete by June 1st with final project presentations during the first week of June.
The ideal project is a design project requiring a team of approximately four students that can be completed in 6 months with each student contribution 8-10 hours per week. In addition to design projects, past projects have included feasibility studies, creation of detailed examples for electronic design tools, and evaluation of different approaches to design problems. The essential ingredient is some design component. The PSU ECE Department Capstone web site lists capstone projects from prior years.
Finally, keep in mind that while students are expected to complete their projects (and their grade depends in part upon the success of the project), they are students. So, “mission-critical” projects are probably not good candidates for capstone projects. As with any project, we cannot guarantee success.
You’ll need to have a coordinator for the project who can answer questions, review progress, and meet with the student team as necessary. Many sponsors provide badges and cubicle space for the student team if they are required to work on site. Some sponsors have put the teams through the entire new-hire process to help get them used to the company products, rules, culture, etc. If space at the company is not possible, we do have shared spaces available at PSU. We also have lab resources such as the Capstone Lab and the Electronics Prototyping Lab.
You'll also provide input to the faculty advisor on the students’ grades.
Aside from the satisfaction of playing an integral role providing a quality project experience as part of the engineering education of our students, you’ll most likely see the completion of a meaningful project for your organization that you might not otherwise be able to undertake due to time, resource, or budget constraints. You’ll also get an up-close look at 4-5 of our students over an extended project experience. Finally, if our past sponsors are to be believed, you’ll have fun and enjoy interacting with our students.
You can submit a proposal here, or contact our ECE Capstone Project Coordinator:
Andrew Greenberg
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Portland State University
1900 SW Fourth Avenue suite 160
Portland, Oregon, 97201
email: adg4@pdx.edu
phone: 503-708-7711