EE/CPE Senior Design I is the first course in a two-semester sequence that constitutes the capstone design experience for undergraduate electrical and computer engineers. ABET engineering accreditation criteria states:
"Students must be prepared for engineering practice through the curriculum culminating in a major design experience based on the knowledge and skills acquired in earlier course work and incorporating appropriate engineering standards and multiple realistic constraints."
The criteria further identifies
"realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability, and sustainability."
Your design project is expected to address as many of these issues as possible. In this portion of the course, students will be expected to identify a team project, and complete the design and simulation phases of the project. The course will culminate with a presentation of the proposed project to a design review committee, a demonstration of a hardware prototype, and a detailed design document that clearly documents all aspects of the design process.
EE/CPE Senior Design II is a continuation of the capstone design experience for undergraduate electrical engineers. In this portion of the course, students will be expected to fabricate their design, test and evaluate the design against their design specifications, and demonstrate a fully functional project to their design review committee.
explain the difference between a team and a workgroup
list characteristics of successful teams
distinguish five modes of handling team conflicts and how they may be useful or harmful
list characteristics of effective leaders
identity key reasons why projects fail or succeed
write a team charter
implement ground rules for effective meetings and demonstrate their use
explain the motivation for using standards
classify the cost components in a design and project a realistic price to the customer
optimize a design for sustainability
present a professional presentation with strong technical content and audience interaction
execute efficient and effective team meeting and maintain meeting minutes
interact efficiently and effectively with faculty advisor
formulate a defensible design approach
evaluate, design, and optimize custom hardware and software individually and as a team
create an objective, testable design specification
create and follow a test plan leading to a functional design
write a professional project report
design and create a project poster
create a professional team Web site
apply critical path scheduling
apply entrepreneurial thinking in the context of a design project
create a business plan
apply ethical reasoning
The structure of the course for electrical and computer engineers is essentially the same since we follow the same design process. Computer engineering projects, however, must have both a software and hardware component. Electrical engineering projects most often have both, but occasionally focus only on hardware.