CE&ARE Capstone Design

OSU’s civil & architectural engineering capstone design is a two-term culminating design experience. Students are surveyed and sorted into five to six member teams based on their project interest, disciplinary interest, AutoCAD experience, and problem-solving approach. Disciplines include structural, water resources, transportation, and geotechnical engineering, lighting, mechanical systems, and building envelope design.  Each multi-disciplinary team creates an integrated design for one of several industry-sponsored projects.  

The capstone design projects build upon the required, introductory courses and intermediate-level design courses.  Students learn and practice the design process for an open-ended, realistic problem that requires the following elements: problem definition, identification of constraints, development of design alternatives, selection of the most feasible alternative, detailed design of the selected solution, and communication of the process and results in written, verbal, and graphic form. Course topics include the engineering design process; engineering career paths; ethics and professionalism; project planning, execution and delivery; team building/management; dispute resolution; effective decision making; design documents and drawings; oral and written communication; and current industry design and construction methods.

A major strength of civil & architectural engineering capstone design is the invaluable support from our industry partners, who contribute in various ways.  Our industry partners can chose to serve as project sponsors and mentors, assist during industry professionals days, give a guest lecture, answer discussion board questions, and/or evaluate and provide feedback on the teams' design presentations.  Think you might be interested in joining our industry support team?  Go to  Sponsor a Project and Other Ways to be Involved for more information.

To learn more about the capstone design experience, go to the Timeline and Past Projects pages. If you would like to learn more about the Civil and Construction Engineering Program at OSU, please click here.