what is a senior design project

Senior Design: Project Proposal

The purpose of the Project Proposal is to ensure the project is appropriate, plan the achievement of all the senior design outcomes, and to detail the design approach that will be taken. This document is individual, and therefore, each senior design student is responsible for their own Project Proposal .

Advisors approve if:

The following template should be used: Template

Senior Design Projects

At the College of Engineering & Applied Science, experiential learning, a critical UWM 2030 initiative , is essential to preparing our students for careers in engineering and computer science. One important pathway for students to accomplish this is through participation in a Senior Design Project, a required course for all undergraduates in our college.

The Senior Design Project is an opportunity for students apply what they have learned within their major over their undergraduate years to a project of their choice that demonstrates their knowledge of essential skills and concepts. Teamwork is fundamental to the experience; learning to work effectively in teams is integral to being successful in a career.

Students choose a project that they find interesting or often corporate partners ask a student team to solve a real-world problem.

Each team presents its project to a group of evaluators at the end of the term. Winning teams are recognized at the Order of the Engineer ceremony.

UWM industrial and manufacturing engineering students create solution that saves company $840,000 per year

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UWM senior design project engineering students save Wisconsin steel company $43,000 a year

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Senior Design

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We will be hosting our Spring 2023 Senior Design Day on Tuesday, May 2nd 1:00 - 4:30 pm. Start Viewing Projects Now: Senior Design Day - Spring 2023

Senior Design or "Capstone" projects are one of the most important aspects of the undergraduate activity in the Ingram School of Engineering. Students enrolling in Capstone courses are of Senior standing and participate in the team-based design of a system or component that incorporates appropriate engineering standards and multiple constraints and is based upon knowledge and skills acquired in earlier course work. Capstone activities include gathering requirements, specification development, technical design and troubleshooting, oral presentations, and written reports.

Current Projects

Past innovations, ways to participate.

At the end of each Fall and Spring semester, the Ingram School hosts "Senior Design Day" to showcase the projects and student accomplishments. Some projects are fully completed and facing a Final Design Review and demonstration. Other projects are halfway through the sequence and facing a Preliminary/Critical Design Review and status update.

All projects and team members are required to participate in Senior Design Day, and evaluation by internal judges (faculty, students, invitees) as well as external judges (industry partners and sponsors) is highly encouraged.

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Capstone projects provide the best student experience when they are sponsored by external partners. In many cases, this process marks the first time that students have interacted "organizationally" with a professional entity. To assist in structuring this process, the School of Engineering has published Guidelines for Capstone Projects, including expectations of sponsors, faculty, and students. These guidelines are provided in the navigation links in the left sidebar, along with forms for potential sponsors to suggest projects and request more information.

Learn More About Guidelines

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TXST Students showcase their research projects at the Spring Senior Design Day

Materials Science and Engineering

The Senior Design Project is one of two capstone experiences for the undergraduate Materials Science and Engineering Program. It consists of a three-credit engineering research project that takes place over one semester. The aim of the project is to give the student the opportunity to experience an open ended research project in the context of a topic related to the materials science and engineering curriculum. The project must be undertaken individually with the help of an academic supervisor who is a faculty member in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science. The student is responsible for obtaining an academic supervisor who will agree to be the advisor for the project. The Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science will not provide funding for the project which must be arranged through the academic supervisor.

Senior Design Student Guidelines ( PDF )

Engineering Science

Guidelines for the Engineering Science Program Senior Design Sequence

Engineering Science students must complete a two-term Senior Design sequence consisting of:

The two-term sequence may be taken in any order.

ENGSCI 1801 and 1802 are 3-credit design/research projects lasting one semester. ENGSCI 1801 and 1802 give ESCI students the opportunity to experience an open-ended project based on their interests and curricular background. Every project must have an Academic Advisor. Academic advisors can come from any department but have most commonly been members of the Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, or Physics Departments. Ideally students should identify and contact potential Academic Advisors before the term starts.

ENGSCI 1801

ENGSCI 1802

The Engineering Science Program does not provide funds for costs incurred in the project.

What Does a Senior Design Project Do?

What They Do

A senior design project worker is responsible for developing digital content designs and applications using various software tools, following clients' specifications and requests. Senior designers must be highly-organizational and communicative, especially on providing progress updates to the client and performing multiple design adjustments as needed. A senior designer should create and recommend designs based on the clients' budget goals without compromising the quality of the output. Senior design projects work closely with the design engineering team to maintain flawless layouts and achieve client satisfaction.

Senior Design Project Responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real senior design project resumes representing typical tasks they are likely to perform in their roles.

Senior Design Project Skills and Personality Traits

We calculated that 11 % of Senior Design Projects are proficient in Solidworks , Medical Devices , and Prototype . They’re also known for soft skills such as Mechanical skills , Creativity , and Listening skills .

We break down the percentage of Senior Design Projects that have these skills listed on their resume here:

Developed concept layout of potential designs using SolidWorks to convey manufacturing and production configurations to get designs 3D printed.

Assisted the Engineers in designing Medical Devices as well as created 3-D solid models, 3-D assemblies and detailed drawings.

Designed the prototype of power regulation, actuation and sensor system of Radiation Detection Robot with Nuclear and Mechanical engineering students.

Participated in production and review of documentation including project proposal, progress reports, CAD assembly models, and machine drawings.

Created 2D electrical design drawings including cabling and wiring diagrams, equipment elevation, installation and fabrication using AutoCAD 2010.

Managed both large and small commercial design projects from Schematic design through Site supervision.

Most senior design projects list "solidworks," "medical devices," and "prototype" as skills on their resumes. We go into more details on the most important senior design project responsibilities here:

See the full list of senior design project skills.

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What Consulting Engineers Do

A consulting engineer is a professional who aids in the planning, designing, and construction of a project from the public and private clients. Consulting engineers are required to advise on the best component suitable according to the needs of their clients. They can manage the project by coordinating with designers, architects, and relevant persons who have commissioned the project. They may incorporate green sustainable energy solutions based on the demands of their clients. Consulting engineers must also conduct a feasibility study and prepare the estimated cost for the project.

In this section, we take a look at the annual salaries of other professions. Take consulting engineer for example. On average, the consulting engineers annual salary is $5,538 higher than what senior design projects make on average every year.

While their salaries may differ, one common ground between senior design projects and consulting engineers are a few of the skills required in each craft. In both careers, employees bring forth skills like solidworks, cad, and autocad.

There are some key differences in responsibilities as well. For example, a senior design project responsibilities require skills like "medical devices," "prototype," "design projects," and "arduino." Meanwhile a typical consulting engineer has skills in areas such as "java," "working independently," "project management," and "azure." This difference in skills reveals how truly different these two careers really are.

Consulting engineers really shine in the technology industry with an average salary of $99,126. Whereas senior design projects tend to make the most money in the technology industry with an average salary of $92,334.

On average, consulting engineers reach higher levels of education than senior design projects. Consulting engineers are 11.7% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 2.6% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

What Are The Duties Of an Engineer?

Engineers are highly trained professionals who determine the feasibility of various projects, usually related to the construction industry. They are considered experts in mathematics and science, two disciplines that they need to use in designing and coming up with plans for projects. They should also be well-versed in different construction or industrial materials, and they ensure that appropriate materials are used for the project. They also ensure that the projects meet the requirements of the groups that hired them. They create spaces that would both address the needs of the end-users and the industry standards. They also ensure that the projects they make would stand the test of time.

Now we're going to look at the engineer profession. On average, engineers earn a $131 lower salary than senior design projects a year.

While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, several resumes showed us that senior design project responsibilities requires skills like "medical devices," "prototype," "autocad," and "design projects." But an engineer might use skills, such as, "cloud," "aws," "java," and "troubleshoot."

It's been discovered that engineers earn lower salaries compared to senior design projects, but we wanted to find out where engineers earned the most pay. The answer? The automotive industry. The average salary in the industry is $97,672. Additionally, senior design projects earn the highest paychecks in the technology with an average salary of $92,334.

In general, engineers study at higher levels of education than senior design projects. They're 7.3% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 2.6% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

How a Mechanical Engineer Compares

Mechanical Engineers oversee the development of various mechanical devices in different industries. Most of the responsibilities will revolve around crafting, improving, or designing technologies by utilizing extensive expertise in the subject; they identify and detect errors, provide in-depth analysis, and resolve issues. They are often in designated offices, but they can also work on-site and travel if necessary. Furthermore, Mechanical Engineers usually function in a group or team setting, often supervised by personnel in higher positions.

Let's now take a look at the mechanical engineer profession. On average, these workers make lower salaries than senior design projects with a $16,856 difference per year.

Using senior design projects and mechanical engineers resumes, we found that both professions have similar skills such as "solidworks," "cad," and "finite element analysis," but the other skills required are very different.

Some important key differences between the two careers are a few of the skills necessary to fulfill responsibilities. Some examples from senior design project resumes include skills like "medical devices," "prototype," "autocad," and "design projects," whereas a mechanical engineer might be skilled in "mechanical systems," "mechanical design," "plumbing," and "project management. "

Interestingly enough, mechanical engineers earn the most pay in the energy industry, where they command an average salary of $84,748. As mentioned previously, senior design projects highest annual salary comes from the technology industry with an average salary of $92,334.

When it comes to education, mechanical engineers tend to earn higher education levels than senior design projects. In fact, they're 6.1% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.7% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Description Of an Operations Engineer

An operations engineer is a professional who is responsible for ensuring that the operations of a company are working properly in industries such as manufacturing or shipping. Operations engineers are required to handle repairs or upgrades to the company's machinery and coordinate with department heads to assist in fine-tuning their operations system. When they have upgraded their system, operations engineers should conduct training with managers as well as employees and other workers. They are also required to examine machinery for defects and communicate maintenance schedules with department heads.

Now, we'll look at operations engineers, who generally average a lower pay when compared to senior design projects annual salary. In fact, the difference is about $686 per year.

According to resumes from both senior design projects and operations engineers, some of the skills necessary to complete the responsibilities of each role are similar. These skills include "autocad," "r," and "python. "

While some skills are shared by these professions, there are some differences to note. "solidworks," "medical devices," "prototype," and "cad" are skills that have shown up on senior design projects resumes. Additionally, operations engineer uses skills like cloud, aws, troubleshoot, and java on their resumes.

Operations engineers earn a higher salary in the technology industry with an average of $100,087. Whereas, senior design projects earn the highest salary in the technology industry.

Operations engineers reach similar levels of education when compared to senior design projects. The difference is that they're 3.7% more likely to earn a Master's Degree more, and 0.1% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types Of Senior Design Project

Project engineer, how to become a project engineer, design engineer, how to become a design engineer, mechanical engineer, how to become a mechanical engineer, mechanical designer, how to become a mechanical designer, lead engineer, how to become a lead engineer, consulting engineer, how to become a consulting engineer, what similar roles do.

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IMAGES

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COMMENTS

Senior Design: Project Proposal
The purpose of the Project Proposal is to ensure the project is appropriate, plan the achievement of all the senior design outcomes, and to detail the design approach that will be taken. This document is individual, and therefore, each senior design student is responsible for their own Project Proposal. Project is of appropriate complexity and ...
Senior Design Projects
The Senior Design Project is an opportunity for students apply what they have learned within their major over their undergraduate years to a project of their choice that demonstrates their knowledge of essential skills and concepts.
Senior Design : Ingram School of Engineering : Texas State
Purpose. Senior Design or "Capstone" projects are one of the most important aspects of the undergraduate activity in the Ingram School of Engineering. Students enrolling in Capstone courses are of Senior standing and participate in the team-based design of a system or component that incorporates appropriate engineering standards and multiple ...
Senior Design
The Senior Design Project is one of two capstone experiences for the undergraduate Materials Science and Engineering Program. It consists of a three-credit engineering research project that takes place over one semester.
What Does a Senior Design Project Do?
A senior designer should create and recommend designs based on the clients' budget goals without compromising the quality of the output. Senior design projects work closely with the design engineering team to maintain flawless layouts and achieve client satisfaction.