History

The Capstone program was started in the fall of 1990 by Robert H. Todd and Carl D. Sorensen (Department of Manufacturing Engineering), and Spencer P. Magleby (Department of Mechanical Engineering). The program has grown from 4 projects, 3 faculty coaches and 22 students to 32 industry projects, 27 faculty coaches and 195 students.

The Capstone program was designed to train new engineering graduates to meet the demands of the real world.

New engineering graduates needed the ability to immediately add real value to the bottom line. New graduates also need to be able follow a state-of-the-art design process and take a project from conception to prototype without going through a long learning curve.

The Capstone program was also designed to focus on synthesis activities and practical problems. Mid-to-back-burner, design-and-build projects are recruited from industry and material is taught in class as it is needed for use on the projects. Nearly all class assignments relate directly to projects-- "Deliverables".

Students learn to work with industrial liaison engineers, solve engineering design problems, build prototypes, test hardware to the specs, provide detailed drawings, and delight their industry sponsors.

Students that participated in the Capstone program have provide some interesting feedback -- the following are typical examples of the feedback Capstone students:

"If I had not taken Capstone, I would not have the job I have today. I do Capstone everyday."

"The Capstone class was the best class I had in teaching me how to apply my engineering classes to the problems and projects of the real world."

The Capstone program continues to grow and become more refined each year.