Over the course of one or two academic semesters, seniors work in teams to develop advanced engineering projects. Besides working with a faculty instructor, they also are given an opportunity to work with professional mentors from the industry once a week and participate in national competitions. By working on capstone projects the students learn to deal with open-ended questions, and get a chance to pull together the many things they've learned in classes throughout their undergraduate degree.
Senior Design could not happen without the support of many contributors, including sponsors, guest speakers, financial supporters, and many others contributing in-kind supplies, services, and technical assistance. Financial sponsors of the senior capstone design course include: the John D. Akerman Memorial Fund; the AEM Richard and Shirely DeLeo Scholarship & Engineering Fund; the AEM Alumni Program Initiative Fund; and the Minnesota Space Grant Consortium and industry sponsors such as ATK, Boeing, MTS, and Honeywell.
We would also like to acknowledge some of the industry partners who have provided mentors to our students such as: Orbital ATK, NASA and National Institute of Aerospace, Sentera, United Technologies Aerospace Systems, Xcel Energy, Boeing, Cirrus Aircraft, and Honeywell.
Summaries of the 2018-2019 design projects can be seen below:
