Sponsor a Senior Design Project

Each year, ISyE seniors apply everything they've learned in the Senior Design course. Students collaborate in small groups in an effort to tackle real-world problems in projects proposed by ISyE industry affiliates. Every team partners with a faculty advisor and industry mentor for 15 weeks to scope the project, perform analysis and discover insights, test and measure potential solutions, and deliver recommendations.

 

Online Proposal Form

Schedule for 2024 - 25 Academic Year

Project proposals, selection, and team formation take place in the Fall term.  Project execution takes place during the Spring term.

Fall 2024:
Key DatesMilestone
Oct. 11, 2024Priority deadline to submit project proposals
OngoingRefine scope, in collaboration with ISyE faculty 
Nov. 4, 2024Project sponsors notified about project acceptance
Dec. 3, 2024Senior Design Proposal Fair. Sponsors of selected projects are invited to campus to pitch your project—and your company—to ISyE Seniors. This is your opportunity to get students excited about working on your project!
Dec. 16, 2024 Project sponsors notified of their Senior Design team members
 
Spring 2025:
  • Project work will take place between January 21 - April 29.
  • On campus final presentations will be held on Tuesday, April 29 and Thursday, May 1.

What Makes a Successful Project?

  • Large scope and challenge commensurate with student time requirement
  • Significant value to sponsor
  • Use Industrial and Systems Engineering knowledge and methodologies
  • Scope includes opportunity for students to recommend a design or modification of a system or process

How Much Does It Cost?

  • The financial commitment for this course from corporate sponsors is $5,000 per project to support department and student initiatives.
  • Fee waivers will be considered for non-profit organizations sponsoring projects.
  • Any costs incurred for the project, such as supplies, travel, or equipment, are also the responsibility of the corporate sponsor.

Benefits to Project Industry Partners

  • At least 150 hours of work from each student team member
  • Fresh perspective, proposals, and solutions to your important business problems
  • Project Statement of Work, two Project Updates, a final Project Report and Presentation to keep students and sponsors on the same page and maximum project value
  • Relationships with highly qualified Industrial Engineering students, which may lead to recruitment opportunities
  • Access to ISyE faculty knowledge and resources

Expectations of Project Industry Partners

  • Commitment of Industry Mentor to team
    • Degree in Engineering or related field
    • Reasonable responsiveness to student contacts
    • Responsible for client-side organization (meetings, site visits, data, etc.), answering student questions
  • Commitment to providing access to data and site
  • True interest in project
    • Students are highly motivated to provide real value to sponsors!

Examples of Past Projects

Senior Design Improving the Procurement Process

For their 2023 senior design project, Jacob Bechtold, Natalie Shea, Matthew Berg, E. Sorenson, and Nolan Krause worked in sponsorship and collaboration with Renewable Energy Partners (REP), Minnesota’s only Black-owned solar energy developer, to develop a tool that would improve the procurement process.

Read the Story

  

ISyE Seniors at the University of Minnesota pharmacy

In 2021, a group worked with the University of Minnesota Medical Center (UMMC) to help transition its pharmacy on the East Bank campus from a manual inventory management system to an automated carousel system. Simulations suggested the switch lowered UMMC’s on-hand inventory by at least 10 percent, as well as saved the hospital system at least $195,000 each year.

Read the Story

Work Cell Layout Seniors

2023 ISyE seniors Brandon Blank, Kayla Klemz, Sarah Nord, Madelyn Traynor, and Trishia Vu focused their final project on work cell layout and optimization for Stratasys, one of the largest 3D printing companies in the world.

Read the Story

  

ISyE Undergrads Boston Scientific

In 2020, a group was tasked with developing a new inventory management system for Boston Scientific Corporation. Using real-time usage data, the team of seniors found Boston Scientific could drastically improve its demand forecasting processes and inventory management, while potentially saving millions of dollars annually and eliminating waste from products with high inventory and little demand.

Read the Story

Quotes from Past Sponsors

 

 

 

 

 

Ready to propose a project?

Proposals received by October 11, 2024 will receive full consideration for Spring 2025.

Online Proposal Form

Printable Proposal Form


Questions?

For more information, please contact Professor Lisa Miller at [email protected] or (612) 625-7397.