Sponsor a Senior Design Project
Each year, ISyE undergraduate seniors apply their academic training to solve real-world challenges. In teams, students collaborate for 15 weeks with a faculty advisor and an industry mentor to scope, analyze, and deliver actionable solutions to complex problems proposed by industry partners.
Schedule for 2025 - 26 Academic Year
Project proposals, selection, and team formation take place in the Fall term. Project execution takes place during the Spring term.
Key Dates | Milestone |
---|---|
October | Priority deadline to submit project proposals |
Ongoing | Refine scope, in collaboration with ISyE faculty |
November | Project sponsors notified about project acceptance |
December | Senior 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! |
December | Project sponsors notified of their Senior Design team members |
- Project work will take place between January 21 - April 29.
- On campus final presentations will be held on late April/early May.
What Makes a Strong Project?
Successful projects typically include:

- A meaningful challenge with a scope appropriate for a semester-long engagement
- Clear potential for measurable value to the sponsoring organization
- Opportunities to apply core ISyE methodologies and tools
- A focus on system or process design, improvement, or optimization
Why Sponsor a Project?
By sponsoring a Senior Design project, your organization will benefit from:
- Innovative insights and data-driven solutions from a team of highly motivated students
- Deliverables including a Statement of Work, Project Plan, regular updates, a comprehensive Final Report, and a formal Presentation
- Access to ISyE faculty expertise and university resources
- Brand visibility through ISyE communications channels, including newsletters, the department website, social media, and outreach to alumni, donors, and academic peers
What to Expect From Student Teams
Each student contributes a minimum of 150 hours to the project, bringing:
- Professionalism and strong communication skills
- Project management leadership
- Technical expertise in areas such as process improvement, Six Sigma, simulation, optimization, statistical analysis, and human factors
What We Expect From Sponsors

To ensure a successful collaboration, sponsors should provide:
- A committed industry mentor with a background in engineering or a related field
- Timely communication and coordination of meetings, site visits, and data access
- A genuine interest in the project and its outcomes
- Responsibility for any project-related costs (e.g., travel, materials)
Sponsorship Fee
The sponsorship fee is $5,000 per project, which directly supports student learning and departmental initiatives. This investment provides your organization with high-impact deliverables, access to top-tier talent, and a unique opportunity to shape the next generation of industrial engineers.
- Fee waivers may be available for non-profit organizations.
Examples of Past Projects

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.

ISyE seniors Jared Burnett, Allan Kim, Betty Huynh, Samantha Klinke, and Zaid Dameh, under the guidance of sponsor Mitchell Nienaber, focused their senior design project on analyzing and improving the inconsistent handling of work-in-progress (WIP) across three production shifts.

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.

When summer approaches children are eager to play outside, making playgrounds a popular destination. ISyE seniors Patricija Freiberga, Katherine Vandelac, Walter Marshall, Diriye Osman, and Diya Hariharan focused their senior design project on these popular summer attractions.
Quotes from Past Sponsors
Ready to propose a project?
Proposals received by October 2025 will receive full consideration for Spring 2026.
Questions?
For more information, please contact Professor Lisa Miller at [email protected] or (612) 625-7397