Partners Program

Students Showing Their Poject

Program Introduction

Our course mission is "To transition students into industry through self-chosen team projects." Our strategy for accomplishing this mission involves emulating the day-to-day life that a student will experience in industry. We have begun this Partners Program in an effort to make the student's experience even more realistic.

With this program, a sponsor will be able to suggest student projects and act as a mentor for teams that select those projects. This connects the Partner with premier electrical engineering graduates and allows them to conduct experiments whose cost cannot be justified in a business setting. With Graduate Teaching Assistants acting as managers and mentors, Partners may select any level of involvement that they wish. The partnership benefits the students by giving them access to potential employers and extra resources such as funds, parts, and advice. Since students select from among project ideas themselves, they gain in-depth practical knowledge in a topic that excites them. The program details are available below in Professor Gary Swenson's letter.

Letter from Professor Gary Swenson, Course Director

Attention: Potential Sponsors

Our course:

The Senior Projects Class (ECE445) is a 2 hour required laboratory class for electrical engineers where the students 'engineer' a project. We typically have 100 students (40 projects) per term.

Course Overview

Students in Lab A major course objective is to offer the students a guided design experience which involves all the issues of design, assembly, and test of hardware. We work to develop written communication skills through a written proposal, design schematics, and a final report. Oral skills are developed through weekly meetings with TAs, the informal design review, an oral demonstration, and a formal presentation. Up until this point in their. In addition we teach the students to follow a schedule, to keep track of cost, and to deliver on 'on time.'

Schedule

The semester begins over the 1st 10 days on 'identifying a project' and picking a partner (or 2 in some cases). A week later, the project 'PROPOSAL' is due and 10 days later, an informal design review is held for each project with the course Director, Graduate Student Teaching Assistant, and another student team as a PEER reviewer. Each team must peer review another. Following this, the students enter the assembly, build, and test phase of the project (9-10 weeks). The last week of the semester involves a 'DEMONSTRATION' and 'PRESENTATION' (30 minutes each), along with a 'FINAL REPORT', which will be submitted electronically. As part of the exercise, students are encouraged to be ambitious, but for overly ambitious projects we bracket a section to be graded.

Resources

Students Showing Their Project Our resources include people and equipment. In addition to myself, we have 5 graduate students with varied backgrounds who each take on an average of 12-15 projects for weekly team meetings. The graduate students gain management experience in this role. We have 90 faculty members in ECE, but a dedicated set of 8-10 advisors are identified for the students. These advisors act as discipline specific mentors or advisors, especially early in the project formation when students are focusing on the specific problem formulation. We have a dedicated laboratory which they have access to 24 hours a day. The environment is informal so the students feel comfortable as they put in long hours on their projects. We have an electronics shop which has been stocked with many parts from generous donors. We have an electronic method for the students to order parts from the shop. We have a budget of ~$40 per project for those parts not available in the shop which can be ordered from our own store or business office located in Everitt Lab.

On-line Projects Database

Details about the course can be found on the home page. All projects are posted on-line in the projects database.

Selection of Projects

How do the students pick projects? The first two class meetings, we overwhelm the students with our ideas. We invite the advising faculty to provide ideas in power, microprocessors, biomems, remote sensing, and so on. In fact, about 1/3 of the projects are actually implemented in research laboratories in microelectronics laboratory, biomems laboratory, or other ECE research laboratories. The students are told to choose a project by day 10, or one will be provided to them. They all come up with one of their own, but with lots of help and advice.

Sponsors:

I would like to encourage sponsors. We have had a few in the past, but not in a consistent manner. The current industrial project provides parts for a project the industry is interested in developing.

Gifts

Alternatively, I would offer that a gift and project idea would also be welcome. We encourage this through the following minimum recommended) which will be managed by the student team for the project problem. More ambitious projects might require the purchase of special computers or assembled boards which may require larger budgets ($5000 typical). These more ambitious projects are welcome, of course! Gift money left over from a given grant will be placed into the class general fund which is used for parts for all students. Students will be offered the opportunity to apply for a special project and you (the sponsor) or I can select the students for the given project.

Motivation

Motivation? My motivation as the course director is to provide the greatest opportunity for the students and to give them a practical experience. The students become motivated simply by being linked to a real customer. I also believe this is a great way for industrial sponsors to work with students who will be graduating.

The interaction offers an experience which may lead to employment. The company sponsor may actually get some real problems solved! Institutions who have in-house component availability and can supply those components to the students are most welcomed. The course is a real fire drill from the standpoint that all activities must be completed in a semester and parts accessibility is a real key to project success. We have a firm schedule and we stick to it. With the gift funds, we can order parts which are in stock with suppliers and use expedient delivery services when necessary.

Deliverables

The project product in this case is the final report. Final reports for the class will be made available electronically to all, so confidentiality is not normally part of the deal. The reports are used as an archive for the following class to grow from and for industry recruiters to search. The final reports can lack specific information, and not be published if that is desired on the part of a project sponsor.

How to get involved

Students in Lab So, If you want to sponsor a project, click and fill out the project summary form and the associated few questions. Projects will need to be posted by August 15 to be considered for the Fall term and by January 15 for the Spring term.

Wrap-up

As you may well imagine, the process we have set up to manage and funnel resources directly to students is most efficient . The gift funds for this activity are not burdened by the University. A project will be managed just like the rest of the projects in the class. Sponsors are invited to participate in reviews, as they wish, and to make input during those reviews. Review dates are posted on our calendar each term, and specific team review times are formulated and available at least 2 days before the actual reviews. A project offered does not guarantee it will be performed a given semester as we still leave it to the students to select a project they are interested in. In this case, no funds will be spent or redirected, but the project will be offered the following term, unless otherwise specified or modified by the sponsor.

Thank you for your interest and support!



Sincerely,

Prof. Gary R. Swenson

Director, ECE445

Hall of Fame

Each semester, we give out awards to students that have performed exceptionally well. A list if these award winners and links to their project details are available in the "Hall of Fame."

Search all Student Projects

The Senior Design class of the ECE department has all of its projects posted online. The searchable database includes details such as proposals, presentation slides, final papers, and student resumes. With 100 students and 40 projects in a typical semester, it has become a worthwhile recruiting tool.

Suggest and/or Sponsor a Project

To sponsor a student project, please contact Professor Gary Swenson (swenson1@uiuc.edu) with the following information: