Mentorship and Project Pitches


Program Summary

Our mission is to transition seniors in electrical, mechanical, and computer engineering into professional careers. We do this through a one-semester design project that runs from conceptualization through construction and testing. Our top priority is the educational experience of the undergraduate students in our course. We appreciate the intellectual contribution of our partners who come to us from outside the course and hope to encourage participation through this mentorship program.

An external mentor may suggest interesting problems and advise teams that select those problems to work on for their senior design project. With graduate Teaching Assistants (TAs) acting as internal managers and mentors, external mentors may select a level of involvement with which they are comfortable. The partnership benefits the students primarily by presenting them with challenges and advice beyond what we can provide internally and by giving them access to extra resources such as technical expertise, funds, or parts.

We hope that our external mentors will find the program deeply rewarding. During the course of the semester we have found that our students grow intellectually at a rate discernible day-to-day. They are smart, humble, and hard-working and are excited about making the world just a little bit better. Our undergraduate program is consistently ranked in the top five nationally. We hope this program will be a good opportunity to interact with potential hires and to expose your organization to a group of soon-to-be world leaders in engineering.

Students are free to propose their own problem or to choose a pitched problem. This freedom is part of our strategy to provide students a chance to work on a project optimally matched to their own strengths and interests. We foster an attitude of ownership of the project by the students and put the rewards and responsibilities of the project in their hands. This is their last and greatest opportunity to excel in our undergraduate program and uncover their true potential. As a group, we've found that they certainly rise to the occasion.

Problem Statements

External mentors begin their participation by crafting an appropriate problem statement. The course instructors are happy to work with prospective mentors to produce a good problem statement. Problem statements must at least be vetted by the instructor. Please see the contact information below.

Projects must have a circuit design and construction component. Most good problem statements are open enough to allow a solution that includes such components. Please try to avoid problem statements that have only software solutions. In the past we have had algorithm oriented projects that included the construction of special digital circuits to handle part of the processing, so a little creative thinking can bring almost any problem into the scope of the course. Additionally, problem statements, like the projects they spawn, must strike an appropriate balance among competing requirements.

Good examples

From a member of the faculty:

Every summer, many kids die in overheated cars left in the sun. Fix this problem.

From a member of the faculty:

In my lab I need to monitor changes in the position of a stage with 20nm precision. I have a HeNe laser and that could be part of an optical solution.

From a member of the insurance industry:

There is a signature of impending failure in wires that spark electrical fires. We can provide you with data on this behavior. Build a sensor system to detect impending electrical fires.

From a campus project:

We are building an all electric car as part of a large project. We need a system to regulate the output of regenerative braking and integrate with a battery charging system that includes other sources (solar and wall power). We have specific tolerances for ripple and bounce. A primary challenge is protection of the generators. Detailed requirements are given in the available background document as well as a description of the larger project. Finances for parts and supplies are available up to $2000.

Bad examples

From a hypothetical member of the faculty (specifying the solution):

Every summer, many kids die in overheated cars left in the sun. Connect a temp sensor to a voltage comparitor and a latch. When the latch goes high have the bluetooth module I will give you send a message to the OnStar system in the car asking them to check for passengers.

From a hypothetical member of the faculty version 2 (unrealistic):

Every summer, many kids die in overheated cars left in the sun. Build a machine to teleport endangered children to safety.

From a hypothetical member of the insurance industry (specifying the solution and too easy):

There is a signature of impending failure in wires that spark electrical fires. We can provide you with data on this behavior. Use a current sensor, an ACS714 built into the circuit shown in the attached diagram, to feed the A/D converter I will give you. Then write code to do matched filtering to select dangerous signals.

From a hypothetical campus project (solution given):

We are building an all electric car as part of a large project. We have designed a system to regulate the output of regenerative braking and integrate with a battery charging system that includes other sources (solar and wall power). We need you to build the design. Finances for parts and supplies are available up to $2000.

From a hypothetical campus project (unrealistic):

We are building an all electric car as part of a large project. We need a system to regulate the output of regenerative braking and integrate with a battery charging system that includes other sources (solar and wall power). We have specific tolerances for ripple and bounce. A primary challenge is protection of the generators. Detailed requirements are given in the available background document as well as a full description of the project. The circuits must be 95% efficient and we have no budget.

Presenting in person

Every semester we have several external mentors come talk to the class during the first two lectures. We ask that the presenters be brief (5 minutes) and suggest that they stay for questions after the end of the lecture. We can provide a projector and internet access to aid in the presentation. We are very happy to have personal appearances.

Donations of Equipment and Money

We do not require a fee to participate in the senior design process. We consider the contribution of time and intellectual effort to be significant. A good idea brought to us by an external mentor is a benefit for the students. However, our budget is limited and expensive projects simply cannot be completed without additional financial or material support. Sometimes external mentors are able to make available special equipment or supply parts, sometimes they are able to make cash donations.

In addition to the marginal costs of a project, please also keep in mind the cost of the support network (teaching assistants, instructors, lab managers, etc) as well as the capital investment in equipment in the department in the millions of dollars. We encourage companies interested in mentoring to consider making a contribution to the department to help defray these costs. Gift money left over from a given grant will be placed into the class general fund which is used for parts for all students. We also encourage the donation of equipment and parts. Typical donations from large companies have come in $5000 increments and donations from small, local businesses have been in $1000 increments. These are suggested starting points and any support at all is appreciated.

We are always happy to work with schools, nonprofit organizations and individuals on good works projects to improve education, overcome handicaps, or contribute to the life of the community. We understand that these organizations face even greater financial hurdles than we. Indeed, the flow of material on these types of projects is usually out of the class as we can often provide the completed project prototypes to these organizations free-of-charge. Of course, this sort of activity is also made possible by the support of other generous donors.

Please also realize that this is an undergraduate class. We believe that what we do is important and that the educational mission benefits our students, their future employers, our society, and the world. We hope that our partners also benefit by contact with these extraodinary young people and that they believe in the mission. Sometimes projects are successful in that a product or result is delivered as hoped at the start. Sometimes everyone gets experience. We cannot promise that external mentors or benefactors will benefit directly. If you have a project that is well suited to an academic research setting and that must come through with certain deliverables, we would be happy to facilitate contact with the appropriate faculty to form a sponsored research agreement, but this project would likely not be appropriate for Senior Design.

Contact and Getting Started

Contact Professor Butala by email at tmp. Contact is welcome anytime, though ideally enough time before the start of the semester will be allowed to pass a problem statement back and forth a couple of times. This usually means two or three weeks before the start of the semester. The academic calendar is available here. Early contact never hurts. For maximum efficiency, please email Prof. Butala with the following information:

Ongoing contact

If your problem is taken up, we will work with you to set up a contact schedule that you are comfortable with. If you have time to very actively mentor the students, a weekly meeting by video or even in person may be appropriate. If you are busy or such regular contact just isn't called for, less frequent meetings or just regular updates may be arranged. Regardless of external mentor participation level, every group will be assigned an internal mentor (a TA) who will ensure that the academic aims of the course are being met. We encourage mentors to attend demonstrations and presentations at the end of the semester if reasonably possible.

If your problem is not taken up one semester, we can carry it over to the next if you like. We can also work with you to more carefully state and scope the problem to attract participation. Our students are deeply intellectually ambitious. They are often up for changing the world.

Historic projects

The course has used an online project management and archiving system since 1999.

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 database includes details such as proposals, presentation slides, final papers, and student resumes. With 120 students and 30 projects in a typical semester, it has become a worthwhile recruiting tool.

Course Mechanics Overview

Senior Design (ECE445/ME470) is a required laboratory class for electrical and mechanical engineers where the students 'engineer' a project. We typically have 120 students (30 projects) per term.

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 design review, an oral demonstration, and a formal presentation. In addition we teach the students to follow a schedule, to keep track of cost, and to deliver on time.

Schedule

The semester begins over the 1st 10 days on 'identifying a project' and forming teams. A week later, the project 'PROPOSAL' is due and 10 days later, a design review is held for each project with the instructor, TA, 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.

Resources

Our resources include people and equipment. In addition to the instructors, we have several graduate students with varied backgrounds who each take on an average of 6-7 projects for weekly team meetings. The TAs gain management experience in this role. We have a dedicated laboratory which they have access to. The environment is informal so the students feel comfortable as they put in long hours on their projects. Each team also is allocated some amount of budget for purchasing their materials.

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 class meeting, 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, power laboratory, or other ECE/ME 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 advice on how to follow the project requirements.

Motivation

Our motivation as the course staff 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. we 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 or further collaboration. 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.

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,

ECE445/ME470 Course Instructors

S.I.P. (Smart Irrigation Project)

Featured Project

Jackson Lenz

James McMahon

Our project is to be a reliable, robust, and intelligent irrigation controller for use in areas where reliable weather prediction, water supply, and power supply are not found.

Upon completion of the project, our device will be able to determine the moisture level of the soil, the water level in a water tank, and the temperature, humidity, insolation, and barometric pressure of the environment. It will perform some processing on the observed environmental factors to determine if rain can be expected soon, Comparing this knowledge to the dampness of the soil and the amount of water in reserves will either trigger a command to begin irrigation or maintain a command to not irrigate the fields. This device will allow farmers to make much more efficient use of precious water and also avoid dehydrating crops to death.

In developing nations, power is also of concern because it is not as readily available as power here in the United States. For that reason, our device will incorporate several amp-hours of energy storage in the form of rechargeable, maintenance-free, lead acid batteries. These batteries will charge while power is available from the grid and discharge when power is no longer available. This will allow for uninterrupted control of irrigation. When power is available from the grid, our device will be powered by the grid. At other times, the batteries will supply the required power.

The project is titled S.I.P. because it will reduce water wasted and will be very power efficient (by extremely conservative estimates, able to run for 70 hours without input from the grid), thus sipping on both power and water.

We welcome all questions and comments regarding our project in its current form.

Thank you all very much for you time and consideration!