The Capstone
Senior Design Projects are all-encompassing year- or semester-long investigations that will take you on a practical journey through the engineering field. In the end, you will emerge prepared to begin your engineering career, or ready for graduate or professional school.
Working alone or with a partner, you will select a project of your own choosing. Ideas can come from an area of personal interest in your discipline, suggestions from your faculty advisor, or proposals from industry sponsors who are looking to students to solve actual industrial or engineering problems. Senior Design Projects have resulted in groundbreaking inventions, patents, award-winning papers and presentations, and ultimately graduates who have a real-world advantage over other applicants for jobs or graduate and professional schools.
Projects may be sponsored by internationally recognized companies such as Pratt & Whitney Aircraft, UTC Aerospace Systems, LEGO Systems, Otis Elevator, Top Flite (formerly Spalding), and Shriners Hospitals for Children, all of which are located just a short driving distance from Western New England University. Having access to these varied corporations allows our students to explore a variety of industries in which they may choose to work.
Throughout the course of the Senior Design Project, you will meet frequently with your faculty advisor to discuss the progress of the project. Students and advisors have often coauthored award-winning papers on project findings and presented them at regional and national conferences. Students also hone their technical writing, an essential skill needed to properly document research.
Graduating seniors frequently tell us it was their Senior Design Project that most impressed prospective employers. If you are looking for real-world experience as an undergraduate, come to the College of Engineering at Western New England University.