About the Capstone Program
2017-2018
Sponsor Guide
Mechanical Engineering Capstone Program
The Capstone Program at the School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at OU is a two-semester program for graduating seniors. The program’s objective is for students to use their knowledge they have acquired during their education to solve engineering problems and to design realistic systems, components and/or processes. Working effectively as a team is an important objective for the program as well. Teamwork allows students to gain organization and communication skills, understand professional and ethical responsibilities, promote initiative, innovation, and excellence and foster life-long learning. Lastly, students will provide a valuable product to the project sponsor.
Three Major Program Elements 1 Faculty to advise, coordinate and evaluate to define the problem, guide and accept or 2 Sponsor reject the results 3 Student teams will learn and perform the tasks to achieve the desired goals
Project Identification
Projects are accepted in most areas of mechanical engineering including mechanical design, thermal or fluid systems, control systems, etc. The successful completion of these projects is equally as important as the instructional and educational value. The following guidelines are offered to identify a suitable project for the program: • Choose a problem that you want solved • Project should emphasize design, experimental and hands-on skills • Do not choose a project with only collection of published materials • The problem should allow teamwork and offer creative opportunity • Avoid projects involving classified materials • Limit project scope to about 1000 person-hours of a senior engineering intern • The project schedule should be limited to about six months (mid-October to April) • Seek a project that is not on the critical path of a program with a stringent deadline • Establish concrete, measurable goals • Define how success will be determined
Interdisciplinary Capstone
Technical Liaison
The role of technical liaison is critical to realize maximum benefit from your involvement in the program. Please consider the following suggestions: • Identify a liaison with relevant technical and business background • Expect the liaison to spend an average of two to four hours per week on the project • Identify the liaison assignment as a formal part of job responsibilities • Provide the liaison with adequate authority to make timely decisions on day-to-day project issues • Seek a liaison with temperament to work with college students • Liaison should understand that his/her role is to support but not conduct the investigation • Liaison should provide focus towards the project goals, while offering flexibility to accept unanticipated situations during the project
Sponsor Benefits
The program objective is to produce useful results on an open-ended project to the satisfaction of the sponsors within the constraints of time and budget. The following are benefits of this partnership with AME and its Capstone Program: • A valuable end product addressing your specific needs • An excellent opportunity to utilize the engineering resources at OU • Access to creative and enthusiastic students prior to graduation • Recognition of your organization as an industrial partner for engineering education
Testimonies
“Companies have an excellent chance to get to know students and see whether they would want to hire members of the group after graduation.” Sarah Fogelman, Student Participant
The Interdisciplinary Capstone Program joins students studying mechanical engineering with students studying industrial engineering for one single capstone project. Interdisciplinary Capstone projects are open-ended projects defined by the sponsor and completed to the sponsors’ satisfaction within the constraints of time, budget and resources. Working together, the students’ combined skill set presents an inclusive team of engineering tools for comprehensive systems design and evaluation.
“The students from OU AME are adequately prepared for commercial positions. Judging from the projects, they have been introduced to a great array of subjects, from MEMS to oilfield mechanical to thermal systems to electronic measuring/ logging instruments. Their use of computers for design, analysis and presentation was demonstrated. Teamwork and communication to develop the concepts and solve the problem were demonstrated. The curriculum and projects have provided the tools that the students will need to succeed as engineers.” Allen Ahlert, Poster Fair Judge, Hitachi Computer Products
For more information regarding the Interdisciplinary Capstone projects or to learn how to sponsor a team, please contact Dr. Farrokh Mistree (405) 306-7309 or farrokh.mistree@ou.edu.
“While working on the project, both sponsors and students are given the opportunity to work with state-of-the-art resources available to them at the University of Oklahoma.” David Baldwin, Faculty Advisor
Design Requirements (List design and/or functional requirements and specifications):
2017-2018 Senior Design Practicum Program PROJECT SUBMISSION FORM (Due Date: Friday, September 22, 2017) Company Name: ______________________________________________
Additional Information (Attach sketches, drawings, product catalogs etc, as necessary):
Address: _____________________________________________________ Point of Contact: ______________________
Title: _________________
If Any, Specialized Equipment/Software Needed (Estimate Budget):
Phone/Fax/E-mail: ______________________________ Technical Liaison: _____________________
Title: _________________
Phone/Fax/E-mail: _______________________________ The sponsor provides funds for (a) Capstone Program Overhead $7.5K (b) materials/ supplies for software/equipment needed to build/test/simulate/analyze project prototype, (c) project related travel and (d) Poster (3’x4’), Mid-Term and Final Reports expenses, (e) AME Shop labor costs. In return, the sponsor retains the ownership of the final product.
Project Information
*Use additional pages as necessary Background (Introduce the problem you propose to solve, and give a brief background):
Expected Cost of Miscellaneous Materials/Supplies (Estimate Budget):
Final Budget (Estimated): (a) Capstone Program Overhead.............................................. (b) Specialized Equipment/Software........................................ (c) Expected Cost of Miscellaneous Materials/Supplies...........
Project Solicitation
August - Mid-October 2017
Team/Project Assignments, AME 4163
Thursday, October 12, 2017
Strategic Plan/Team Organization, AME 4163
Mid-November 2017
Plan of Action, AME 4163
Tuesday, December 12, 2017
Mid-Term Design Review (MidTerm Report & Oral Presentation)
Tuesday, March 13 & Thursday, March 15, 2018
Final Design Review (Draft Final Report & Oral Presentation)
Tuesday, April 24 & Thursday, April 26, 2018
Final Report
Tuesday, May 1, 2018
Poster Fair & Final Prototype
Thursday, May 3, 2018
$7,500
(d) Project Related Travel Costs............................................... (e) Poster (3’x4’), Mid-Term Reports, Final Reports Costs....... (f ) AME Shop Labor Costs...................................................... Total Budget (Estimated).........................................................
Please send the completed form, attachments and a check (full amount or a minimum of $2000 to secure a spot) to Dr. Zahed Siddique. Contributions to this program may be qualified as tax deductible.
Desired End Product (Explain nature and function of the end product):
AME Capstone Calendar of Events 2017-2018
Please make checks payable to: The University of Oklahoma Foundation, Inc. with subject line, Senior Design Practicum Please mail checks to: Dr. Zahed Siddique School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering University of Oklahoma 865 Asp Avenue, Room 212 Norman, OK 73019 Fax: (405) 325-1088 | E-mail: zsiddique@ou.edu
For more information regarding the Mechanical Engineering Capstone Program, please contact: Dr. Zahed Siddique Tel: (405) 325-2692 | E-mail: zsiddique@ou.edu Dr. Farrokh Mistree Tel: (405) 306-7309 | E-mail: farrokh.mistree@ou.edu