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Session 2149

Innovative Student Research Projects

Alok K. Verma Old Dominion University

I. Introduction

Senior or Capstone project courses are part of majority of the Engineering Technology Curriculum. This is partly because of the faculty’s desire to assess student’s ability to apply the knowledge acquired and, partly because of the mandate by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). A number of papers have been published on the topic of senior projects and the necessity for providing realistic engineering experience 1,2,3. Looking at these publications, a common theme emerges which calls for making these projects relevant to industry 1. This can be accomplished by greater industry involvement and redesigning the capstone course to meet the needs of industry. This paper discusses two frameworks under which this can be accomplished and presents two research projects that were completed as part of senior design project in the Mechanical Engineering Technology program at Old Dominion University.

II Industry Involvement

Industry involvement in senior projects is a key factor for a successful capstone course as identified by many authors 1,2. Industry involvement can vary greatly in terms of focus, scope and company support. At one end this may involve only financial support, while on the other end the involvement may include both personnel and financial commitment.

III Innovative Research Projects

Innovative research projects can be offered under various organizational framework as discussed by the author in a previous paper 4. While funding from industry, state or federal agencies , can certainly enhance the quality of senior research projects, unfunded student research projects can be equally gratifying in terms of quality of learning experience.

1. Funded Research Projects

Following is an example of funded research project done in the Automated Manufacturing Laboratory at Old Dominion University. This project was done with the help of two seniors participating in the project as part of their capstone course requirement. The two students were

“Proceedings of the 2001 American Society of Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2001, American Society for Engineering Education”

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Verma, A. (2001, June), Innovative Student Research Projects Paper presented at 2001 Annual Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico. 10.18260/1-2--9394