The Capstone Engineering Systems Design Process At The United States Air Force Academy

This paper describes the overall experience of offering a capstone, senior-level, engineering systems design course at the United States Air Force Academy from the perspective of both technical and non-technical students, along with their instructors. The course is designed to introduce cadets of all majors to the engineering design process and the Air Force acquisition process. The cadets are expected to apply knowledge from past courses at the United States Air Force Academy to design, build, test, and deliver a project that the instructor assigns to them, which benefits a real-world user. Along the way, the cadets also meet certain milestones, give briefings and demonstrations, and prepare technical reports. The course is geared so that technical and non-technical cadets can team up to perform meaningful work in an engineering design format. In the midst of a unique and often challenging group dynamics environment, the cadets are challenged to find their own solution to an ill-defined problem, and then actually perform hands on fabrication and testing of their project. Examples of past projects and the performance of cadets in building those projects will be evaluated to provide some insight into cadet performance. Data will be analyzed to determine whether cadet performance is tied to the technical complexity of a given project. Some insight into teaching this course is discussed, and finally, the paper will discuss the benefits and the challenges involved in a course like Engineering Systems Design. The paper will conclude with some feed back from recent graduates of the United Stated Air Force Academy and a look toward the future of the course.