Multidisciplinary Engineering Senior Design at RIT

The Kate Gleason College of Engineering (KGCOE) at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) has implemented a college-wide initiative to emphasize multidisciplinary design in the senior capstone experience. The mission of this three-quarter sequence is to develop engineers who have an end-to-end life cycle prospective of product realization. Problem solving, teamwork, market-oriented product development, and technical communication are key experiential components of the program. Supplemental topics in innovation, entrepreneurship, and contemporary issues in product development, are fostered through lectures and workshops. The capstone program is coordinated by a team of faculty representatives from each participating department. A standard set of assessment tools is employed by the coordinators, faculty team mentors, project sponsors and external reviewers. The design of a state-of-the-art 8,500 sq.ft., multi-disciplinary design workshop is underway. It will provide team work spaces as they develop and analyze concepts, and support for assembly and testing. This facility is made possible by recent gifts from local foundations and industries. At steady state, approximately 400 students will work concurrently on approximately 60 projects. This paper discusses the educational objectives, structure, and management of this multidisciplinary capstone program.