From the Industry to the Student: Project Management of an Industry-sponsored Multidisciplinary Capstone Project

The Engineering Education Innovation Center at The Ohio State University has offered, through its Multidisciplinary Engineering Capstone Design Program a broad range of opportunities for engineering and non-engineering students by incorporating authentic industry-sponsored projects into the curriculum. The program provides students the opportunity to apply their education and develop professional skills in real-world problems by incorporating different student and industry interests through its four sub-programs; Industry-Sponsored Projects, IndustrySponsored Product Design Projects; Social Innovation and Commercialization; and Joint Mechanical/Bio-medical Projects. The program enriches the learning experiences of the students by providing an opportunity for student design teams to contribute to real industry products by experiencing the complete design cycle including define problem, create requirements/specifications, create design concepts, create detail design solution, build prototype, validate design, refine design and implement design. Professional skills are developed by improving the students' awareness of engineering practices through developing skills that include communication, engineering ethics, professional presentation and etiquette, and project management. Industry sponsors provide domain specific knowledge through all aspects of the design process. This paper provides an overview of project management requirements, techniques, and teaching strategies to enrich the learning experiences through the aforementioned course sequence methodologies for an automotive industry-sponsored capstone design project. The points-ofview of an industry sponsor, academic program coordinator, project faculty advisor, and the engineering student will be examined.