March
20, 2003 -- Until now, writing the senior thesis was a solitary endeavor. Now,
thanks to a grant of $70,000 from Lockheed Martin, engineering students will have
the option of developing and working on their thesis projects in small teams,
a process that more closely approximates the way engineers work in the real world.
"Our core courses focus on equipping students with analytical tools to
solve problems subject to physical constraints," notes Dana Elzey, a research
associate professor and one of the creators of the Engineering in Context course,
whose pilot is funded by the Lockheed Martin grant. Offered during spring semester
for third-year students, Engineering in Context is designed to ensure that a student’s
senior thesis project will prepare him to view engineering problems in a broad
context and to address some of the nonphysical constraints on engineering such
as manufacturability, cost, and societal impact.
The course, which will
be co-taught by professors Elzey, Kay Neeley, and Dan Bauer, will include discussions
of such issues as concurrent engineering, project management, and team dynamics.
At the same time, all students in the class will propose a product idea, as well
as the design and development approach they intend to use to define requirements,
analyze, document, build, and verify a product prototype. The proposals could
be inspired by an industry collaboration, faculty research, or a co-op or summer
job experience.
The proposals will be reviewed by a faculty committee,
and the most promising approved. Although students will be encouraged to seek
industrial sponsorship for their work, each
winning proposal will receive
nominal funding from the school. The proposal leaders will then recruit teams
of students with the necessary skills to complete the projects and develop a work
plan and budget.
"Our goal is to offer a senior thesis option that
gives students the opportunity to think creatively and with an open mind in the
face of real-world constraints," Elzey remarks. "It’s the kind
of preparation that companies like Lockheed Martin value when they evaluate new
personnel."
