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2016 ASEE Rocky Mountain Section Conference
and advised several weeks before the start of the capstone quarter to begin thinking about their
project so they are well-prepared to start quickly. The student must design a new product that
meets a market need, and either demonstrate how it behaves or model its performance. Several
self-motivated and talented students followed this advice and successfully completed technically
challenging projects described later in the paper while following the system engineering process.
Description of Student Deliverables and Activities
Table 3 lists the schedule of activities portraying samples of the system engineering process.
This approach is structured having weekly deliverables but flexible enough to accommodate both
disciplines as well as other technical specialties.
The methodology attempts to
provide a balanced approach
having technical merit,
system-level thinking, and
improved communication
skills. In system engineering,
there are numerous design
documents and reviews during
the acquisition of a system. In
addition, the systems engineer
must be an accomplished
communicator when
interacting with numerous
individuals having various
technical or other skill sets.
Electrical and computer engineering students, especially those who are international students,
may be unfamiliar with the system engineering process. To take this into account, the weighting
scheme and weekly deliverables, allows the student to learn about the system engineering
process iteratively during the 11-week course without heavily penalizing the students during the
first-half of the course.
The rest of this section briefly describes the weekly and reported activities by the student that is
intended to develop a system engineering mindset throughout the capstone course.
Week 1: Product Ideas and Resources. The first assignment identifies in an informal report, a
product or an improvement to a product that should be invented. The student must determine
what product will be created, who will use it, what benefit it will provide, and how will success
be demonstrated…in other words, the student must perform some market research. The student
will be required in the next assignment to demonstrate that there is a need for this product. The
student must provide a list of resources which will be used, to help define and describe this new
product, and the people or companies who will be affected by it directly or indirectly. The
student needs to include what the user would request from the system performance. These
considerations will help identify system "Requirements" or specifications.
© American Society for Engineering Education, 2016
and advised several weeks before the start of the capstone quarter to begin thinking about their
project so they are well-prepared to start quickly. The student must design a new product that
meets a market need, and either demonstrate how it behaves or model its performance. Several
self-motivated and talented students followed this advice and successfully completed technically
challenging projects described later in the paper while following the system engineering process.
Description of Student Deliverables and Activities
Table 3 lists the schedule of activities portraying samples of the system engineering process.
This approach is structured having weekly deliverables but flexible enough to accommodate both
disciplines as well as other technical specialties.
The methodology attempts to
provide a balanced approach
having technical merit,
system-level thinking, and
improved communication
skills. In system engineering,
there are numerous design
documents and reviews during
the acquisition of a system. In
addition, the systems engineer
must be an accomplished
communicator when
interacting with numerous
individuals having various
technical or other skill sets.
Electrical and computer engineering students, especially those who are international students,
may be unfamiliar with the system engineering process. To take this into account, the weighting
scheme and weekly deliverables, allows the student to learn about the system engineering
process iteratively during the 11-week course without heavily penalizing the students during the
first-half of the course.
The rest of this section briefly describes the weekly and reported activities by the student that is
intended to develop a system engineering mindset throughout the capstone course.
Week 1: Product Ideas and Resources. The first assignment identifies in an informal report, a
product or an improvement to a product that should be invented. The student must determine
what product will be created, who will use it, what benefit it will provide, and how will success
be demonstrated…in other words, the student must perform some market research. The student
will be required in the next assignment to demonstrate that there is a need for this product. The
student must provide a list of resources which will be used, to help define and describe this new
product, and the people or companies who will be affected by it directly or indirectly. The
student needs to include what the user would request from the system performance. These
considerations will help identify system "Requirements" or specifications.
© American Society for Engineering Education, 2016
