BEGINNINGS:

Robert Todd had long heard his colleagues complain about newly graduated engineers: “They always went for the high-tech solutions versus simple ones, they didn’t want to get their hands dirty, they lacked an understanding of manufacturing processes, and they needed to improve their communication skills.”

What engineering students needed was just what they didn’t have—experience.  In order to provide the students that much needed experience, in the fall of 1990 Robert H. Todd and Carl D. Sorensen of the Department of Manufacturing Engineering and Spencer P. Magleby of the Department of Mechanical Engineering founded BYU’s Capstone program.

THE PROGRAM:

Capstone is an innovative, two-semester course that brings seniors in mechanical engineering and manufacturing engineering technology together (as well as students from other disciplines such as electical engineering, computer engineering, statistics, business, and industrial design).

The students are first divided into teams of about 4-5 students and assigned a faculty member or professional engineer as a coach. They are then given a company-sponsored project to work on. For the next two semesters, the teams work with the company to solve the project’s engineering design problems, build prototypes, test hardware to specs, provide detailed drawings, and deliver a workable prototype to the industry sponsor.

The program is beneficial to both the students and the companies who sponsor them. The companies get new, fresh thinking to solve their engineering problems and the students get the chance to put their engineering skills to practical, real-world use.

PROGRESS:

In 1990 Capstone started with just 4 industry-sponsored projects, 3 faculty coaches, and 22 students. Since then, the program has expanded to more than 30 projects each year, 27 faculty coaches and nearly 200 students working on projects from prominent companies all across the United States (as well as overseas).

In addition to overwhelming positive response from sponsor companies, the track record of successful projects has been very good. Repeat rate for sponsors is between 60 and 70 percent. A sample of repeat project sponsors includes: ATK, Autoliv, Avery Dennison, Boeing, BD Medical, Ford Motor Co., General Electric, K-Tec, and Pacific Gas and Electric.

Capstone teams have completed 577 projects to date.

STUDENT RESPONSES

"The Capstone class was the best class I had in teaching me how to apply my engineering classes to the problems and projects of the real world."

"If I had not taken Capstone, I would not have the job I have today. I do Capstone everyday."

Images (top to bottom): Carl Sorensen with students in the CAEDM lab, Robert Todd coaching a Capstone student, and Spencer Magleby coaching a student.