Transcript No Slide Title

The Capstone Senior Design Course: An Initiative in
Partnering with Industry
Dewey Rundus
Kenneth J. Christensen
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
University of South Florida
Tampa, Florida 33620
{rundus, christen}@csee.usf.edu
1 (fie03.ppt – 11/06/03)
Topics
• Introduction and background
• Role in ABET EC 2000
• Course design and implementation
• Examples of projects
• Evaluation of the course
• Summary and future work
This material was partially presented at the ASEE Southeast
Section Meeting in Macon, Georgia in April 2003.
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Introduction and background
• Our department – Computer Science and Engineering
- BS in Computer Engineering (ABET accredited)
- BS in Computer Science (ABET accredited)
- BS in Information Systems
- MS and PhD programs
• 18 faculty members
- Research funding from NSF, Navy, other federal agencies
- Well rated PhD program
• Department enrollment is about…
- 400 (!) undergraduate students
- 200 graduate students (50 are PhD)
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Introduction and background
continued
• Senior capstone design course (CIS 4910)
– Part of most engineering and computer science curriculums
• Purpose is to…
– Integrate knowledge
– Produce a useful artifact (design and build)
• Many models for a capstone course…
– Internal - individual or team-based
» Students select project
» Faculty members select project
– Industry - individual or team-based
» Providing projects and/or support
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Introduction and background
continued
• Growing trend towards industry-based project courses
– One motivation is to prepare students for industry careers
University
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Web site for CE and/or CS capstone course
Arizona
http://www.ece.arizona.edu/~ece498/
Mich Tech
http://www.ece.mtu.edu/pages/senior_design/index.html
NCSU
http://courses.ncsu.edu/ece480/lec/001/
NCSU
http://sd.csc.ncsu.edu/SeniorDesign/index.html
Oregon State
http://www.ece.orst.edu/industry/srprojectbrochure.pdf
Portland State
http://www.cecs.pdx.edu/capstone_student.php
UF
http://www.ise.ufl.edu/IPPD.html
USF
http://www.csee.usf.edu/~christen/class6/class6.html
UIUC
http://www.ece.uiuc.edu/corporate/design.html
UIUC
http://slappy.cs.uiuc.edu/cs292/
Small sample
Introduction and background
continued
• Example #1 – UF IPPD program (college-wide)
- Selective program (top 25%), interdisciplinary, team-based
• Example #2 – NCSU Senior Design center (CS dept)
- Design center, catalog of projects, emphasis on “soft” topics
• Example #3 – UIUC “Corporate Connective” initiative (ECE dept)
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Role in ABET EC 2000
• Design is a major concern of ABET accreditation visits
- Integrated throughout program
- Capstone course can be be a major focus of a visit
• EC 2000 criterion 3 (a thru k) outcomes involve design
• EC 2000 criterion 4 directly addresses design
Our view… a capstone course is the cornerstone of the
professional requirements of a quality undergraduate
engineering curriculum.
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Role in ABET EC 2000
continued
• EC 2000 criterion 3 (subparts that apply to a capstone course)…
(a) apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering;
(c) design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs;
(d) function on multi-disciplinary teams;
(e) identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems;
(g) communicate effectively; and
(k) use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools
necessary for engineering practice.
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Role in ABET EC 2000
continued
• EC 2000 criterion 4…
“…engineering standards and realistic constraints that include most
of the following considerations: economic; environmental;
sustainability; manufacturability; ethical; health and safety;
social; and political.”
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Course Design and Implementation
• History of capstone course in our department
- Individually selected projects – 1987 to 2000
- Industry-based team projects – 2001 to present
• Individual projects are good…
- Students with a strong idea are driven to do well
- Only modest overhead for department
• Individual projects are bad…
- Little topic constraint
- Students without ideas would search aimlessly
- No team-work experience
- Sometimes very little supervision
» No recognition of faculty effort
- High variability in project quality
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Course Design and Implementation
continued
• Our course objectives…
1) Students will select an industry-contributed hardware or
software project and form teams of size four to six based.
2) Student teams will follow a formal development process.
3) Students will complete requirements, spec, and test plan.
4) Students will implement their design.
5) Students will test the resulting system.
6) Students will produce a written final report, poster, press
Release, final oral presentation, and project demonstration.
7) Students will experience all phases of project development and
thereby will gain an appreciation.
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Course Design and Implementation
continued
• We approach central-Florida companies that hire our graduates
- “Sell” the course based on two benefits to company
1) A first look at graduating class (recruiting)
2) An opportunity to have a back-burner problem solved
A presentation is made to industry…
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Course Design and Implementation
Industry participation in senior project
continued
Presentation to industry…
• We need project ideas and champions for Fall 2002
• A good project is…
– Technical
– Slightly open-ended
– Project scope: 4-student team prototypes within 3 months
– Not on the “critical path” for industry
– Not proprietary
Need 8 such projects by mid-December 2002
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continued
Course Design and Implementation
Industry participation in senior project
continued
Presentation to industry…
• What is needed from you
1) A project and a kick-off meeting with a student team
2) Mentoring (amount is up to you)
3) One guest lecture
4) Final student presentation at your corporate site
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continued
Course Design and Implementation
continued
• Development process used…
Requirements
Specification
Design
Prototype
Implementation
Test
Manufacture
Distribution
Maintenance
End-of-life
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• Teach standard development process
- Emphasis on prototype demo
» 20% of final grade
• Textbook is Fred Brooks Mythical
Man Month
- Brooks was manager for OS/360
- Founded CS department at UNC
Course Design and Implementation
continued
• Course outline…
Weeks 1 thru 4: Lecture on development process
Week 5: Project work day
Weeks 6 thru 12: Guest lectures from industry
- Prototype demo on week 9
Week 13: Mini-exam
Week 14: Practice presentations
Week 15: Final presentations and deliverables due
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Course Design and Implementation
continued
• Course deliverables…
1) Requirements document – week #3
2) Specification – week #6
3) Prototype demonstration – week #9
4) Test plan – week #10
5) Final demonstration and presentation – week #15
- Project demo
- Formal presentation
- Poster
- Press release
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Course Design and Implementation
• Course deliverables – sample poster
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continued
Examples of projects
• Breed Technologies - Spring 2002
Situation: Breed Technologies develops auto safety products and
has many ongoing projects and employees. Time cards and project
tracking is paper-and-pencil based.
Requirements: Develop a web-based labor and project tracking
system.
Project results: Web-based system developed and deployed.
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Examples of projects
continued
• Raytheon - Fall 2002
Situation: Raytheon develops secure telephone systems. There is
a need to be able to validate the user of a telephone.
Requirements: Prototype the use of finger-print biometric devices
for authorizing the user of an IP telephone.
Project results: Developed software to use off-the-shelf biometric
fingerprint device to enable a PC-based IP telephone.
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Examples of projects
continued
• Sonny’s BBQ – Spring 2002 and Fall 2002
Situation: Sonny’s is the largest USA BBQ chain. Order taking is
paper-and-pencil based and is labor intensive and error prone.
Requirements: Prototype the use of wireless hand-held computers
for order taking and transmission to the kitchen.
Project results: First semester developed user interface for
hand-held Palm computers. Second semester developed wireless
interface and order delivery to the kitchen.
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Examples of projects
continued
• Sypris Electronics – Fall 2002 and Spring 2003
Situation: Sypris develops cryptographic “boxes” for the DoD.
There is a need for cryptographic security on COTS hand-held
computers.
Requirements: Develop a cryptographic service provider software
package for a Microsoft WinCE handheld.
Project results: First semester developed most of software to
run on a PC. Second semester group ported to hand-held and
productized the software.
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Evaluation of the course
• Component #1 – Modified course structure is an improvement
– Structured environment, no “back ending” of project work
• Component #2 – Student self-surveys
– Almost all the students state that soft topics covered
are critical to career success
– Almost all students state that they believe this course is
better preparing them for industry that any other course
• Component #3 – Long term evaluation
– Yet to be done, we need to survey graduates 2 to 5 years
past graduation
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Summary and future work
• Described design of an industry-based capstone design course
• We believe very beneficial to students entering workforce
• Future work is long-term evaluation of graduates
• We hope that our experience can be of value to others
Course outline and syllabus are included in the paper
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