Senior Capstone Design Program

Overview of Senior Design Program

Michigan Tech Mechanical Engineering Capstone Senior Design Program

The Michigan Tech Mechanical Engineering Capstone Senior Design Program is a premier and unique program in the nation.

ABET accreditation requires that professional engineering graduates complete a major design experience in engineering and Michigan Tech has one of the best engineering design programs available.

ME-EM senior design team
A senior design teams presenting at Undergraduate Expo

A senior design teams presenting at Expo

Every senior design team will produce a professional presentation of their product or process

Awards are presented during the Senior Design Expo to the top teams

ME-EM senior design Industry Partners Tour

The Senior Design Program allows mechanical engineering student teams to solve real world problems for their industrial partners who support the teams with $15,000.

Each team is coached by a faculty advisor and has their own design studio in the Cuskie Design and Creativity Center and has access to the Rivard Product Realization Center providing professional engineering facilities. All students have access to the Lagina Student Success Center and Engineering Learning Center.

Students work in teams of five (5) with their faculty advisor on solving real world engineering problems. The students experience the entire design process from concept to presentation to the customer in producing a new product, or innovative process or system.

All senior mechanical engineering students are required to complete this six credits, two-semester engineering design project during their senior year. Most of the projects have industrial clients, who sponsor the projects with time and money and have real expectations on the Teams’ performances.

Each year the student projects are featured at the Annual Senior Design, Enterprise and Undergraduate Research Expo. The posters, prototypes and presentations represent the culmination of the year-long senior design projects.

The whole student body and faculty and public are invited to tour the exhibition. Junior year students can see examples of the projects and gain inspiration for the projects they will be doing in their next year.

Selected faculty, administrators and industrial sponsors and others from the general public tour the expo and judge the presentations and posters. Awards are presented to the top teams.

Local radio, newspaper and TV will be there, as well as students and teachers from the local high schools are invited to view the exhibits during the Expo.

And as a special crowning feature, the Michigan Tech Mechanical Engineering graduating senior will be inducted into the Order of the Engineer at the annual Senior Recognition Banquet and Ring Ceremony held prior to graduation.

ME-EM Senior Banquet Celebration

Michigan Tech graduates are the engineers
that industry prefers.