The Engineering Capstone Course

This essential book takes students and instructors through steps undertaken in a start-to-finish engineering project as conceived and presented in the engineering capstone course. The learning experience follows an industry model to prepare students to recognize a need for a product or service, create and work in a team; identify competition, patent overlap, and necessary resources, generate a project proposal that accounts for business issues, prepare a design, develop and fabricate the product or service, develop a test plan to evaluate the product or service, and prepare and deliver a final report and presentation. Throughout the book, students are asked to examine the business viability aspects of the project. The Engineering Capstone Course: Fundamentals for Students and Instructors emphasizes that a design must meet a set of realistic technical specifications and constraints including examination of attendant economics, environmental needs, sustainability, manufacturability, health and safety, governmental regulations, industry standards, and social and political constraints. The book is ideal for instructors teaching, or students working through, the capstone course.