Design Project

• Recitations
• Teams
• Assignment 1
• Assignment 2
• Assignment 3
• Assignment 4
• Assignment 5
• Assignment 6
• Assignment 7
• Assignment 8
• Assignment 9
• Project Grade Sheet

Students will complete a design project on a team with 2-3 students from different majors. They will define their own design problems for the term project, and work together to develop an engineered solution to that problem. The project will run parallel to the lectures, with assignments given periodically to execute project-specific work related to the more general concepts covered in class. We expect all teams to develop their ideas to strong proof-of-concept level.

Deliverables

The term project will culminate in three deliverables:

1. Poster - presented at Design Fair that will be held near end of the semester
2. Model - presented at Design Fair. the model is a proof-of-concept of the final design, or of some critical piece of the final design. the model can be a prototype, computer simulation, foam board mock-up, or any other suitable representation of the design that the general public will understand. However, it must also provide a real test of the engineering design.
3. Team Notebook - A 3-ring binder containing all team assignments, separated by the dividers provided.
   • Project Ideas
   • Problem Definition
   • Functional Analysis
   • Concept Development
   • System Architecture
   • Project Planning
   • Detail Design
   • Analysis/Testing

Recitations

Once projects are underway, the team will meet weekly with an assigned team advisor for a 50-minute recitation session. Recitation sections will be scheduled in the second week of classes, with two teams per section. In recitation, teams will give status reports on the projects, receive guidance from their advisor, and learn from the experiences of the other team in the section.

Weekly Assignments

You will be given assignments to complete every 1-2 weeks. The assignments will generally correspond to lecture material just covered, and will lead the team through a design process. In addition to written feedback, the assignments will be assessed a score as follows:

• +1 = Good Quality
• 0 = Acceptable Quality
• -1 = Poor Quality
• -2 = Late or Incomplete

The sum total of the interim assignments will constitute about 10% of the Design Project grade.

Team Notebooks

Each team will maintain a team notebook (3-ring binder) with appropriate dividers in which to keep their completed assignments and other materials. They will submit it periodically for evaluation of individual assignments. However, teams may revise any section of the binder at any time throughout the semester based on advisor feedback or developments that may arise over the course of the project.  Teams may also add additional sections to the team binder to help manage their own internal processes.  The team will turn in their binder on the Monday of finals week for their Design Project grade.

Teamwork Evaluation

At the midterm and at the end of the semester, we will conduct advisor and peer evaluations of teamwork skills and team contributions.  Individual project grades will be adjusted upwards for team members showing exemplary team contribution, and downwards for those demonstrating poor teamwork skills or contribution.

Timeline

The approximate timeline to complete the semester project follows.  Dates and assignments are subject to change.  Assignments are due the day before the recitation closest to the dates indicated (exception: May 5 deadline is hard).