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CE Home > Alumni Resources > Capstone Design
Capstone Design
The Capstone Design course is taken by all civil engineering undergraduates in their senior year and provides a forum to practice the art of engineering under conditions encountered after graduation in engineering practice.
Students are given a current problem posed by a practitioner-mentor from a consulting firm, a public agency, a county or city engineering office, or a public interest group. Working in teams of three to five members, the students must come up with a solution in the 15 weeks of the class.
Capstone Design goes beyond lectures, specific homework assignment or lab experiments, and there is no final exam. Instead, the class focuses on a project with the goal of developing engineering solutions to a problem. It is a writing-intensive course and includes the development of oral communication skills, through one-on-one interviews, team discussions and a formal presentation at the end of the semester.
Twenty to 25 practicing engineers annually volunteer their services as practitioner mentors in the course. Their participation substantially enriches the course, by providing real-world engineering problems, opportunities for students to learn from practicing engineers and visits to their mentor's job site.
To participate as a practioner-mentor, contact Prof. Heinz Stefan, chair of the Capstone Design Committee (612-625-2810).
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