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CALL FOR PROJECTS

Rick Bannerot, Ph. D., P.E., N231-D
  713-743-4511, rbb@uh.edu

The Departments of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of Houston are soliciting undergraduate multidisciplinary design projects from industry sponsors for our capstone design program. Senior students in two departments work in multidisciplinary teams to development solutions to problems provided from several sources including local industry. This program is intended to increase the professional readiness of these students who will soon be joining you in industry. We request companies in the area to furnish us with a project description for a project they are willing to sponsor. In order to increase the chances that a project sponsored by your company will be selected, we invite you to submit more than one project description. The project submission forms are found on this website.

Some of the salient points of our program follow:

• The students who work on these projects are undergraduates completing their senior year. Typically they work in teams of four with both departments represented on each team. The projects submitted by the sponsors will be first screened by the project facilitators with the help of the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Faculty whose research area is related to the subject of the project. This screening is to ensure that projects selected best serve the purpose of the program.
• Projects are expected to produce a validated result, e.g., hardware that can be tested, simulations that can be verified, etc. Designs without an artifact and proposals that are not acted upon are usually not acceptable as projects. The project description should clearly define the deliverable.
• The project descriptions will first appear on the program website about one month before the start of the fall and spring semesters. Additional project descriptions will be posted as they become available. All project descriptions will be circulated on the first day of class approximately the 3rd week of January and the 4th week of August. On the basis of the information provided in the project descriptions, the teams submit mini-proposal for three of the projects and indicate their preferences for a project assignment. After reviewing the mini-proposals and the preferences, the project facilitators will assign teams to projects. Each student is expected to contribute approximately 80 hours of work on the project.
• We ask the company to identify an engineer-in-charge for the project to serve as and/or represent the “client.” We identify a faculty member to serve as a technical consultant to advise the students working on each project.
• It is expected that each team will meet regularly with its engineer-in-charge from the company sponsoring their project and its faculty consultant. Every three weeks the team submits a written Planning Report to its engineer-in-charge describing the work completed during the last three weeks and work planned for the next three weeks.
• In turn, and throughout the semester, each individual on a team will provide both one formal oral report and one formal written report. At the end of the project each team makes an oral presentation and submits a final technical report that will be delivered to the sponsor. We invite all participants (students, faculty and sponsors) to attend the oral presentations and to lunch tentatively scheduled the last week in April and the first week of December in the Cullen College of Engineering at the University of Houston.
• The sponsoring company is expected to cover all expenses for the project and is asked to pay an administration fee of $2000 at the completion of the project if they are satisfied with the results.
• The University of Houston Policy on Intellectual Property states that the discovery or invention of new technology will be protected by the University, if appropriate, and diligent efforts will be made to make productive use of such rights for the good of the public, the creator, and the University. See the latest edition of the Faculty Handbook.