Publication

The goal of this pilot project is to determine the feasibility of and requirements for a systems engineering capstone experience marketplace environment. We hope to increase the number of systems engineering capstone projects conducted at universities each year by facilitating the cooperation and coordination of teams of students from multiple campuses on individual projects. This has the potential for increasing student engagement, as it enables student participation at schools that might not otherwise have the faculty interest or resources to undertake such projects. It also makes it easier to conduct projects of greater size and complexity where the benefits of a systems engineering approach are more visible.

The program is being implemented in three sequential phases over a 12-month period:

During Phase 1/Startup (September 1, 2012-January 31, 2013) the software for the marketplace registry was prepared, candidate projects were entered into the registry, students entered their qualifications into the registry, students volunteered for projects, project teams were created, and projects were started.

During Phase 2/Project Completion (February 1, 2013-June 30, 2013) student projects will complete their work and submit final deliverables to stakeholders, and stakeholders and faculty will perform assessments of student work. 

During Phase 3/Guideline Preparation (July 1, 2013-August 31, 2013) all participating faculty will distill the lessons of the distributed team and will prepare guidelines for future instances of the marketplace at a workshop (to be held July 2013), and suggested modifications will be made to the marketplace software.