Senior Design Sponsorship
Your industry is the right fit for Materials Science.
The Department of Materials Science and Engineering at North Carolina State University seeks new industry sponsors for its competitive senior design program. This two-semester capstone senior design sequence provides a bridge between concepts learned in the classroom and the practical application of these concepts in an industrial setting. Teams of students work on real problems in materials related to their processing, structure, properties, and performance provided by local industrial sponsors such as yourself. Your sponsored project will provide a critically important industrial experience for students, most of whom are seeking careers in the industry after graduation.
Project Objectives and Outcomes
Students leverage their studies while learning project-specific background knowledge, to solve open-ended, “real-world” problems. Projects can span basic and applied research and often involve troubleshooting current processes, developing new processes and products, advanced characterization, and simulations. The sponsored senior design team is expected to:
- Communicate effectively with team members, faculty advisors, and industrial liaisons
- Work efficiently in teams to solve technical, open-ended engineering problems
- Make productive use of relevant literature and materials databases
- Use appropriate software tools for materials selection and project management
- Give effective oral presentations
- Prepare a professional technical report
Available Resources
- The undergraduate student lab is a state-of-the-art education space with mechanical testing, FTIR, UV/Vis, scanning electron microscopy, metallographic preparation, dilatometry, and thermal analysis.
- Students have access to the excellent analytical and processing facilities at NC State’s Analytical Instrumentation Facility and Nanofabrication Facility, part of the Research Triangle Nanotechnology Network.
- Students have access to a large suite of scientific computing software, journals, and books through NC State Libraries.
- A faculty advisor will oversee the team and will help them find additional resources, as needed.
Benefits to Project Sponsors
> Low-risk access to new ideas and capabilities outside of your company
> Opportunity for a preliminary investigation of a research problem before investing additional resources
> Connection with the NC State Department of Materials Science and Engineering and company exposure to MSE students
More Important Details for Sponsors
Sponsor Requirements
Industry Sponsors should assign an engineer or scientist to serve as a company liaison who will assist the team in its efforts. Engagement with the MSE Senior Design team is flexible. Expectations by the company liaison should be clearly communicated at the start of the project. A minimum of biweekly meetings is strongly encouraged to help keep the project on track and to review results and plans from the team. In team meetings with the industrial liaison(s), the following topics should be discussed:
- The overarching aims of the project
- Recent research results and plans for upcoming experiments; the students are expected to develop the research plan for further refinement during these meetings
- Questions from the students, often directing them to relevant resources rather than directly answering them
- The direct impact of the research results on the company (provided there are no confidentiality issues) and any other broader impact
Keys to Success for a Sponsor
- Give students the opportunity to create a plan of action on their own.
- Provide frequent and clear communication. Address any issues as they arise.
- Be a resource instead of a manager. Encourage students to find their own solutions. Answer questions that students wouldn’t have necessarily learned in their undergraduate courses.
- Visit NC State and schedule a team visit of your company, if possible. It is recommended that visits are conducted at the beginning of the project to kick it off or at the end of the project in order to allow students to present their results.
Define a materials-related problem that has a reasonable chance of completion by a team of 3-4 MSE seniors within a five-month time frame. The MSE Senior Design instructor is available for an initial discussion and introduction for new companies prior to submitting a project.
Project submissions are requested by June 1. The instructor will respond with any questions or suggestions to refine the scope of a project before approval. Because of timing considerations, projects submitted after June 1 may start the following year.
For each project, a donation of $8,500 is due by the end of August. Alternatively, $20,000 can be paid upfront for three projects, which may be spread over one, two, or three years. The three-project option will involve three separate senior design teams, each with a different faculty advisor. This contribution covers all project expenses including materials and supplies, analytical and processing facilities, travel, and maintenance of the undergraduate lab space.
The class is presented with all projects during the fall term and student teams are selected based on student interests and complementary skill sets. 40-50 students participate in Senior Design each year, forming 10-15 teams of three to four students per team.
A Senior Design Project Showcase and accompanying reception is held for students, faculty, and sponsoring company liaisons on the day of final presentations. Cash prizes are awarded to the team giving the best oral presentation and the team that prepares the best-written report. The same team cannot win both prizes. The presentation winner is announced at the reception and the written report winner is announced at the MSE Graduation Ceremony.
Any intellectual property developed by the teams will be managed in accordance with the Patent and Tangible Research Policy of NC State University.