Application of systems engineering approach in senior design projects

This paper presents a novel approach to maximize the success of the Senior Design Project (SDP) in engineering program and to implement a systematic assessment approach to evaluate the student's performance during such project. SDP shares many characteristics that can be formulated as a complex design problem. Designing and delivering the SDP is achieved by applying a Systems Engineering and utilizing the systems engineering process in the development and production of the SDP of engineering students. The effectiveness of the approach is demonstrated through a case study of civil engineering project at the college of engineering, Shaqra university and the results of a survey that was conducted by the end of the course. The objective of this paper is to show how the systems engineering approach can be beneficial in delivering the final product/system of SDP.