Undergraduate Capstone Projects Integrate Technology and Engineering Programs

The complex global economy requires a whole new set of skills from newly-graduated employees. Today, one of the most important components of technical curricula is national and international collaboration, which is becoming an important part of both the learning process and research in academia. Students must be able to handle not only the technical aspects of their jobs after graduating, but also learn 'soft skills' which range from simple tasks such as reading and writing, but also higher-level skills, such as decision-making and problem-solving. These skills have come to be known as "employability skills." The joint efforts of faculty members from Purdue University's Aviation Technology Department (housed in the College of Technology) and the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics (located in the College of Engineering) have successfully developed a model to better implement capstone projects. Students in the two departments are tasked to work as teams to find and implement the practical solutions to specific technical problems. This involves developing a feasible design solution, from concepts to three-dimensional models, drawings, process sheets and actual production and assembly of a product. The biggest challenge can be to find an appropriately-sized, task- oriented interdisciplinary problem in a course, the solution to which could be used as a prototype for other situations. The task must also be complex enough to challenge the students to use the knowledge they already have, and still be something that can be accomplished during a fifteen-week semester. Another important aspect of the assignment is the project and peer evaluation that helps students learn to objectively assess their own contributions and the contributions of others; these, too are important skills in both academia and the work world. In these capstone projects, students develop confidence in their abilities and learn how to perform in a multidiscipline collaborative environment. The paper will deal with the details of operating such a capstone course.