Industry Sponsored Senior Design Projects
Robin Ott
SENIOR DESIGN PROGRAM COORDINATOR
Each year more than 400 students graduate from the
Mechanical Engineering Program at Virginia Tech and
each of them is required to complete a 2-semester long
Capstone Senior Design project. These projects translate
to an average of 300 out-of-classroom hours per student
over the course of the academic year.
Why Industry Sponsored?
Industry-sponsored programs benefit both the student,
and the industries who provide sponsorship by allowing the
next generation of engineers to work on solving real-world
The Senior Design
Capstone presents
students with a
professional-level
challenge in an
academic environment
Robin Ott,
Assoc. Professor of Practice
problems, while contending with real-world issues such as
budget, design, oversight, deadlines, intellectual property,
testing, and fielding. Industry sponsors benefit by not only
having a dedicated team work on and devise solutions to
projects, but they also get a first-hand look at the new
engineers coming to work for them — or their competitors.
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