Course Information

CPR E / E E / S E 4910: Senior Design Project I and Professionalism. (2-3) Cr. 3. Prereq: varies by major
Preparing for entry to the workplace. Selected professional topics. Use of technical writing skills in developing project plan and design report; design review presentation. First of two-semester team-oriented, project design and implementation experience.

CPR E / E E / S E 4920: Senior Design Project II. (1-3) Cr. 2. Prereq: CPR E 4910, E E 4910, or S E 4910
Second semester of a team design project experience. Emphasis on the successful implementation and demonstration of the design completed in 4910 and the evaluation of project results. Technical writing of final project report; oral presentation of project achievements; project poster.

Course Objectives

The ECpE senior design sequence has several objectives, including:

  • To provide students with an engaging, challenging, and safe environment to exercise hands-on synthesis of knowledge learned through coursework and elsewhere.
  • To provide compelling real-world engineering problems that require students to apply their mathematical, scientific, and engineering background.
  • To engage students in diverse and often multiplidisciplinary teams in order to help develop their communication and management skills.
  • To provide a closely-supervised, complete design process, structured to replicate the industrial design process.
  • To assist students in clearly identifying, formulating, and solving problems inherent in the design process, using state-of-the-art methods, engineering techniques, and tools.
  • To provide an opportunity for students to exercise meaningful experimental design, data acquisition, and analysis.
  • To broaden students understanding of intellectual property, professional responsibility, engineering standards, ethics, and contemporary issues.

Many of these objectives for 4910 and 4920 map closely to the ABET criteria for engineering program accreditation. As part of the ABET accreditation process, programs must have documented student outcomes that prepare graduates to attain their program's educational objectives. Student outcomes are listed below:

  • an ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics
  • an ability to apply engineering design to produce solutions that meet specified needs with consideration of public health, safety, and welfare, as well as global, cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors
  • an ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences
  • an ability to recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in engineering situations and make informed judgments, which must consider the impact of engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental, and societal contexts
  • an ability to function effectively on a team whose members together provide leadership, create a collaborative environment, establish goals, plan tasks, and meet objectives
  • an ability to develop and conduct appropriate experimentation, analyze and interpret data, and use engineering judgment to draw conclusions
  • an ability to acquire and apply new knowledge as needed, using appropriate learning strategies.

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    Policies

    Student Expectations: at the very minimum, it is expected that each student will:

    • Read all assigned material.
    • Actively participate in class discussions.
    • Satisfactorily complete all graded work.
    • Participate fully in team interactions.
    • Complete all work with an acceptable level of quality.
    • Complete and submit evaluations for your team, advisor, and instructor.
    • Follow university policy on integrity of scholarship and grades.

    Also, in general keep the following in mind:

    • You are required to access the Canvas course site for relevant and timely information throughout the term.
    • Attendance in class and instructor meetings is required. Please make sure that you do not indulge in disruptive behavior.
    • Safety in the senior design and other labs is a number one priority for students and faculty. It is expected that students follow any and all posted safety guidelines.

    Grading

    • Senior design includes both individual and group work. Individual assignments must be exclusively your work. Academic dishonesty will be dealt with per university regulations, and all students are to adhere to the university's policy relating to integrity of scholarship and grades as presented in the ISU catalog (http://catalog.iastate.edu/academic_conduct/#academicdishonestytext).
    • The following grading calculation will be used for Cpr E/E E/S E 4910 (100% total) in Fall 2025:
      • 40%: Class activities
        • 5%: Individual and reflection assignments
        • 5%: Team weekly status reports
        • 20%: Design document
        • 10%: Lightning talks and feedback on lightning talks
      • 35%: Advisor grading of individual student contributions to the project
      • 25%: Final project review, performed by a faculty panel
    • The following grading calculation will be used for Cpr E/E E/S E 4920 (100% total) in Fall 2025:
      • 35%: Instructor score
        • 5%: Team progress/status reports
        • 20%: Final report and project quality
        • 5%: Poster
        • 5%: Individual accountability (CATME, status reports, team-instructor meetings)
      • 40%: Advisor grading of individual student contributions to the project
      • 25%: Final project review, performed by an industry panel

    Other Policies

    Refer to the complete syllabus provided in Canvas.