The Engineering Clinic Program
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Clinic Project Descriptions 2009-2010
Clinic Project Benefits
The Clinic Program places senior engineering students in specially-equipped University laboratories to tackle problems of concern to individual corporate sponsors.
The students work under both faculty and corporate supervision, and will therefore be required to:
- Communicate openly with the project sponsor and faculty adviser for clarification, problem-solving assistance, and guidance;
- Complete on-site visits to their sponsoring company's location;
- Provide regular progress reports throughout the project and accept feedback from their sponsor and faculty adviser; and
- Represent the Department, the University, and themsevles with professionalism to local engineering industrial partners.
Students unprepared to meet these enhanced requirements should consider completing their senior project requirement through another method (such as a normal group or individual research project).
Of course the increased responsibility of completing a Clinic Project also brings unique advantages. Students can expect to:
- Get hands-on experience solving real problems with real solutions;
- Form a working relationship with a potential future employer;
- Work in specially-equipped research labs more advanced than the usual student labs;
- Learn firsthand about the process and rewards of completing projects in modern engineering companies; and
- Build problem-solving, team-working, deadline-meeting, proposal-writing, project-presenting, well-rounding skills that will benefit them through their entire future careers.
Whether a student's next step after graduation is a career or graduate school, the Clinics Program will provide a competitive edge over other students as admissions committees and job interviewers hear about the practical research experience that graduates of the Clinic Program have.
Fulfilling the CLEAR Requirement
All senior projects have three presentations reviewed by CLEAR during the course of the year. In parallel, at least three writing assignments will also be reviewed by CLEAR. Below is an example schedule for the Clinic Program which would satisfy the CLEAR requirement.
Preliminary design review (PDR) - Mid- to Late Fall Semester
Students will present their Clinic Project in their own words, including specific objectives and the methods they will employ to achieve these objectives. Students will specifically highlight questions or uncertainties they might have with regard to the project, and outline the steps they will take to answer the questions either through coursework, faculty assistance, or individual research.
The writing assignment will be a short (2-3 page) abstract/introduction of the research project. This will serve as a preliminary team proposal and will be forwarded to the Clinic Project's industrial sponsor for review. Each student must write their own abstract to fulfill the CLEAR requirement.
Representatives from the University's CLEAR program will give students an overview on how to write, speak, and present clearly when dealing with technical subjects.
Clinic students will present their PDR's personally to the industrial sponsor associated with their project for approval and guidance.
Critical design review (CDR) - Late Fall Semester / Early Spring Semester
Students will present a concrete proposal (the PDR with added detail on methods and objectives) for what they are going to do. Students should include preliminary results and/or demonstrations to help guide their focus as they begin more in-depth work on the Clinic project.
The writing assignment at this stage of the project will be required of each team member as they describe their specific task in the project. The assignment will be both evaluated by CLEAR as well as merged with the preliminary proposal to illustrate focus and progress to the Clinic sponsor.
Students will again present their CDR to the Clinic sponsor, either on campus or during an on-site visit to the sponsor's location.
Final report - Clinic projects will be presented at the annual ECE Department's Technical Open House, usually held in early April. The final report will have both a verbal and written component. Each team member will present their task and it's relation to the larger project to an audience of fellow students, faculty members, industrial representatives, and the Clinic Project sponsors. A full written report will be due at this time for review by both CLEAR and Clinic sponsors.
Please note that a draft of this report will be due to CLEAR well in advance of the Technical Open House. Your faculty adviser for the project will provide more information on specific due dates for each step of the CLEAR requirement.