September 4, 2007:

To all ME189 students,

I hope that your summer has been great.

I have been busy this summer and with support from key individuals and companies, the coming year should be a great one for you and your Capstone design projects. As a senior class, you should have significantly more resources and improved work space as compared with the previous classes.

As I indicated to you last June in ME153, I have been working towards a soft deadline of the end of August for the first draft posting of the Capstone projects for your review and consideration. This is now available on our course website.

I do anticipate some changes in the project descriptions and possible additional projects from Industry partners. I also will be in communication with the ME faculty and staff and hope to have each project advisor identified by September 14. Please continue to review the project list on our website for these updates.

The activities and preparation for the coming year have been very successful. The interest and support from industry has continued and has exceeded my expectations. We have added many more potential partners and continue with most of our previous partners. We have now extended our involvement to include major corporations beyond our local area. Project teams will now involve periodic teleconferences with these partners.

We have proposed Industry partnered projects involving aerospace, energy related, specialty manufacturing, sports equipment, and medical devices.

We have broad spectrum of projects:

1) from multi-billion dollar, major international corporations to start-up ventures
2) from high-tech local companies to research-inspired support projects
3) from practical state-of-the-art products to novel, creative concepts
4) from energy conservation to life supporting
5) from student competitions to commercial products

With grant and funding approvals from the University and the College of Engineering, room 2226 in Engineering II is slowly transitioning into a Design Lab. We will have improved lab space and organization, improved equipment and tools, and a much better environment for you. I would like to thank Ryan Miller for his efforts this summer and the direction and support of Dave Bothman and Mary Dinh.

Your project presentations will be conducted this year in the ESB and will allow a professional atmosphere for industry attendance and participation. Additionally, ME faculty review and evaluation should be more involved and more critical.

I attended and presented a paper this summer at the ASEE conference regarding Capstone design. Several other universities are interested in our activities and what we have achieved. We have a top-tier program. I also learned what other universities have done that should be incorporated into our program for improvements. I will be making a number of changes this year to continue the improvements with our program.

Our first class meeting will be Monday October 1. I intend to have a projects kick-off meeting with a short statement regarding each project. Please use the first week to meet with advisers, faculty, staff and myself to address any questions that you may have.

One change will be the selection of projects and project teams. As was completed last year, you will provide me your 1st, 2nd, and 3rd project choices. All enrolled students must complete a form that I will provide. This completed form will be due by noon Friday October 5.

This year, however, you will provide me a brief statement that supports your desired project selections and why they are of interest to you. You will also provide me the desired role and responsibilities that you will provide for the project team. The critical roles and responsibilities that I will be looking for include analysis, fabrication, testing and modeling, planning and communication. Although I encourage all team members to be actively involved in all aspects of the project, these activities are critical and I expect individual team members to be responsible for their completion. With your input, I will now attempt to secure more balanced teams in terms of skill levels and activities.

If you have a proposed team, you will also provide me your team 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choices. The team will also provide individual intended roles and responsibilities.

I will do my best to meet your desired choices. This will take more time than I have taken in the past. For this reason, I will spend more time reviewing your completed forms and the information that you will provide. I intend to announce project teams on Friday October 12. We will allow limited flexibility and team changes until October 19 when the teams and projects will be locked down.

Please review the project list on our course website. This year’s projects are even more exciting and challenging than last year. With Industry involvement and partnership and increased funding and support from the University and COE, and increased faculty involvement, this year’s projects are a significant leap forward for the program.

I will be available prior to the school start to answer any questions that you may.

Thanks,
Steve Laguette