Abstract
The North Carolina State University Computer Science Department’s Senior Design Center began in 1994 to foster a relationship between local tech industries and academia. The teaching team and industrial sponsors collaborate to create and emulate an industrial setting to expose students to the expectations of a professional environment beyond graduation. Sponsoring companies provide problem statements for small teams of undergraduate seniors who solve these problems by creating software. Students are expected to meet with industrial sponsors weekly and provide meeting agendas and minutes. Student teams work closely with sponsors and academic advisors to explore system requirements and discuss trade-offs of various approaches to software design. Student teams create software using an organized development process as well as formally write and speak about this process. In the most recent semester, 39 student teams working on 39 unique projects were formed. The discussion serves as a guide to help other academic institutions to create a similar experience. Tips for finding and maintaining industrial sponsors are outlined. The history of the multidisciplinary approach is described and details related to identifying and preparing projects, as well as intellectual property/confidentiality and funding considerations are explored. The collaboration of students, industrial mentors and academic advisors is also described.
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Scaturro Heil, M.R., Domínguez, I.X. (2023). A Practical Approach to an Undergraduate Computer Science Senior Design Project Experience: Partnering with Industry to Create an Effective Transition from Academia to the Next Chapter. In: Auer, M.E., Pachatz, W., Rüütmann, T. (eds) Learning in the Age of Digital and Green Transition. ICL 2022. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 634. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26190-9_94
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26190-9_94
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