UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA. DEPARTMENT of ELECTRICAL and SYSTEMS ENGINEERING ESE SENIOR DESIGN PROJECT COURSE FACTS

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1 UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT of ELECTRICAL and SYSTEMS ENGINEERING ESE SENIOR DESIGN PROJECT COURSE FACTS PROFESSORS Kenneth R. Laker Peter C. Scott Raymond L. Watrous COURSE PHILOSOPHY The senior design course sequence, ESE Senior Design Project I/II (ESE 450/451), are two of the most important courses an ESE (EE and SSE, and formerly CTE) student takes in his/her curriculum. Up until the senior year, their coursework has been about building a knowledge foundation for their future as an engineer. They have studied basic mathematics and pure sciences, courses about the theoretical foundations of different ESE and other engineering disciplines, and perhaps some advanced courses in a specific area of engineering. The ESE Senior Design project experience is about integration, i.e. putting together much of what students have learned and applying it to a real-world problem. The end-goal of the project is to design, implement, validate and demonstrate a product prototype. As the students learn early in their ESE Senior Design experience, any substantial engineering project requires a combination of knowledge that they acquire through coursework, knowledge gained through personal experience, and knowledge they don t yet have at the start of the project, but will be acquired during the course of executing the project. This is one way we instill in our students the need and ability to engage in life-long learning. The three most important elements of the senior design project are, in no particular order: The project team, the group of two to four seniors who are purposely self-selected to match the needs (knowledge and skill prerequisites) for the project. The project advisor, i.e. the subject matter expert who will supervise and mentor the project team from start to finish of their project. In some instances the team has selected a project offered to the class on the ESE Senior Design website. In these instance the advisor includes the project prerequisites in his or her project description. The project, i.e. the project description, design objectives and prerequisites. The criteria that ESE Senior Design students use for deciding on these three components are interrelated, and their selection is done contemporaneously. One cannot sensibly select a project advisor without knowing what the project will be, and one is not able to develop a project team that has the appropriate make-up without knowing what needs to be accomplished. One of the three has to be done first, but the students are encouraged to not etch any details into stone until all three components are in place.

2 When selecting their project, team and advisor, the students are expected to take into account the following criteria: The ESE Senior Design project requires the identification of stakeholders and the user community, literature research, system analysis, design, implementation and validation. The stakeholders and user community must be identified early in the project and the project needs to conclude with a product prototype that is designed and implemented for these groups. The implementation of someone else s design is not a suitable project. The design of something, and not implementing it, is not a suitable project. The implementation of a trivial system (i.e. one which requires no design work) is not a suitable project. A suitable project has quantifiable goals whose outcomes are measurable. The product prototype that is designed, implemented and validated can be hardware, software, hardware plus software and/or comprehensive computer models of non-physical systems. A model is to be rigorously validated, and to be designed as a software tool with an interface designed for a specific user community. The team is expected to have the necessary background to do the literature research, systems analysis, design, implementation and validation in the allotted time (two semesters). The team members are expected to learn a great deal about their project area during the course of the project. This said, the learning is balanced against the need to satisfy project objectives within the two-semester period (hence the purpose of the project prerequisites). The team is guided towards transitioning ownership of the project from their project advisor to the team. Over the years we have found that project ownership by the team leads to team pride and project success. The project advisor is expected to have the subject matter expertise to advise the team as they execute their project. He or she is also expected to have a vested interest in the completion of the project. Project advisors come from the SEAS faculty, SEAS PhD student community, the wider Penn faculty community and local industry experts. If a team plans to use an advisor who is not a standing SEAS faculty member, the students and course instructors verify that the advisor has the relevant subject matter expertise, a keen interest in the project and the time to suitably advise the project. The ESE Senior Design website has a wealth of relevant information related to the total ESE Senior Design experience, e.g. potential project descriptions, an archive of past project materials (project reports, Demo Day posters and project demonstration videos) and resource materials such as all of the presentation slides used by in-class speakers. Aside from the project advisor and project team members, the most important allies to an ESE Senior Design student in executing his or her senior design project are the ESE Senior Design course instructors. Our (the course instructors) primary purpose is to make sure that all (or as many as possible) projects succeed and that the students ESE Senior Design experience enables them to learn how to succeed as an engineer and engineering leader. The course instructors are not necessarily experts in the field of any specific ESE Senior Design project. ESE Senior Design projects are so varied, there is unlikely to be a faculty member in the entire engineering school who is an expert in every project area. In the workplace corporate senior management will similarly not likely have subject matter expertise on a given project, yet the successful engineer needs to communicate effectively to relate the value of the project, its progress and issues that may affect the success of the project. This is one way we instill in our students the need and ability to engage in life-long learning. Like corporate senior management, the course instructors have a great deal of experience in research, systems analysis, engineering design, solving project issues and project management. The most difficult problems that ESE Senior Design teams encounter

3 3 usually do not require detailed knowledge of the project subject area to overcome them. More likely, they require objective thought, good debugging skills, or just a fresh (decaffeinated) perspective. We, the ESE Senior Design instructor team, can provide all of these, and we can lead the teams to experts in their project field (perhaps even to a fellow classmate or an alum) if additional expertise is required. In addition, the course instructors have extensive project management experience in broad-spectrum of organizations; namely, for-profit, not-for-profit, large and small companies. Team project management instruction is provided by the ESE Senior Design course instructors and outside speakers. The students are required to put this instruction into practice early in Phase 1 (or the fall semester). This is done by requiring each team to prepare a detailed project schedule for the 1 st Project (written) Report. The schedule is in the form of a Gantt chart that includes a connected list of specific, measurable tasks, the date for completion of each task, and the one team member responsible for insuring the task is completed. Tasks are logically grouped, e.g. by subsystem, and each task group is assigned to one team member to manage. The task group leaders are identified on the schedule. Schedules are either executed in Excel or with MS Project. Some students learn MS Project in another course, and are thus encouraged to use it as a project management too for their project. On the ESE Senior Design website there are examples of project schedules in Excel and MS Project. The teams are expected to maintain their schedules, and update them weekly to early identify schedule slippages, and to assess their impact. The ESE Senior Design course instructors meet four times during the two semesters with each team in what we call formal team 1-on-1 Project Review meetings, three of which use the schedule to guide the discussion. The two fall semester (Phase 1) 1-on-1 meetings are each 30 minutes in length and two in spring semester (Phase 2) are each 60 minutes in length. Rubrics (see sample 1-on-1 meeting rubrics in Appendix 1) are used to grade/evaluate each team. The rubric is shared with the teams ahead of the 1-on-1 meetings so that the teams know in advance how they will be evaluated. The completed rubrics are returned to the teams as soon as possible after their meetings take place. In ESE Senior Design each team submits three reports during the project-year; namely (1) 1st Project Report, (2) Phase 1 (or Fall Semester-End) Report and (3) Phase 2 Spring (or Semester- End) Report. The latter two reports are the primary written reports for the course. The high-level schedule for these reports is as follows 1. 1st Project Report about mid-november 2. Phase 1 Report about mid-december (during the fall semester final exam period) 3. Phase 2 Report early May (during the spring semester final exam period) The 1st Project Report is a preliminary project report that serves as an early 1 st draft of the Phase 1 Report. More importantly the 1st Project Report is reviewed and marked-up to provide the authors feedback with regard to content, format, clarity and writing quality. Ms Mary Westervelt, Director of the SEAS Technical Communications Program (TCP), reviews and marks-up each report based on grammar, spelling and overall writing quality. She also looks for indications of flagrant and unintentional plagiarism. Being that the 1 st Reports derive about one-half of their content from the literature and other sources, it is an ideal opportunity to early identify plagiarism and to correct it. We expect each team to incorporate this 1 st Report feedback into the writing of their Phase 1 Report. All three reports (see Appendices 3, 4 and 5) are graded using rubrics designed specific to the purpose and content of the report. The context for the Phase 1 and Phase 2 reports is as follows. To control expenses projects are

4 often funded or supported in two (or more) phases. Two phases enable the funding organization or a company to support a promising project during a development and evaluation period, i.e. Phase 1. The project team s performance in Phase 1, and possibly other factors, are evaluated before committing to fund or support Phase 2 of the project. During Phase 2 the project team executes the project to completion. Hence, the roles in ESE Senior Design for the Phase 1 and Phase 2 Reports are as follows: Phase 1: The Phase 1 Report is to be a holistic project report that is expected to persuasively relate the technical and non-technical design aspects that are relevant to the project. It builds on and incorporates the 1st Project Report, along with the feedback from the 1 st Project Report evaluators. An important purpose for writing a Phase 1 report is to convince an audience of technically savvy business, management and/or government leaders (e.g. the course instructors) to invest funds and/or resources needed to carry out the project in Phase 2. To be convincing, the report must exude excellence and professionalism. It must further relate specific and measurable goals, a coherent systems approach and methodology, a well developed schedule, a validation or test plan and provide evidence (results) of appropriate progress. An "A" grade report is a report that convinces the instructors that the project merits support for Phase 2. The grade becomes lower as the case presented in the report becomes less convincing. Phase 2: The Phase 2 Report is a holistic final report for the project. It builds on and incorporates the Phase 1 report, along with the associated feedback received from the evaluators of the Phase 1 Report. Being that the Phase 2 Report is the final report for the project, its purpose is to persuasively relate the results and accomplishments, and to make a convincing case that the support received was well used. To be convincing, the report must exude excellence and professionalism. It must further relate specific results and accomplishments that forcefully demonstrate that all Phase 1 project goals were achieved. An "A" grade report is a report that convinces the instructors that all project goals from Phase 1 were achieved. The grade becomes lower as the case presented in the report becomes less convincing. Ms Mary Westervelt, Director of the SEAS TCP, reviews and evaluates a sub-set of the Phase 2 Reports. Her evaluation is to measure the writing level achieved at the end of the ESE Senior Design year, as compared with the writing level exhibited in the 1 st Project Report. She provides a written report of her findings to the instructors and to the chair of the ESE ABET Committee. The most important thing to keep in mind regarding a senior project is that it should be fun and it is! All members of the team have to want to do it, enjoy doing it, and be proud they did it. At the beginning of the course the students are unable to imagine how much time they will spend on their project. If they don t think the project topic is important and fun, they will likely lose interest when the going gets a little tough, e.g. when the first crisis (of many) confronts them. In the event that a team s project loses momentum or they stop making progress, for whatever reason, they are taught to seek help to get back on track. In certain extreme circumstances, the best thing to do is to terminate the project and start over. The course is organized to find these situations as soon as possible. The instructors hold a minimum of four formal team project review meetings with each team to address project successes and issues, with the team s project schedule as context. There is nothing worse than having a team pursue a project that is going nowhere; they will come to hate it, do a poor job, and feel bad about themselves. It is not an overstatement to point out that the senior project carries more weight than just another course. The final report, as well as recognition, awards, and recommendations, has had an impact on employment opportunities, graduate school selection, and field of study.

5 5 COURSE POLICY 1. Senior design projects are accomplished by teams of two or four (if justified) students, preferably three to four. We don t allow single person senior design teams. If a project is of sufficient complexity, four student projects are approved. Large projects such as the Penn solar car, or projects involving competition, may support more than one team and will likely be interdisciplinary. We encourage interdisciplinary student teams, i.e. teams that have senior design students from one of the ESE majors, and also include senior design students from one or more other SEAS majors. The deliverables and grading standards for the SEAS senior design courses are different. Each team member in an interdisciplinary team is subject to the rules of his or her senior design course. All ESE Senior Design students are held accountable for ESE Senior Design deliverables and graded by ESE Senior Design standards. 2. Selection of projects is to be carried out in consultation with faculty members in the ESE department and advisors who have posted senior design projects on the ESE Senior Design website. Projects involving faculty members outside ESE, and subject matter experts outside Penn, are allowed and encouraged in some instances. 3. An ESE SENIOR DESIGN PROJECT - STUDENT PROPOSAL FORM must be completed and submitted by to the designated course instructor by no later then three weeks after the start of classes (the specific date varies each year). This date, and all other course events, are put onto the ESE Senior Design Google Calendar that is accessible from the ESE Senior Design website. Projects proposals are submitted as Adobe Acrobat PDF files. To avoid confusion and loss of files, teams name their project proposal files according to a file naming protocol specified by the course instructors and communicated to the students ahead of the proposal submission deadline. 4. Interviews (the first of two fall semester team 1-on-1 meetings) with student teams to discuss the content of their project proposal forms begin the week following the submission of proposals. Each project team signs up in the Detkin Lab (formerly RCA Lab) for a 30-minute meeting time slot. All project proposal meetings are held in a location specified by the instructors prior to the meetings. There are no formal classes during the week these meetings occur. 5. For the fall semester, Phase 1, student teams prepare two formal reports. A 1 st Project Report, which serves a first draft of the next report, includes the project schedule and financial proposal. This report is due during the first or second week of November. The Phase 1 Report (also the final fall semester report) is due in December (during final exam period). In the spring semester teams prepare one report; namely, the Phase 2 Report (also the final spring semester report), and the final report for the ESE Senior Design project. This report is due in early May (during final exam period). 6. Attendance at bi-weekly class meetings (and periodic meetings with the project advisor) is required. Attendance is taken and closely monitored. Failure to attend class adversely impacts the offending student s grade. 7. All students deliver two in-class presentations during the fall semester, either individually or with part of or all of their team. The preference is for teams to present together as a team, the same format used for presentations in the SEAS Senior Design Competition. Since team members may be spread across three or four class sections, flexibility is needed to deviate from this preferred mode to accommodate class schedules. Class participation by those in the audience is strongly encouraged. This participation takes the form of insightful questions and/or comments that are

6 helpful to the audience and to the presenters. The first round of project presentations occurs during the last three weeks of October and second round during the final three weeks of the fall semester. PowerPoint presentation files are required for these presentations. Rubrics (see Appendix 2) are used to evaluate both presentations. Round 1 is used as a learning round, where the course instructors and student fellows form Mary Westervelt s TCP program critique the presenters. The critiques are communicated verbally and in written form (using the presentation rubric) to the presenters. The purpose is to set the stage for continuous improvement. 8. Each student is expected to spend an average of 9 hours per week outside of class time on the project or on preparations for class presentations (or other class-related assignments). In practice, given the complex nature of these projects, it is not expected that each student will work precisely 9 hours every week. There will be times when one part of the project is stalled, and there will be other times when it is beneficial to work even more than 9 hours in a week in order to keep the rest of the project on schedule. The suggested 9-hour average is just a guideline. It is important to keep up this kind of effort throughout the year, and to keep the effort uniform across the project team. One of the purposes of the project schedule is to support the team s individual and collective time management. 9. Each student must maintain a project notebook (bound, with internal graph paper sheets). Each notebook constitutes a personal diary of the student s work for the project. For 2010/11 a specific project notebook (Bookfactory LIRPE-096-LGR-A) was assigned as a required text. All relevant project information is to be recorded in the book; each page must be dated and signed by the notebook owner, and signed and dated by a witness. This data includes schematics, flow charts, designs, data, graphs, calculations, references, research results, test results, and communications, both phone and written. The project notebook is submitted for evaluation at the end of the fall and spring semesters. The instructors also view each student s project notebook as a record of the owner s work and activity on the project. The notebooks are examined during each team 1-on-1 Project Review meeting. 9. A financial or budget proposal must be submitted as part of the 1 st Project Report. Any project requiring funds greater than $300 per project must receive approval before the funds are committed or spent. Supplemental or amended proposals may be submitted at any time. The rule is If you don t ask, you don t get. The financial or budget proposal is the approved means for requesting funds. 10. The first round of formal team 1-on-1 Project Review meetings, post project approval, begin the first or second week of November and continue for a three-week period. These reviews last about 30 minutes and are intended to be in more depth than the in-class PowerPoint presentations. The location of the meeting is the team s choice (lab, computer room, office). Rubrics (see Appendix 1), provided to the teams in advance, are used to evaluate and grade these 1-on-1 meetings. 11. A letter grade for ESE Senior Design (ESE 450) is assigned at the end of the fall semester based on the quality of the project proposal, 1 st Project Report and Phase 1 Report, team 1-on-1 Project Review meetings, in-class PowerPoint presentations, class discussions, project notebook, and the overall progress of the project. A letter grade for ESE Senior Design (ESE 451) is assigned at the end of the spring semester based on the quality of the Phase 2 Report, team 1-on- 1 Project Review meetings, project notebook, Demo Day poster and presentation, and the overall quality of the end project. The Phase 1 and Phase 2 reports are important components of the

7 7 grades for ESE 450 and ESE 451, respectively. Penalty for lateness in report submission is one fractional letter grade for each 3-day period beyond the due date. 12. The spring semester of ESE Senior Design continues from where the fall semester ends. The format is much the same, except there are no in-class presentations and few class meetings. ESE Senior Design Demo Day, for the final project presentations (with posters) and project demonstrations, occurs n the third week of April, just prior to the end of classes. The Phase 2 Reports are due during the spring semester final exam period in May. Each team is required to present and demonstrate their project, even if the project is incomplete. The Phase 2 final reports are put into the public domain through the SEAS Library. 13. In 2009/2010 a pilot ESE Senior Design Freshman Mentor Program was designed, implemented and managed by the Penn Student Branches of IEEE and HKN. The purpose was to expose freshmen ESE students to the exciting projects being done by ESE seniors, and to enable freshman to network with their senior brothers and sisters. This is an entirely volunteer program that is managed by these two ESE organizations. Participating freshman students are encouraged to contribute to the team s work product, but not required to so. Awards were created to recognize excellence exhibited by both the freshmen and the mentor teams. These awards are given during the ESE Senior Design Demo Day Award Ceremony that is held at the conclusion of the demo day competition. Due to the success of this pilot the program is continuing for the 2010/2011 ESE Senior Design year.