TLP - Capstone Project

A capstone is a project taken on by engineers at the university during their fourth year. These projects are usually sponsored by an outside client and provide a final integrated, real-world, hands-on experience relating to students’ fields of study.

The Systems and Information Engineering Department (SIE) helped pioneer capstone projects in the United States and has a strong record of externally-supported capstone projects dating back to the late 1980’s. SIE alumni invariably site the capstone as the most important part of their undergraduate education. A great thing about the TLP is that the SIE capstone model is becoming interdisciplinary by including students in the TLP from electrical and computer engineering.

  • What sort of project is part of TLP capstone?

    The Technology Leaders program focuses on preparing engineers to solve multilevel problems by using both technology-focused and systems level thinking. This is done through group projects that include the involvement of systems, electrical, and computer engineers, and require teamwork where all three expertise areas are necessary. The projects will resemble that of the professional setting where people of many backgrounds come together to solve problems.

  • How will the capstone work?

    Projects will be solicited and arranged by faculty before each fall semester starts. TLP students from both ESE and ECE will vote on which projects they want to work on and teams will be formed based on their preferences and the disciplinary needs of the projects. Each project will be mentored by an engineering faculty member, but TLP faculty will be available to provide input to the teams as necessary.

  • How will this fit in with my thesis?

    Most students use the capstone as part of their thesis. You can use your collaboratively authored capstone report as the “Technical Report” part of your thesis. You will write your “STS Research Paper,” in which you explore a social, and/or ethical issue related to your capstone project, as part of STS 4600.

  • What are examples of capstone projects?

    Examples

    • 3D-printed UGV for operation in indoor spaces
    • Using machine learning to analyze image data from manufacturing processes
    • Design of an autonomous soil monitoring robot
    • Autonomous robot for electric vehicle charging
    • Researching solutions for more flood resilient cities

     

    While it does not include actual capstone projects, the TLP project blog (linked below) has many examples of the types of projects that TLP students may work on during their capstone:

    https://pages.shanti.virginia.edu/TLP_TLC/