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New Sponsors

Table of Contents 1 Request for Proposals 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Project Guidelines 1.3 Submission Process

Request for Proposals

Introduction

Thank you for your interest in sponsoring a Multidisciplinary Senior Design (MSD) project in the Kate Gleason College of Engineering!

This program offers an opportunity for sponsors to work closely with student teams, to enhance the capabilities of RIT's engineering students before they enter the job market. We are actively seeking projects for our multidisciplinary engineering teams. By supporting the MSD program in this way, companies gain visibility with engineering students for possible hire and networking opportunities with RIT faculty.

Projects involve teams of 4-6 students from Biomedical, Computer, Electrical, Industrial & Systems, and Mechanical Engineering who work for two semesters (fall-spring, spring-fall) to design, implement/build, and test a functional prototype of a device or process. To review previous MSD projects click here.

Project Guidelines

• Should be “multidisciplinary” (at least 2 engineering disciplines). A diverse team provides the best learning experience but this is not mandatory.

• Fully funded: parts, materials, other expenses (including but not limited to travel, manufacturing support costs, specialized equipment requirements, shipping/delivery costs).

• Committed sponsor. Project sponsor or representative must be identified and available regularly during MSD I and MSD II to answer questions and to participate in reviews.

• Anticipated team size should be 4-6 students.

• Must not prohibit students from meeting academic requirements. Students should be allowed to discuss their projects openly in order to participate in class activities, and RIT policy protects students from having to forfeit their intellectual property rights unless prior arrangements have been made.

• Fits educational thrust or faculty research area. Broad areas of interest include, but are not limited to: Assistive Devices & Biotechnology, Vehicle Systems & Technologies, Automated Systems & Controls, Energy & Sustainable Systems, Process Innovation, Printing & Imaging Systems, Chemical and Material Processing.

• Project is not on the “critical path.” The highest priority for MSD is student learning, which implies that timeliness and overall project success are not guaranteed.

• Ideally, an RIT faculty member will be interested in the project and available to champion proposal development and project execution. We can help to identify a champion.

• We are particularly interested in groups of related projects. For concurrent projects this means that we like to have several projects based on the same platform or projects that tackle different elements of a larger system. For serial projects this means that projects should build upon one another.

Submission Process

Use this template and skills checklist for a first draft of your proposal, and submit electronically to Beth DeBartolo. We’ll assign a faculty member to work with you on a final draft. For reference in terms of appropriate scope, you can look through our Current Projects and Project Archives to see what other teams have done.

Completing this is a non-trivial exercise because we want to be sure that the project scope is appropriate and the needed skills are reasonable for seniors. To do so means that you should think about some design options (concepts) so that we can create a list of key tasks and required skills.

New projects start each fall (end of August) and spring (end of January) so the proposal deadlines are as follows:

• June 15 for fall-start projects. Most students enroll on this schedule.
• November 15 for spring-start projects. A small number of students enroll on this schedule.

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