The success of the industry-sponsored Civil Engineering senior design program at Stevens Institute of Technology and its impact on meeting the learning objectives established for the twosemester capstone design sequence is described. The effective use of industry sponsors to formally assess the student's performance will be presented as will the recruitment of sponsors. The dynamics of group size and structure will also be discussed. The information presented in this paper is based on the five years that the program has existed at Stevens. Initially established to meet ABET 2000 criteria and introduce Civil Engineering students to real world design problems, the industry-sponsored program began during the 2000-01 academic year with two industry consultants (both Stevens Alumni), and 18 students. This program has grown to involve eight industry sponsors and 40 students. The diversity of these projects parallels the Civil Engineering profession and provides the students with first hand exposure of real industry projects, practices and regulations. Additional benefits of this program include the continual interaction between students and practitioners. Schedules are established and must be adhered to, technical writing and oral communication skills are honed while the students become responsible to an outside consultant. This relationship in many cases has facilitated job placement for the graduates of the program. Introduction: With the implementation of ABET 2000 several changes had to be made within the engineering curriculum at Stevens Institute of Technology. One of the major changes included revising the capstone design to accomplish some of the goals set forth in ABET Criteria a through k and meet the outcomes established by the Civil Engineering program. In order to successfully accomplish these outcomes and provide each Senior Civil Engineering graduate with a comprehensive design experience, external industry sponsors were recruited to work with the students. The first industry sponsors were members of the Civil Engineering Visiting Committee (CEVC). These Professional Engineers thought the opportunity to mentor and work with the Stevens graduates would be a worthwhile undertaking for both the sponsors and the students.

Engineering students will often submit assignments that have not been checked for accuracy or whether the results make sense, and rarely are there high marks for presentation. While this is completely unacceptable and unethical in professional engineering, this disturbing trend has become more common (and even acceptable) in the classroom. Many students are defining success as the act of submission of an assignment, while showing little concern for its content or presentation. A learning tool is proposed with the immediate goal of meeting higher standards in student assignments, while lasting goals are to foster a greater sense of ownership and pride in any work that is submitted. This paper presents the results of three independent research projects to explore the use of the professional practice of peer review in engineering courses. This methodology was originally instituted as a system of mandatory collaboration in two structural analysis courses offered at the United States Military Academy (USMA), through forced peer review of all individual homework. Based on the assessments from both students and faculty, various iterations of the peer review concept have emerged in subsequent semesters in both courses, the goals of which remain to increase student learning: • by interacting with ones classmates • by having to explain ones own work • by correcting mistakes and errors in others' work • by learning ones own abilities and limitations • by preparing work to be reviewed by others (increased responsibility) • by modeling the professional aspects of having work reviewed for correctness In addition to the structural analysis courses, this general methodology was used in a heat transfer course at USMA in which progress reports were peer reviewed during a semester long design project. A third independent application was developed at Stevens Institute of Technology for a fluid mechanics course. The methods and outcomes of the three studies are assessed and compared in this paper. Student attitudes toward the process and their perceived value of peer review as a learning tool are also examined, based on anonymous survey results. It was found that although apprehensive at first, students eventually took to the idea and its purpose. Surprisingly, data also indicated that peer review grades provided by students matched well with grades provided by the instructors, evidencing that the students took the review process seriously and understood the review criteria. Finally, this paper discusses future work on this project to validate the value of peer review as a learning tool, and offers suggestions for future implementations of this strategy.

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She coordinates both the civil and multidisciplinary engineering senior design projects. These projects are the culmination of the undergraduate engineering experience. Students design an innovative solution to a complex problem. She has recruited professional sponsors who mentor the civil engineering design projects. The projects expose the civil engineering students to real world design problems. The students gain first hand experience communicating professionally, developing schedules, meeting deadlines and preparing professional quality reports and presentations. Prof. Brunell is also the director of the Water Resouces graduate program. In addition to Senior Design she teaches Surveying and Water Resources.

She coordinates both the civil and multidisciplinary engineering senior design projects. These projects are the culmination of the undergraduate engineering experience. Students design an innovative solution to a complex problem. She has recruited professional sponsors who mentor the civil engineering design projects. The projects expose the civil engineering students to real world design problems. The students gain first hand experience communicating professionally, developing schedules, meeting deadlines and preparing professional quality reports and presentations. Prof. Brunell is the director of the Water Resouces graduate program. She also teaches Fluid Mechanics, Surveying and Water Resources.