Senior design projects form an important capstone for most engineering disciplines and must consist of the realistic application of the engineering design process. Some senior engineering students would like the opportunity to participate in research projects, but cannot give the time to perform research and participate in a senior design project. The authors have served as either faculty or students in combined research and design projects for several years, and have made several observations about this combined approach. Many research projects offer the opportunity to perform engineering design although recognition of this fact is sometimes overlooked by faculty. Some general cases where design may be needed in a research problem include: design of an experimental system, engineering software design, and design of a process to manufacture experimental test pieces. Once a design aspect of a research project has been identified, the faculty member that will oversee the design project should carefully consider how the project will require the design process, whether multiple alternative designs will be considered, and in what way will the project satisfy multiple realistic constraints. Students in the design group may already be working on the research project and it has to be clear to these students that they will be doing two projects: the research project and the design project. Use of a design proposal that is signed by the faculty member and students can aid in making sure that all involved, faculty and students, know how the project will meet the research program's and ABET's expectations in terms of design. Our experiences with combined research / senior design projects are discussed in this paper.
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