Senior Design

Learn Skills Beyond Design

The Senior Design Program in Geological and Mining Engineering, builds on our solid field-based, hands-on curriculum to provide students with “their first job”– a project supplied by industry, government agencies, and entrepreneurs. Senior Design teams experience the entire process of a real-world, client-based engineering project, tackling open-ended problems that reflect the work graduates will likely encounter in their first job. The clients benefit from having a student team address their dynamic goals and tight budgets, and provide a fresh perspective with guidance from experienced faculty.

Our Senior Design teams are formed based on student background, interests, and strengths. In Senior Design, students explore not only the technical facets of the area of study, but also the business of engineering, including communications, teamwork, project management, intellectual property, and ethics. Teams benefit from working closely with an industrial partner and a faculty advisor for their technical expertise and proven ability to guide students through solving real-world, applied problems.

The capstone projects span two-semesters, beginning with the development of project goals and constraints, data collection, lab and field-based testing, and data analysis. Through the system modeling, simulation, and design, the project is validated and refined to meet specific objectives and constraints. Projects commence in late August and early January.