INDUSTRY SPONSORED PROJECTS OVERVIEW
25 – 30 industry sponsored teams of 5 – 7 students from varied majors each year
Solve real industry problems and gain design experience while you earn credit toward your degree
Dedicated mentoring from the sponsor company and UofM engineering faculty
Complete a full design cycle and hand your final project over to the sponsor company
There are no formal lectures for MDP.* Work is completed in meetings as a team and on an individual basis. Per the CoE Policy for the Assignment of Credit Hours, students should expect to spend about 4 hours of work (including meetings) per credit hour per week. Explore below how this time will be spent each week.
*Exception: CS majors earning Capstone or MDE credit must attend an additional lecture. See below.
Weekly Meeting With Faculty (1 hr/week)
Meet with your team of 5-7 students and your dedicated engineering faculty mentor to discuss the project, including updates from the prior week and challenges encountered. Prepare for the second hour of your weekly meeting with your sponsor mentor. Students take turns preparing the agenda, leading the meeting, and taking notes.
Weekly Meeting With Sponsor and Faculty (1 hr/week)
Student Work Together (2-4 hrs/week)
Tasks may include:
- Project Work
- Meeting Prep
- Completing MDP Assignments
- Sponsor Visits
Independent Work (Undergrad 8-10 hrs/week, Graduate 2-4 hrs/week)
Undergraduates earning 3-4 credits per semester will spend a total of 12-16 hours per week on the project. (This includes additional lectures for CS students earning Capstone or MDE credit)
Graduate students earning 2 credits per semester will spend a total of 8 hours per week on the project.
CS Student MDE/Capstone (4 hrs/week)
For CS students earning Capstone or MDE credit only:
CS undergraduate students approved to earn MDE or Capstone credit will spend 4 hours a week in EECS 497 lectures. (CS-MDP students enroll in a special CS section of ENGR 455, which is a meet-together course with EECS 497.)
Start Up (1st 6 weeks)
- The first 6 weeks of the project are front loaded with assignments designed to get teams off to a productive start. The focus is on team formation and project start-up and includes workshops and team building activities.
- Weekly assignments in the first five weeks of the term lay the groundwork for team culture and organization.
- The first two significant MDP assignments investigate the project’s technical foundations, establish project management, and define requirements, building a foundation for strong project work to follow.
- Assignments:
- Weekly Agenda and Follow Up (5 wks)
- Executive Briefing 1 (January)
- Requirements Sign Off (February)
Project Work (March - April, September - October)
- Starting in week 7, project work is fully underway with a focus on generating ideas, creating prototypes and wireframes, and early evaluations. The goal here is to “fail fast.”
- Activity in the project work phase includes: writing code, building prototypes, visiting sponsor offices, and running tests.
- Winter term culminates in a formal design review presentation of technical progress and risk assessment to the faculty and sponsor mentors that is evaluated by MDP faculty graders.
- Most projects do not have activity in the summer. See individual project descriptions for more information.
- Fall term starts with an executive briefing that includes contingency planning for the project risks identified in the first term, and also provides updates on the project status and plans for completion.
- Assignments:
- Design Review 1 (April)
- Executive Briefing 2 (September)
- Requirements Status Update (October)
Delivery (last 6 weeks)
- In Mid November, teams present their technical progress to a panel of faculty graders, showing off their work and gaining experience in a formal review setting.
- In the last week of classes, teams present and hand over their final work to their sponsors.
- 60% of the total grade is earned in the last phase, including team and individual grades given by the faculty mentor, which allows students to be assessed on their progress and learning throughout the process.
- Assignments:
- Design Review 2 (November)
- Final Handoff (December)
Check out our current list of industry projects. Projects start in January and new projects are loaded on our website every fall. Use the search bar at the top to find projects in your major or area of interest. You can meet the sponsors in person during our on campus project fair at the end of September every year.
Attention International Students on F1 Visas: All industry sponsored teams require the use of part time CPT. In order to be eligible to use CPT, a student must have been lawfully enrolled on a full-time basis while physically present in the US for one academic year (i.e. two full consecutive terms). These measures are in place to protect your visa status.