What's ME643?


ME643 is a design course
a the pinnacle of undergraduate education, which is meant to use/test most of the students knowledge gained throughout their engineering education. Thus, it is considered a "capstone" course by the Accrediting Board for Engineering and Technology. The goal of the course is to address an open-ended (no fixed solution) problem and develop a design to address the problem, fabricate a functional prototype of the design, test the prototype against design criteria, and document the entire process. It's a real-world engineering experience prior to graduation.

Key Information about ME643

Student Teams & Projects Students generally self-select their project topics and their team members by individually ranking project options. Typically, these teams include 3 students, though some may have 2 and others 4 students. In most years, there are more good projects available than there are teams to work on them. Thus, even if your project is deemed appropriate by the program director, there is no guarantee that students will choose the project. In addition, the course includes some projects outside the BREAK program. However, the goal is to have at least two BREAK program projects each year.

Liaison Interaction with Students The project liaison is expected to available for meetings and responsive to student requests for information. Key times for in-person meetings with the liaison and/or beneficiary are:

  • Project Presentations -
    Sponsors can directly pitch their project to students
  • Project Initiation -
    Students need to gain all the info about needs/objectives
  • Project Concept Proposal -
    A formal presentation of developed concepts
  • Design Review -
    Liaison approves detailed design for fabrication
  • Monthly Status Reports -
    Primarily 2nd semester
  • Final Presentation -
    A formal presentation of final design, prototype and its measured performance

ME643 Course Timeline Fall Semester

  • July-August: Project solicitations
  • Late August: Presentation of available projects
  • Early September: Project selection/assignment
  • Mid-September: Initial liaison meetings
  • September-October: Student concept generation and selection
  • November/December: Project concept proposal presentations

Spring Semester

  • Early February: Design review
  • Early March: Status report
  • Early April: Project selection/assignment
  • April/May: Final design presentation
  • Early May: Final project report/documenation