Definition

IEEE Susquehanna Section Capstone Award Process

Definition

A Capstone Project is an individual or team effort, which can take the form of a Senior undergraduate activity including a H/W design, S/W design, system design, process design, senior thesis or technological concept related to the fields of electrical engineering, electronic engineering technology, computer science, computer engineering or computer languages.  There may also be a mechanical, materials, structural, mathematical, astrological, physics or biological element associated with the project.

 

  1. Purpose of the Section Capstone award
    • To recognize an undergraduate student/team from an eligible electrical engineering (EE), electronic technology (EET), computer engineering (CE), or computer science (CS) school located within the geographic boundary of the Susquehanna Section as having presented the best Capstone project. The student/team is not required to be an IEEE student member.
    • Participating undergrad teams can be multidisciplinary; but, at least one team member must be a EE, EET, CE or CS undergrad.
    • The Susquehanna Section executive committee shall solely determine schools that are eligible to participate in this award process.
    • The award will consist of a cash prize of $750 and the IEEE Susquehanna Section certificate recognizing the name of the undergraduate student, the name of their school and the title of the Capstone project and the date when the award was presented.
    • The Capstone Award Project will be managed by the Susquehanna Section Student Activities coordinator.

 

  1. Award candidate selection processing
    • Each year eligible schools will select the best Capstone project presentation from their school and submit their winner/selection to the Section Chair or Awards Committee Chair to be considered for receiving the Susquehanna Section Capstone award.
    • A judging panel composed of 3, 5 or 7 Susquehanna Section members will be selected by either the Section Chair or Awards Committee Chair. Excluded panel members will be any faculty person from an eligible school or any Section member who participated in selecting a winner from an eligible school.
    • The name of the undergraduate student and the school submitting a project presentation will be removed to avoid any potential bias from the judging panel.
    • All submitted projects will take the form of a power point presentation. In addition to a PP presentation, optionally copies of videos / notebooks / reports may be submitted.
    • The winner must receive a majority of the judging panel votes.
    • The winner will be announced to the Section executive committee for final approval.
    • The Section Chair will inform the winner of the Section Capstone Award to all undergraduate student participants and their school representatives.
    • The Section Chair will make the award to the winner in the most appropriate manner.

 

  1. Award availability
    • The award will only be made available if at least 4 eligible schools commit to participating in a given year.
    • All eligible schools will be asked if they wish to participate in early December of the year before the award. Responses must be received by the last day in January of the current year.
    • All eligible schools will be informed if the threshold of least 4 schools has been reached and that the award will be issued. They will also be informed if the threshold has not been reached.  This notification will be issued in early February of the current year.

 

  1. Project submission date
    • All project submissions must be received by May 31st. Note: most Capstone projects at eligible area schools are completed in May.
    • The award announcement will be made by June 30th.