The capstone senior design course: an initiative in partnering with industry

In the department of computer science and engineering at the University of South Florida, we use the required capstone senior design course to help students make the transition from student to industry professional. The course also plays a key role in achieving departmental ABET EC 2000 outcomes. We have partnered with local industry to bring nonproprietary, real-world hardware and software projects to our students. Industry partners contribute projects, mentor students, and give guest lectures. Students work in teams and have milestones and schedules. Project duration is one semester. Final presentations include a project demonstration, user documentation, press release, and poster. We find that our students perform very well when presented with a project that someone at the end truly "cares about" and will use. Evaluation results show that students see this as a very valuable course in the curriculum for preparing them for industry careers.