Real design problems and real clients: a systems engineering senior design program

We describe the senior design program in Systems Engineering at the University of Virginia. This program serves philosophical capstone of our undergraduate curriculum. We also describe our experiences related to the implementation and execution of the program. The senior design courses provide a major apprenticeship experience for the students that involve them in real design problems while working with real clients. Working in groups of five to eight members, the students apply their classroom knowledge of systems analysis and design to open-ended problems and real applications. Our experience with the program for the first six years has led to considerable success, with numerous student design groups receiving commendations from clients.