Industry Sponsorship Program

The Department of Computer Science & Engineering at The University of Texas at Arlington is seeking to establish new industrial partnerships via the undergraduate Senior Design program. The two semester team-based course sequence involves the design and implementation of a real world engineering solution, and must be completed by all senior undergraduate students prior to graduation. Students benefit from project experience and industry contact during the process, while project sponsors benefit from having access to a dedicated team of engineers and their final project prototype.

Senior Design Process

Each project team consists of 5-6 senior undergraduate students enrolled in CSE 4316 and CSE 4317 during two consecutive semesters. New projects begin during the Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters, and conclude at the end of the following semester. During the first semester (CSE 4316), the teams work to define project requirements and complete preliminary design work. The second semester (CSE 4317) involves completion of the project implementation, testing, and final demonstration of the completed prototype. Team membership and assigned projects are maintained throughout both semesters.

Value Proposition: Why sponsor a project?

Sponsorship of a Senior Design project presents several benefits to your organization. The student team dedicates two semesters (roughly 9 months) of development time to a project that is defined by the sponsor and approved by the course instructor. Projects can involve a wide range of topics, such as hardware design, mobile application development, industrial controls, inventory & resource management systems, robotic technologies, etc. During the development cycle, CSE faculty mentors work closely with the student teams to help guide progress and maximize the probability of project success. Project sponsors essentially function as customers, while student teams function as product developers.

While sponsorship funds are provided as a non-binding gift to the CSE department (i.e., the projects are NOT sponsored research or paid consulting), the teams and mentors dedicate their time and expertise in good faith to build productive partnerships and maximize the value returned to the sponsor. Sponsorship provides a relatively low-risk way to investigate solutions to real-world problems when in-house human resources or domain knowledge are not readily available.

Finally, access to the student team provides a talent identification opportunity for internships or post-graduation hiring. Each of the student team members will be within 1 year of graduation (many will graduate immediately after completing the project), and it is not uncommon for companies to hire CSE students through this program.