Info for Prospective Sponsors

Participating in Capstone Design Projects

Wake Engineering students understand that tackling real-world problems requires diverse perspectives, including their own. Our Capstone Design Projects embrace this mindset by soliciting project ideas from many sources. Industry, government and non-profit organizations may submit projects to meet identified needs, while students, faculty and staff may propose their own entrepreneurial ideas.

The three main ways in which you can become involved in the capstone design process are:

• Project Proposer/Client
• Technical Expert
• Sponsor

If you are interested in being involved in the capstone process, please read on to find out about the numerous ways in which you can help. You can also fill out our online Form, and we will be in touch.

Become a Project Proposer/Client – Clients, which are often the project proposers, have identified a real-world problem (and unmet needs) that an existing solution does not meet.  Clients propose a project idea and help guide our students throughout their design process by offering critical information about the needs and desires that they have for the end design. If you are interested in proposing a project, please visit our Propose a Capstone Project Page for more information.

Benefits of Becoming a Project Client

• Applying fresh perspectives to an unmet need through a low-cost, low-risk approach;
• Developing relationships with next-generation engineering talent and a potential pipeline of future employees;
• Building brand awareness among tomorrow’s engineering leaders;
• Offering professional development opportunities for technical mentors within your organization who oversee student projects; and,
• Enjoying access to Wake Engineering resources, such as our labs, innovation makerspace, clean rooms, 3D printers, materials testing equipment, plasma cutter, PCB milling machines, DEAC supercomputer, and other research grade equipment.

Expectations for Project Clients

Proposing a project and becoming a client for a Capstone Design Project team involves time and a potential financial investment. The ideal client will receive the greatest ROI when they give generously of their mentoring skills, share valuable expertise with the capstone team, and provide funding support for materials, supplies, small equipment, prototyping, and professional development for our students.  We fully recognize that not all clients will have the means to fund a project, so we will work with all clients to support them in this process as needed.  We also expect clients to participate in the four technical design reviews throughout the year.

Participate as a Technical Expert – Technical experts are engineers or other informed experts who are knowledgeable in fields that are closely related to a specific project. Technical experts provide key guidance to teams as they tackle complex engineering challenges. Technical experts meet with teams and provide insights into the steps that teams are taking and the work that has been completed to date. If you are interested in becoming a technical expert, please fill out the following Form.

Benefits of Becoming a Technical Expert

• Developing relationships with next-generation engineering talent and a potential pipeline of future employees;
• Building brand awareness among tomorrow’s engineering leaders; and,
• Offering professional development opportunities for technical mentors within your organization who participate as technical experts.

Expectations for Technical Experts

The primary expectation for technical experts is to participate in four (4) technical design reviews throughout the year. These design review meetings provide an opportunity for our students to discuss their progress and receive input on the engineering decisions that they have made and look to make in the future. Technical experts are there to act as subject area experts for our teams and ensure that they stay on track for a successful project.

Sponsor a Specific Project or the Capstone Course – As you are aware, engineering projects require capital. If you are interested in helping provide our students with the tools and resources that they need to solve these challenges, then a donation could be the answer. You could help sponsor a specific project, or specific kind of projects (i.e. energy projects, biomedical innovation projects, environment restoration projects) or contribute to improving capstone for all students.

Benefits of Sponsoring a Capstone Project

• Building brand awareness among tomorrow’s engineering leaders;
• Enabling higher quality solutions through better access to materials and resources; and,
• Developing relationships with next-generation engineering talent and a potential pipeline of future employees.

Expectations of Capstone Project Sponsors

The expectation is that sponsors make donations to a project that they are interested in or make a monetary contribution to improve capstone as a whole. If sponsors have a particular stake in solving one of our design problems, then there is an additional opportunity to participate in the design process as a project stakeholder; we encourage our students to speak with a variety of stakeholders so that they can design the best solutions for all parties involved.