For the biomedical engineering students at UBC, their final graduating requirement is the completion of the BMEG 457 Capstone Design Project. Using the knowledge and skills they have gained during their studies, students are tasked with challenging real world problems that require immediate solutions.
Students will begin their Capstone project in the September 2020 term. See details below.
BMEG 457: Capstone Design Project Overview
Course Schedule and Milestones
This eight-month capstone design course features teams of four to five students and is client-focused (i.e. the organizations sponsor the projects). Students are expected to put in approximately eight hours per week (per student) on the project. This includes working with their team, attending relevant lectures and workshops as well as meeting with their faculty mentors and client sponsors.
The following is a tentative description of the course milestones and deadlines:
| Note that with COVID-19 restrictions and the accompanying UBC policies, this course will be conducted at least partially, and possibly completely, remotely. Therefore, the deadlines and deliverables could change as these restrictions and policies shift. | ||
| Milestone | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Team Formation | Mid-September | Student teams formed |
| Proposal | Mid-October | Scope, requirements and constraints defined |
| Design Review I | Mid-December | Proof of concept design and core requirements |
| Design Review II | Mid-March | Design with full functionality |
| Product Review | Mid-April | Completion of validation and documentation |
Capstone Projects Ideal Features
The best capstone projects rise from real-world data, challenges and advancements. The promise of a definitive impact along with the possibility of helping both your industry and the community are powerful drivers for innovation. The goal may not be a refined solution to a presented problem, but identifying a viable path to follow.
Below are some important features to consider for the launch of an effective capstone project:
| Real Problems | The more real and important the problem is to you, the more motivated the students will be. |
| Open-Ended | Students must be able to exercise a fair amount of choice in the design and implementation strategies. You may impose reasonable constraints on the design and implementation, such as conformance to tools and strategies; however, this is not a case in which students will simply execute a given design. |
| Appropriate Scope | All design stages required for completion of the project (problem assessment, concept generation, prototyping, testing, etc.) should fit within the timing and effort allocated to the course: four to five students, each 8hr/week over 26 weeks (~1000 person-hours). There must be enough work to engage the team from September until April. |
| Non-Critical Path | Students are learning, and so there is no guarantee that they will provide you with a finished solution, or that they will be able to match your internal requirements for the project timing. Therefore, the ideal project to propose would be a project that you have not had the time to tackle yet, or one that you have possible solutions to but are open to assessing alternative or better solutions. |
| Confidentiality | The project is not strictly confidential. Although the resulting intellectual property will belong to you, the students need to be able to write reports and to make presentations to instructors and peers at UBC for grading. Sponsors have an option to acquire all rights to IP generated during the course of the project; there are also options available to handle nondisclosure requirements. |
Industrial Partner Commitment
Each industrial partner will need to commit to the full eight months of the project design course. This will include providing a mentor/representative to work with the relevant student team, financial and logistical support where applicable, and a complete detailing of the project and its available data.
Below are expected industry partner commitments for the Capstone Design Course:
| Availability | We expect an appropriate person from your organization to be available to the students to give them feedback regularly on a bi-weekly or monthly basis. |
| Resources | SBME will commit a significant amount of financial resources. To make this a successful partnership and a sustainable model, we hope that you and your organization will commit in a similar fashion, feasible for your organization. We suggest that, where possible, clients/sponsors cover costs associated with the project, give students access to relevant company information (optionally under an NDA), and possibly offer access to fabrication and testing facilities (if appropriate). If funding the project is not possible, please contact us to discuss the matter further. |
| Program Support |
We are continually trying to improve the facilities available to the students; we therefore invite satisfied clients and sponsors to consider making a tax-deductible contribution to support the UBC design facilities at the conclusion of the project. |
Project Submission
Ready to support engineering students as they build and develop solutions for your problems? Click the button below to get started.
See the timeline for proposal submissions and review for the September semester:
| Phase | Dates (2020) |
Actions |
|---|---|---|
| Initial Submission | Jun 15 – Aug 7 | Capstone’s call for projects goes out. Clients submit proposals. |
| Initial Feedback | After seven days, before Aug 14 | Capstone instructors provide feedback on proposals as they come in. |
| Review & Discussion | As needed, done before Aug 21 | Clients might revise their proposals in consultation with the capstone instructors |
| Final Proposal | As early as possible before Aug 28 | Clients submit final versions of their proposals. |
| Evaluation & Uptake | As early as possible before Sep 4 | Capstone instructors will confirm proposal admissibility for SBME student teams. |
Adapting to COVID-19
Due to safety guidelines related to COVID-19, students will use virtual methods to work together, meet with their teams and you (at least for the fall term).
Current restrictions cause reduced bandwidth for prototyping and fabrication. Specifically, in Term 1, there will be no on-campus instruction (Term 2 is still unknown). Prototyping may happen off-campus or through service companies (i.e. 3D printing, laser cutting, water jet parts and CNC machining, PCB shops, etc.). Students may have to do some prototyping and testing in their own homes.
To help adapt to these restrictions, projects with a heavy simulation, analysis, and/or modelling component are highly encouraged.
Depending on the project’s need, client equipment that can be sent to students’ homes for use is greatly appreciated.
Contact Information
For more information about the course or to further discuss your potential proposal, please contact course instructors Robyn Newell and Negar M. Harandi: capstone@bme.ubc.ca