Sponsor the Senior Design Program

E-Days Showcase Corporate Involvement

Are you looking to find support for the design, modification, or development of a new product, process, testing apparatus, or system?

If so, we can help!

Engineering Days (E-Days) is a long-standing tradition of CSU excellence which allows senior undergraduate students an opportunity to showcase the completion of their senior design projects to faculty, family, industry representatives, and peers. It helps students develop practical, hands-on skills and teaches them how to succeed in an integrated, interdisciplinary engineering design environment.

By participating as a corporate senior design sponsor, companies are expected to make a financial contribution toward project materials and overall operations of senior design. Corporate sponsors can protect their company’s intellectual property in the work done by students. All students engaged in company-sponsored projects will sign intellectual property (IP) and non-disclosure agreements (NDA).

Individual, Industry, and CSU Contributors and sponsors

Thank you to supporters for their monetary and/or talent contributions to our class and continued support.

AlloSource
Anheuser-Busch
Applied Medical
Broadcom
City of Fort Collins Utilities
Medtronic
PhotonPharma
Quorum Prosthetics
Terumo BCT
Texas Instruments
Tolmar
UCHealth
Venture Capital Program, Bert Vermeulen, Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering

Benefits to

Industry

Your participation will produce a valuable return on investment in the following ways:

Obtain Solutions

Utilize young, vibrant minds to help your organization explore concepts that may be difficult to achieve in-house due to personnel constraints or time.

Identify Potential Hires

By working closely with our senior design teams, you will have recruiting exposure to our graduating engineers, and these students will gain deep exposure to your company’s culture and values. Senior design project sponsorship is similar in cost to hiring an intern, but gives your company intern-level exposure to a team of graduating seniors.

Build Relationships with Innovators

The School of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering is proud to boast a high percentage of faculty innovators. By participating as a corporate sponsor, you will have access to these brilliant minds, which may provide benefits in research and/or consulting in the future.

Increase Visibility

Gain campus exposure; increase your brand recognition and reach students.

Receive Tax Deduction

All corporate senior design investments are tax-deductible if your company chooses to provide funds through a donation. Please check your company’s policies on donations compared to purchase orders in consideration of intellectual property.

Benefits to

BCE Students

The capstone senior design program promotes student development of highly marketable skills:

Problem Solving

Students get exposure to real engineering problems as they work on meeting a practical industrial need and creating a final design, typically including prototyping, testing, and validation in an environment similar to that of industry professionals.

Professionalism and Perspective

Interacting with industry representatives on a regular basis gives students an opportunity to gain the competencies which the business community requires.

Communication

As students conduct their team-oriented capstone project, they hone important communication skills through interaction with industry clients, team members, Colorado State faculty and staff, and vendors.

New Technology

Students are exposed to new technology used in the workplace and are encouraged to explore new design tools and lab resources.

Teamwork

Working with a multidisciplinary team, students learn critical interpersonal skills necessary to achieve a shared goal through respectful interaction, coordination, and collaborative problem solving. Precise understanding is essential when working in groups. Students are quick to familiarize themselves with the technical terminology used among various engineering disciplines.

Problem Analysis

Students gain critical thinking skills while working in multidisciplinary teams to facilitate project completion.

Expectations and Timeline:

How it Works

Senior design begins in the fall semester (August) and concludes in the spring semester (April) at Engineering Days (E-Days).

Proposed projects will be evaluated for acceptance based on a number of criteria including, but not limited to, anticipated learning objectives, resources such as internal expertise and supplies, incorporating the design of a process or product , and cost barriers.

Projects should have clear goals for design, prototyping, and testing that are achievable within one academic year. These goals can be part of a larger project that would continue with a new team the following years.

Examples of Past Senior Design Projects

CO₂ Direct Air Capture Systems
Brewery Process Optimization and Product Recycle
Anaerobic Digester Feasibility Studies
Water Reclamation Process
Methanol Engine Fuel Development and System
Wastewater Treatment and Virus Capture Systems
Novel Chemical Sensor Production
Medical Grade Polymer Development and Optimization
Cell and Bacteria Expansion Process
Paper-Based Microfluidic Device to Detect Salmonella
Bone Matrix Electrospinning
Hemocompatibility Flow Chamber
Sperm Capacitation
Pulsating Organ Model Surgical Training Tool
Robotic Force Controlled Testing System for Spine Constructs
Dermal Regeneration Template
Training Laparoscope
Improved Serum Product for Cell Culture

Our students and teams are unique

Small Teams

Students work in interdisciplinary teams of 3-6 individuals on an open-ended design project, from problem definition to design to prototype(s) to validation.

Multidisciplinary Design Teams

Senior design teams consist of students from any engineering major relevant to the project, including biomedical, chemical and biological, civil/environmental, electrical, or mechanical.

Industry Experience

Over 45% of SBCE seniors at Colorado State have had engineering industry internship experience. This experience reinforces important skills learned in labs and classrooms: valuable critical thinking skills, strong communication skills, and essential interpersonal skills needed to work effectively with others.

Long Hours

Each student is expected to work 9-15 hours per week for their capstone design class. This time includes preparing reports and presentations about the project and a few smaller assignments.

Weekly Advisor Meetings

Students are strongly encouraged to meet with their project advisor weekly, in-person or remotely.

Biomedical Engineering projects:
Ellen Brennan-Pierce

Chemical and Biological Engineering projects:
Minnie Piffarerio

Questions about our senior design program?

We're ready to help!

Do you have a question that’s not featured on our website? Whether you are interested in sponsoring projects, supporting our students, or have something not listed, email your questions to us.