WHAT DOES IT COST TO SPONSOR A UTDESIGN CAPSTONE PROJECT?

WHAT DOES IT COST TO SPONSOR A UTDESIGN CAPSTONE PROJECT?

The UTDesign Capstone program helps companies expand their resources by partnering with talented computer science and engineering student teams.  When companies partner with our talented seniors, they also support the team with a corporate mentor, who guides the team to build prototypes, simulation models and software programs, depending on the project.  This allows the students to significantly expand their technical knowledge, learn the complete product and solution development life cycle and showcase their project management skills.

UTDesign Capstone projects are proposed, sponsored, mentored and owned by sponsoring companies. Funding from corporate partners supports UTDesign Capstone projects by providing materials, fabrication expenses, licensing, studio facilities, support staff and a UT Dallas Advisor.

The cost of sponsoring a UTDesign Capstone project depends on the project type and duration.  Computer science projects that span one semester cost $10,000, while two-semester computer science projects and all engineering projects cost $15,000. Companies, however, can receive an early bird discount of $2,000 if their project proposal is accepted by a Faculty Director 30 days before the beginning of the project’s first semester. We are also giving additional special discount pricing during Covid-19 virus operations.     

The cost above covers up to $3,000 for materials and fabrication expenses for engineering projects, and $1,000 for computer science projects. Some projects may require equipment that exceeds the assigned budget. In that case, the UT Dallas Advisor and corporate mentor will work together and discuss options for costs that exceed these expenses and to determine the best way to proceed, whether to down-scope the project or approve additional funding. Typically, a UTDesign Capstone team is composed of 4 to 6 students, with each student working an average of 10 hours per week, or essentially one full-time employee equivalent.  An engineering or computer science intern typically earns over $17 per hour. For an intern that works one semester (15 weeks), you would expect to pay $10,200. For an intern that works two semesters (30 weeks), you would expect to pay $20,400. Companies sponsoring Capstone projects therefore can get up to six talented students for a lower cost than one intern. Also, these projects are valuable for companies to assess students and recruit some of the top engineering and computer science talent in the country.

All group photos taken prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. For current COVID-19 campus updates, visit utdallas.edu/COVID.