The ABCs of mentoring a UTDesign Capstone project

Through UTDesign Capstone, companies can extend their resources and partner with teams of talented seniors from the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science. Through corporate sponsors, these students are given the opportunity to solve real-world problems in new and innovative ways.

Corporate sponsors play one of the largest roles in UTDesign Capstone. The team is coached by two advisors: a UTD technical manager, who is an expert or has some degree of technical familiarity with the project; and a corporate mentor, who acts as the technical point of contact for the company. The corporate partner provides the problem to be solved; UTDesign provides a team trained in:

– Problem solving and critical thinking.

– Project management, including planning, budgeting, communications, scheduling and presentations.

– Technical proficiency.

– Adaptability, reliability and flexibility.

At the end of the project, which serves as the capstone of students’ undergraduate education, all results are turned over to the corporate partner.

Watch as Victor Salazar, Senior Mechanical Engineer at Raytheon, Qiong Zhang, PhD, Fujitsu Laboratory of America, Inc and Brad McCreight, Sr. Staff Mechanical Engineer, General Dynamic Missions Systems take you through their experience of being mentors to a UTDesign Capstone program.