EPICS Senior Design Project Description Report
Last Revised 1/19/2016
Instructions (Delete this page prior to submitting the report):
This form is to be completed for each EPICS project on which there are one or more 2nd semester Senior
Design students using EPICS registration to fulfill the BSCmpE, BSEE, CS, and MDE senior design
requirement. Senior design students on the project should work together to complete the form. Submit
one form per project. If an EPICS team has several projects involving senior design students, submit a
separate form for each project.
DEFINITIONS:
Engineering Design: The process of devising a system, component, or process to meet desired needs.
It is a decision-making process (often iterative), in which the basic sciences, mathematics, and
engineering sciences are applied to convert resources optimally to meet a stated object. Among the
fundamental elements of the design process are the establishment of objectives and criteria, synthesis,
analysis, construction, testing and evaluation.1
Multi-disciplinary Team: A multi-disciplinary team is comprised of, and requires the expertise of: 1)
students from more than one academic program – e.g., electrical engineering, computer engineering,
mechanical engineering, etc.; or ii) students from a single program, but who bring unique skills developed
in elective areas of specialization within the field.2
Design Considerations:
Economic - relating to the cost, production, distribution, and consumption of goods and having practical or
industrial significance.
Environmental – relating to preserving and possibly improving the surrounding environment.
Ethical – relating to appropriate professional conduct including the principles of honesty, fairness, caring,
and respect for others
Health and Safety – relating to the health and safety concerns of a product’s manufacture, use, and
disposal.
Manufacturability – relating to how a product can be manufactured efficiently and economically.
Political – pertaining to public policy or relating to affairs of state or administration.
Social – concerned with a broad grouping of people having common traditions, institutions, or collective
activities and interests.
Sustainability – relating to the use of a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently
damaged.
1
2
ABET, 1992
Paraphrased from Criteria 2000: Lessons Learned by C. D. Avers, P.E. in The Interface, Number 2, August 1999.
Purdue EPICS Senior Design Semester Report
Course Number and
Title
Semester/Year
Advisor(s)
EPICS Team
Project Title
Senior Design Students:
Name
Major
Area of Expertise
Expected
Grad
Date
On team
1st sem.
of senior
design?
On team
2nd sem.
of senior
design?
Other Team Members:
(Names of all project team members of the project team that have participated during the two
semesters of the senior design students’ experience on the team.)
Name
Major
Area of Expertise
Expected
Grad
Date
On team
1st sem.
of senior
design?
On team
2nd sem.
of senior
design?
Project Description: Provide a brief (one or two page) technical description of the design project, as
outlined below:
(a) Summary of the project, including customer, purpose, specifications, and a summary of the approach.
(b) Description of how the project built upon knowledge and skills acquired in earlier ECE/CS/MDE
coursework (include course numbers).
(c) Description of what new technical knowledge and skills, if any, were acquired in doing the project;
(d) Description of how the engineering design process is incorporated into the project. Reference must
be made to most of the following fundamental steps of the design process: establishment of
objectives and criteria, synthesis, analysis, construction, testing, and evaluation.
(e) Summary of how realistic design constraints are being incorporated into the project (consideration of
most of the following is required: economic, environmental, ethical, health & safety, social, political,
sustainability, and manufacturability constraints).
(f) Description of the multidisciplinary nature of the project.
(g) Description of project deliverables and their final status.