Handbook

The project is an inquiry-based learning course that provides students with an opportunity to bring together and apply engineering principles learned over their previous years of study and professional experience to innovatively solve problems such as the development of a specific design, process and/or the investigation of a hypothesis.

The projects that students undertake are complex, open-ended problems that allow room for creativity, acquisition, analysis, and interpretation of results. There are multiple possible solutions or conclusions at the outset that have sufficient complexity to require a degree of project planning from the students. The project requires students to formulate problems in scientific or engineering terms, manage a technical project and find solutions by applying scientific and engineering methods. It also allows them to develop the ability to work in a research and development environment.

This is the first course in the three-course project structure. The course is normally undertaken in the last year of the ME degree program and is at a more advanced level than the undergraduate thesis course. Students undertake directed laboratory and research work on an approved topic under the guidance of an academic supervisor. A student must identify a supervisor and a project prior to enrolling in this course.