Comparison of motivations and perceptions of capstone benefits for industry sponsors: An interview-based study of faculty and industry

Abstract

The goal of this research is to understand, explore, and align the motivation and value that industry gains from sponsoring senior level mechanical engineering capstone design projects at Clemson University. This research compares the expected values of capstone projects from the perspectives of both the sponsoring companies and university faculty. If faculty understand the expected value from the sponsor, faculty could more effectively solicit and scope sponsor-based projects. Interviewing was used as the data collection method to explore faculty and company sponsor perceptions regarding the capstone design program. Interview results are linked and evaluated to extract thematic patterns in the responses. Conclusions of this work show that faculty anticipate companies continue to sponsor projects if the final products generated by the student teams are beneficial to the company. Companies tend to gain value from sponsoring capstone by providing low priority projects to garner solutions with minimal investment. Further, the realized benefit of the projects for the sponsoring companies depends on the structuring of the program, the proximity of the university, and the relationship between the company and university.