Corporate Partners
Senior Design Lab (ECE 445)
Project Partners Program
ECE 445 Senior Design Lab
The mission of the Senior Design Lab course (ECE 445) is to transition students into industry through self-chosen team projects. In this course, students emulate the daily life of an engineer in industry. Students put together everything they have learned in college, develop teamwork and leadership skills, and gain in-depth practical knowledge in a topic that excites them. In addition, they learn to follow a schedule, keep track of cost, and deliver a product on time.
The course begins with students preparing a proposal and going through a design review. As the semester progresses, the teams meet with a graduate student teaching assistant on a weekly basis and maintain laboratory notebooks. Near the end of the semester, each team demonstrates its project, gives a formal presentation, and prepares a thesis-quality final report. Many employers consider a good senior design project to be just as valuable as internship experience. Typically, 100 students are enrolled in the course each semester (50 projects).
The partners program
Corporate sponsors suggest student projects and act as a mentor for teams that select those projects. This connects the Partner with premier electrical engineering graduates and allows them to conduct experiments whose cost cannot be justified in a business setting. With graduate teaching assistants acting as managers and mentors, Partners may select any level of involvement that they wish.
The partnership benefits the students by giving them access to potential employers and extra resources such as funds, parts, and advice. Since students select from among project ideas themselves, they gain in-depth practical knowledge in a topic that excites them. For further information about the Partners Program, see the ECE 445 web site or contact Professor Gary Swenson, course director, at swenson1@conrad.ece.uiuc.edu.
Beth Katsinas
Beth Katsinas
Director of External Relations
53 Everitt Lab
1406 W. Green St.
Urbana, IL 61801
Phone: (217) 265-6285
Fax: (217) 265-6499
katsinas@uiuc.edu