Program Overview

Senior Design is the final experience of our students’ undergraduate career, a year-long process that provides a hands-on application of the principles and theories they have spent the previous three years honing. Students learn and apply the principles of design; the complex interplay among engineering solutions and societal, environmental, economic and ethical considerations; the language of industry; and the power of engineering to catalyze new solutions to entrenched problems such as sustainable energy, access to clean water, agriculture, transportation and health.

Each and every year, 75-plus organizations, large and small, partner with the UConn College of Engineering to not only fund projects, but also donate valuable mentorship time, as well as solidify the unique information-sharing pipeline that the College and University has with the engineering community. With the generous support of all of our sponsors, seniors get direct access to talented engineers in the industry, as well as valuable hands-on experience in a group setting.

Those talented engineers from each of our sponsor companies provide a service that is crucial: the ability to tackle any engineering hurdle that comes their way by thinking through the lens of a business. This mentorship also gives companies direct visibility into the talent of our students, and a long look at their problem-solving abilities and group dynamics. Because of that opportunity, thousands of our students have received job offers from their company sponsors, and for the ones that haven’t, they have gained crucial resume builders and helpful references during their job searches.

By solving real-world problems, and creating innovative solutions for companies, the College of Engineering, and its students, drive significant economic impact towards the sponsoring companies and the state of Connecticut as a whole, making Senior Design a crucial yearly program.