Student with capstone project

Rose-Hulman Mechanical Engineering Capstone Design Process

At the beginning of the spring term, the capstone instructional team will hold an information session to answer students' questions about the capstone and discuss the registration process.  As part of this information session, students will find out about the requirements for proposing a student project. Click here to see the instructions for proposing your project idea.

ME Capstone Design Schedule

The ME Capstone class is scheduled on your course calendar from 3 pm to 5 pm on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday for the full year. Half of the teams will meet with the instructor for a lecture on Monday and Thursday, and they will have a project work time with their team in an assigned room on Tuesday and Friday. The other half of the students will have a similar structure to Tuesday and Friday as their lecture days. This schedule allows you eight hours together as a team, and it is easier for you to find meeting and presentation times.

 

ME470 Registration Process

A few weeks before spring and fall term registration, the ME 470 instructors will reach out to all rising seniors with information regarding the registration process.  We ask that all students register for a large section of ME470 during registration week, including those who may take the MDS (multidisciplinary) capstone. This gives us the appropriate headcount to recruit enough projects when the classes start.

The project list will be available a few days before classes start, and students who registered for the capstone will receive a reminder email to review the project descriptions. As there are 40+ projects on the list, we recommend reading these descriptions before the first day of class in the Fall quarter. If you want any say in which project you get, do your homework.

If you want to specify your preferences, you will fill out a project preference form on the first day of class.  The capstone instructors will then assign each student to a project, a team, and a section on day 2 of the fall quarter. If you choose not to fill in the survey, you will simply be assigned to a section, team, and project. 

Team Preference: If you have a strong preference for working with a specific team, please ensure each member completes the survey individually, including the names of the corresponding students. This tells the capstone instructors that each member has agreed to work with that team. 

Project Preference: If you want a specific project, demonstrate that you are the best student for it. You can include information such as GPA, performance/ grades in previous classes, internships, your planned technical electives, and any other skills you may have. To make a strong case for yourself, include a copy of your resume or a cover letter – just like applying for a job or internshi

Instructor Preference: At this point, we are unable to accommodate any requests for a specific instructor. Our goal is to balance student enrollment across all sections and prioritize instructor expertise to ensure efficient classroom management.

Prerequisites for ME Capstone

ME Capstone prerequisites are listed in our ME curriculum flowchart. Make sure to find the correct flowchart from this list based on the year you started at Rose-Hulman. Please note that the new prerequisites apply only to students who began their program in Fall 2025 or later.  The following prerequisites apply to the students you started at Rose Hulman before Fall 2025:

  • ES205 / ES305 – ADES or System Dynamics
    (This requirement is not waived.)
  • EM204 – Statics & Mechanics of Materials II
    (This requirement is not waived.)
  • ME301 / ME201 – Thermodynamics
    (This prerequisite may be waived in limited cases if all other conditions are met. You must submit a pre-requisite form before registration.)

Submit all Prerequisite Exception Requests through the registrar’s office to Dr. Sangelkar as the instructor. These requests are reviewed by all capstone instructors.

For ME 471 and ME 472, students will be pre-registered because they will remain with the same capstone team and section for the remainder of their capstone experience.  If conflicts arise with other classes they plan to register for, they are responsible for working with their capstone instructor to explore potential solutions.

Follow-On Courses

For ME 471 and ME 472, students will be pre-registered for these courses since students will simply stay with the same capstone team and section for the remainder of their capstone experience.  If conflicts arise regarding other classes they plan to register for, it is their responsibility to work with their capstone instructor to explore any potential solutions.

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