Senior Design

Computer Science & Engineering Senior Design

Senior Design

All students in the Department of Computer Science & Engineering participate in a two semester capstone sequence that is referred to at the "Senior Design" program. Students enrolled in Senior Design spend the year working in teams of five or six on a computer software or hardware project sponsored by members of local industry or university faculty and staff.

The course provides students with the hands-on educational and professional experience that comes with contributing to a real-world project. Previous projects have served a variety of fields and industries and have been developed with many different technologies.

The project types offered by Senior Design include:

Mobile Apps
Data Analytics and Visualization
Web-based Systems
Gaming Technologies
Machine Learning Systems
Virtual / Augmented Reality

Important Dates

For visitor information, including directions and parking, please click here.
Date	Event
Dec. 7th, 2018	Release 3
Dec. 8th, 2018	End of Semester
Dec. 10th, 2018 - Dec. 14th, 2018	Finals Week
Dec. 15th, 2018 - Jan. 6th, 2019	Winter Break (for Students)
Dec. 24th, 2018 - Jan. 1st, 2019	UNL Offices Closed
Jan. 7th, 2019	Start of Spring Semester

We are always impressed with the creativity of the students and their ability to quickly adapt to changing needs. Former Sponsor 2016-2017 Sponsor Satisfaction Survey

Interested in being a Coach?

Are you interested in becoming a coach for a Senior Design team? We are seeking individuals who have expertise in both business and technology and who are able to provide guidance to the students throughout their capstone project. Coaches are provided to each team of students to act as a resource during the project releases. Coaches help accelerate the team's progress by helping to expand the students' view of the project and recognize key aspects. Focus is placed on building a trusted coaching relationship and bonding with the team.

Coaches spend, on average, between 1-3 hours per week with their team where the team updates the individual on their poject and challenges them with their toughest issues. Coaches tend to spend more time with their teams during the beginning of the project. Other responsibilities include attending release and other critical meetings and helping guide the team toward a successful project.

Being a coach for a Senior Design project provides a wonderful opportunity for students and coaches alike. Students benefit immensively from having an impartial 3rd party that they are able to ask their most challenging questions, without fear of those questions impacting their grade. Coaches are able to spend time with current university students and form new relationships with students, faculty, and other coaches.

Nebraska Environmental Trust Team with Coach, Nick Hershberger — The Nebraska Environmental Trust team, with their coach Nick Hershberger, showing off their project at the 2018 Senior Design Showcase.

Interested in sponsoring a project?

The SensiPlate Team, with their coach, project manager, and sponsors. — The 2017-2018 SensiPlate Team with their coach, project manager, and sponsors.

The Senior Design program has experience working in numerous domains. These include:

Healthcare
Agriculture (AgIT)
State Goverment
Financial and Insurance Services
Telecommunications and Utilities
Education

If you have any questions, please refer to the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section below, or contact us by email at cse-seniordesign@unl.edu

Click here if you are an organization interested in sponsoring a project.

Jeremy Suing presenting a sponsor with a token of appreciate at the 2017-2018 Design Studio & Senior Design Showcase.
The CSE Cui Team showing off their Mobile-based Food Recognition System at the 2017-2018 Senior Design Showcase.
Erudite sponsors Dr. Ron Nelson and Dr. Leen-Kiat Soh accepting a token of appreciation for successfully completing a Senior Design project in 2017-2018.
The Sandhills Publishing team, with their sponsor, discussing progress on their project as part of a release meeting.

2018 Project Portfolio

The Senior Design Capstone provides an opportunity for industry and academic sponsors to engage and utilize the minds of some of the brightest students on campus. This year, the Senior Design Capstone is grateful to be supported by the following sponsors.

Sponsor	Project
	CompanyCam Develop an Android application that implements Augmented Reality technology that allows for textures and 3D models to be placed and measured in space.
	CSE Course Scheduling Develop an automated course scheduling system for the Department of Computer Science & Engineering that schedules around various constraints presented by the Department.
	Enkadia Synexsis Research and Develop a hardware replacement solution for classroom automation.
	Erudite Continue development on the First Steps to Reading Fluency game created by Erudite.
	Grain Harvest Logistics Develop a web application and iOS application that implements an efficiency algorithm related to harvesting crops.
	Holland Computing Center Develop a mobile application that integrates Augmented Reality technology for use in guided tours of the Holland Computing Center.
	Lincoln Public Schools Develop a mobile application that help school faculty, staff, and students enter into the Standard Response Protocol (SRP) for various types of incidents. Click Here to watch the project pitch video.
	Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital Develop a hardware and software solution to automatically collect data from wireless sensors for use in patient medical records. Click Here to watch the project pitch video.
	MathDay Develop a software solution to help find, vet, and schedule volunteer as well as administer the annual MathDay event at UNL.
	Nebraska Department of Transportation Develop a crash data analytic dashboard for use by the Nebraska State Government. Click Here to watch the project pitch video.
	Nebraska Environmental Trust Develop a system to replace the current grant application and management system used by the Nebraska Environmental Trust.
	Nebraska Online Situational Awareness Tool (NEOSAT) Develop an online system to collected publicly available data and devlier information about areas vulnerable to flooding.
	Nebraska State Museum Develop a mobile application using Augmented Reality to enhance a new exhibit about Parasites opening in the Nebraska State Museum in Spring 2019.
	NET Virtual Capitol Tour Develop a virtual reality version of the Nebraska State Capitol Virtual Tour site for use with Occulus, Vive, and other VR platforms.
	Sensi-Plate Further develop a hardware solution, in the form of dishwear, that measures food intake and helps combat childhood obesity.
	Speedway Motors Develop a mobile application that allows users to shop on the Speedway Motors website, schedule curbside pickup, as well as access the Speedway knowledgebase. Click Here to watch the project pitch video.
	Spreetail Develop a 360-degree camera hardware and software solution to expedite current tedious processes related to taking and editing 360-degree media. Click Here to watch the project pitch video.
	VR for Structural Engineering Develop a virtual reality environment using SAP2000 Model Alive simulations to visualize the effects of earthquakes on buildings.
	WetCoDe Develop a software tool to aid in the research and development of biological genetic communication systems.
	Wex Health Develop a tool to help convert data between government regulated formats and other formats for use by stakeholders.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

How much does a Senior Design project cost to sponsor?

A Senior Design project costs $15,000 USD to sponsor. Each project team consists of 5 - 6 students who will complete 1200 - 1500 development hours.

This pricing may be different for UNL Faculty & Staff. Please contact us at cse-seniordesign@unl.edu if you have any questions.

What is the return on investment for sponsoring a project?

Sponsoring a Senior Design project is a good way to invest in a student-led project while staying within your organization's budget. All Senior Design projects are priced at $15,000, which is a fraction of what professional firms typically charge. This offers the sponsor an opportunity to develop a prototype or test a design without dedicating large sums of money to the project.

Additionally, sponsors have the opportunity to provide a real-life lerning capstone project for students at UNL. We promise you'll be impressed with what they can do!

Are there recruitment opportunities that come along with sponsoring a project?

Yes! We encourage you to recruit from your team members. We also have various sponsor and program events throughout the year that provide a good opportunity for networking.

What are some of the possible majors the students will be studying?

The Senior Design program includes students from three majors and two minors. Those disciplines are:

Major in Computer Science
Major in Computer Engineering
Major in Software Engineering
Minor in Software Development
Minor in Informatics

How long do the projects last and what is the time commitment of the sponsor?

The project lasts two semesters, from the end of August until the beginning of May. The time commitment for the sponsor is between 2 - 5 hours per week in order to attend weekly sponsor meetings and 5 major release meetings over the course of the year.

Can a project be remotely sponsored?

Yes, you do not have to be located in Lincoln, Nebraska to sponsor a project. Senior Design students are taught how to effectively use various communication tools (email, video, etc.) in order to communicate well with sponsors. We have had succesful projects in previous years with sponsors from both outside of Lincoln and outside of Nebraska

If you have any questions about this, please feel free to contact us by email at cse-seniordesign@unl.edu

What are some of the course objectives for the students?

Applications of engineering principles
Iterative software development methodologies
Development operations
Software quality assurance
Software development best practice behaviors

What technologies does Senior Design use for each project?

Each project team will utilize common tools such as slack and git. Teams are often capable of learning whatever technology the sponsor in interested in using, given that the learning curve is built into the scope of the project. For specific projects, teams have worked with technologies such as:

Microsoft .NET
Java
Ruby
R
iOS and Android
Javascript, PHP, and Python

If you have any questions about this, please feel free to contact us by email at cse-seniordesign@unl.edu

What is the program's enrollment?

In previous years, Senior Design has operated in combination with the Raikes Design Studio program. However, increasing enrollment has made it necessary to run an independent Senior Design program. The expected enrollment for the academic year 2018/2019 is 125 students. By the academic year 2020/2021, enrollment is projected at 250 students.

For the academic year 2018/2019, there will be 21 Senior Design teams working on projects.