Using senior design capstone as model for graduate education

The Civil Engineering Department at Rose-Hulman recently modified its M.S. program in environmental engineering to replace the thesis with a structure d design course. Our efforts are based on the hypothesis that engineers at the graduate level also need to be taught "how to design." Recent pedagogic al efforts emphasize the need for the baccalaureate-level engineer to learn how to design a standard product that meets the needs of a client within a determined budget. This level of design involves the integration of severa l technical tools as well as client preferences and other constraints such as codes, regulations, economics, etc. Senior design efforts, such as the o ne at Rose-Hulman, help the student to start this preparation. We argue tha t the master's-level student not only needs a higher level of technical ski ll, but also increased sophistication with design focusing on nonstandard p roblems. These problems have a higher level of technical requirements that require creative and often unique solutions. Rose-Hulman is attempting to p repare master's-level engineers with a client-sponsored investigative desig n project. "How to design" is taught to both graduate and undergraduate stu dents via integrated capstone courses that are the subject of this paper.