Mechanical Engineering

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Honors Project Course Information

MECE:461—Senior Design Project (2 credit hours; must register for Honors section)
Prerequisite: senior standing in Honors Program.

MECE:497—Honors Project in Mechanical Engineering (2 credit hours)
Prerequisite: senior standing in Honors Program.

Individual creative project in thermal science, mechanics, or design relevant to mechanical engineering, supervised by faculty member of the department.

General Comments

Students are permitted to use their Senior Design project to meet the Honors Research Project requirement. Students should register for the Honors section of MECE:461 in their first semester of the project, and MECE:497 in the following semester. In this case, the student must meet all of the requirements for the Senior Design course as well as the corresponding schedule.

1. The project must be an open-ended design problem. This means that there is an objective and design strategy (i.e., how do I decide between multiple acceptable solutions).
2. The work level is estimated to be about 400 hours per student.
3. It is highly desired to have a prototype made and tested.
4. The Honors Research Project Proposal should contain a description of the design project to be undertaken, with the design aspect clearly stated, and the project schedule.

Format and Style

The project is to be written up as a formal technical report.

Timeline and Schedule

If the student elects to use the Senior Design Project to fulfill their Honors Research Project requirement, the student will only register for the Honors Project course during the semester in which they will complete their project (usually their graduating semester). The project should follow the schedule for MECE:461—ME Senior Design Project I and MECE:471—ME Senior Design Project II. In particular the project should be undertaken over two semesters even though the student only registers for one semester of MECE:497—Honors Project in Mechanical Engineering.

• The course load for MECE:497—Honors Project in Mechanical Engineering is 2 credit hours.
• Students should enroll in MECE:402—Senior Seminar and the Honors section of MECE:461—ME Senior Design Project I in the initial semester (Fall for Spring completion of the project).
• The initial project schedule should contain approximately 10 milestones during the two semester duration of the project.
• Instead of following the WHC deadlines for submission of the proposal and final project, students will follow the deadlines associated with the ME Senior Design Project sequence. 
• The final report must be submitted to the Honors College through IdeaExchange, in addition to any department requirements.

General Guidelines

• You must receive a grade of "B" or higher on your Honors Research Project to graduate as an Honors Scholar. If you do not achieve this grade you may still meet the requirements to graduate as an undergraduate student in your major. Please contact your Honors Advisor for more information.
• When there are multiple students involved in an Honors Research Project, each student should be included as authors on the final report, even if they are not part of the Williams Honors College. Every student should receive the proper recognition for thier contributions.
• Every committee must be composed of a Sponsor and two Readers. More information on these roles is available here.
• Students expecting to work on an honors project involving the use of human subjects should be aware that such projects may need to be evaluated by the University of Akron Institutional Review Board (IRB). The IRB reviews all proposals for research involving human participants to insure appropriate ethical and safety standards are observed. Depending on the nature of the proposed research, IRB review and approval may be required prior to moving forward with your study. In the same way, any research involving live animals will require review by the University of Akron Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (ACUC). Please communicate with your project sponsor regarding the need for IRB or ACUC consideration as it relates to your specific project. Information concerning research applications and review procedures can be obtained via the University of Akron Office of Research Administration (ORA).