“…the students’ abilities to introduce new technologies, tools, processes, designs and academic rigor should not be overlooked.”

As URI Alumni, we had the pleasure of volunteering to be Technical Directors of two ELECOMP Capstone Design Projects initiated by the IGT Hardware Engineering Department.  This experience has been educational, exciting and productive for both Student teams and IGT.

Dr. Sunak did an excellent job in matching the student’s abilities with the skill sets needed for the products that IGT was looking to develop.  It is clear that all the students involved were excited to work on their respective projects.

Bridging the gap from the classroom to industry is critical to the success of today’s students.  Historically, this has been achieved through contrived projects that simulate real world conditions.  However, they fall short in a few key areas by not allowing students to experience external schedule challenges, poor documentation, vendor dependencies, decision making, and risk taking.  The ELECOMP Capstone Design Program exposes, and demands students to be fully engaged in these real-world issues.

On the flip side, IGT was able to benefit greatly from the students – apart from the obvious man-hour contribution.  That is, the students’ abilities to introduce new technologies, tools, processes, designs and academic rigor should not be overlooked.  Additionally, they bring a naiveté that forces questions to be answered about a company’s established products, processes and protocols.

All in all, this experience has been positive and successful for IGT.  We look forward to continuing our relationship with the ELECOMP Capstone Design Program, in the Department of Electrical, Computer and Biomedical Engineering, and URI in the future.

Bruce Parkes (URI Class of 1996)

Raymond Leland (URI Class of 1993)