From classroom to community: Collaboration guides success of award-winning Capstone Course

Whether you are a student working towards your degree or an engineer in the field, it takes a village to be successful and collaboration is the key. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, this idea takes center stage for students majoring in civil, environmental, and geological engineering and the impact is evident.

This year, the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) was recognized for not one – but two capstone design projects in which they proudly accepted a grand prize and honorary prize award from the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES). This marks the department’s eighth and ninth NCEES Engineering Education Awards to date.

“Receiving one of these awards requires strong collaboration of the department faculty with the local professional engineering community to create representative projects that help students better understand what will be expected of them in engineering practice after graduation. The award also requires excellent design work, which means our students need to be top notch and receiving quality mentorship from professional engineers. These awards illustrate the excellence of the entire capstone program team from our volunteer mentors to our students and the core instructional team,” states Greg Harrington, Chair of the CEE Department.

The $25,000 grand prize-winning project, Lakefront Park, challenged the student team to brainstorm design solutions to protect and maintain Lake Monona waterfront near Law Park in Madison, Wisconsin, while also enhancing the park for community use.

The $10,000 honorary award-winning project, Community Manure Treatment Facility, developed designs to reduce watershed phosphorus levels by providing an alternative to spreading manure during frozen conditions.

These projects immerse students in the civil engineering process, allowing them to apply theoretical knowledge to practical, real-world scenarios. The multidisciplinary and open-ended nature of these projects expose students to a broad array of themes, and the hands-on experience the projects provide allows them to understand the societal impact of their work.

Working closely with mentors, faculty, and clients is a core aspect of CEE’s senior capstone course which propels students to seek guidance and feedback as their projects develop over the course of a semester.

“Throughout the project we had the opportunity to work closely with two professional engineers and one professional architect as we developed plans for the park. Due to their involvement, we had the opportunity to learn about projects they had been involved in at their respective companies and professional tips they had for us. Throughout the project, each of the engineers were able to lend insights from their vast knowledge to our multi-faceted engineering project,” shares Victoria Nelson, BSGLE ’23, Lakefront Park student team member.

The lessons learned and insights gathered through senior capstone projects are plenty, but for Kim Gonzalez, P.E., mentor for the Community Manure Treatment Facility project, communication and collaboration stand out. “I wanted students to recognize the importance of communication and collaboration. Students functioned well as a team and reached out to mentors, their client, and industry experts throughout the semester. They did a great job sharing the work, doing research, and learning from others and each other.”

The capstone instruction team appreciates the NCEES awards and plans to continue building on the course’s success, which is rooted in featuring actual projects from the course’s client and mentor network. Bringing clients and projects together with students majoring in engineering is beneficial.

“Clients receive value and students gain experience in the application of their engineering skill set,” says Jan Kucher, adjunct professor. “The class preparation is a significant challenge and as new instructors get involved, they often comment that they wish they had a capstone class like ours in college, which highlights the value this course provides as it relates to professional practice.”

Reflecting on this awards cycle and the evolution of the capstone course, Jan and his colleagues are thankful for the mentors who voluntarily contribute their time early each Thursday morning to guide student teams, without diminishing their creativity or providing answers outright.

“I also want to thank my co-instructors Derek Hungness and Kim Gonzalez, along with our Teaching Assistant Sarah Peterson for the optimism and skill in teaching the class,” concludes Jan.

Lakefront Park

Students (left to right): Gabriella Speca, Victoria (Tori) Nelson, Gabriel Lepak, Charles Chase, Alec Zimmer

Mentors: Ed Freer, PLA; Fred Klancnik, PE; Larry Matel, PE

Community Manure Treatment Facility

Students (left to right): Charles Riley, Andrew Glasgow, Jacob MacDonald, Daniel Volk, Henry Byers

Mentors: Kimberly Gonzalez, PE; John Thousand, PE, RLS

Featured image: Students and faculty pose with the 2024 NCEES Awards at the CEE Engineers’ Day Luncheon on November 15. From left to right: Gabriel Lepak, Victoria (Tori) Nelson, Jan Kucher, Greg Harrington, Henry Byers, and Kimberly Gonzalez, PE. Photographed by Stephanies Vang.