The Senior Project is the final component in Oregon Tech’s career-ready curriculum. In their senior year, Oregon Tech B.S. students must complete a year-long Senior Project sequence. The sequence is intended to entail a major design experience that exposes students to real-world challenges in their major.

Industry Support

Industry partners are invited to help students design a senior project that exposes Oregon Tech students to relevant and contextualized challenges. Senior projects can be industry-identified, non-critical-path projects that represent a complete system or product, integrating analysis, simulation, software, hardware, or other aspects of research by academic department, as appropriate. The scope of the projects is usually similar to what the company would assign to a full-time summer intern. Each student devotes approximately 100-300 hours of time to their senior project.

Senior Projects are supported with a donation of $2,500 per project, unless the project requires additional support in terms of equipment, services, and supplies. This contribution will cover the basic project costs for materials and equipment associated with the project. A portion of the donation will cover student-led senior projects and administrative costs associated with the program. The industry supporter also provides a project description – stating the scope of the problem to be solved – and identifies a mentor to work with the student(s) on at least a monthly basis throughout the year.

Industry Benefits

  • Opportunities for company to work with promising students on non-critical-path solutions
  • Well-trained potential employees
  • Ability to impact student training and preparation for employment
  • Increased company visibility and community engagement
  • Strengthens relationship with Oregon Tech for future applied research or employment of graduates
  • Provides the opportunity to evaluate students, with no obligation to hire

Student Benefits

  • Knowledge of project design cycle, industry expectations, and team work
  • Relevant, rigorous, and contextualized education prior to entering the labor force
  • Prepared and ready for career after college
  • Relationship with industry partner

Support a Senior Project

  • Identify non-critical-path projects and employees willing to act as mentors with student teams.
  • Contact Dr. Abdy Afjeh, associate provost of Research and Academic Affairs, in the Office of Strategic Partnerships.