For Prospective Project Sponsors
Welcome, prospective project sponsors
As we go about trying to give our undergraduate engineering management students the best possible preparation for their future careers, we recognize that there is an incomparable opportunity to give them a deep-immersion experience right in Vanderbilt's immediate environs, in companies in the Middle TN corporate and entrepreneurial community who might consider hosting a student team semester project.
We also recognize that the projects must offer meaningful value to the sponsors. To make sure that happens, we want to build a long-term relationship with our sponsors where we meet you wherever you are on your own journey as an enterprise and help you take the next step or two. This may involve a series of projects over time – such as marketing, enterprise systems design, innovation strategy, senior design, etc. Where you need some more feet on the street, another set of ears to the ground, some independent research and analysis, or just some fresh thinking, if we can provide it, we'd like to be there for you.
This page summarizes the types of team project available. For information on how all the projects work (the What, Why, Who, When and How of projects), please see How Projects Work .
Types of team projects
Technology Marketing
Have you fully exploited the market potential of your organization's core technologies? Underexploited or unexplored opportunity areas might include new market segments to be pursued, new products or services in which to embody your technology, new delivery or go-to-market strategies, more effective marketing communication, and more finely honed business models. The Technology Marketing course trains students in a comprehensive process of market opportunity analysis, strategy, and execution, which project teams apply to address the market opportunities the sponsor defines. (Offered Fall Semester) To learn more and to propose a technology marketing project, follow this link: ENGM 3200: Technology Marketing (formerly ENGM 242).
Enterprise Systems Design
(Enterprise systems integrate products, services, processes, people, technologies, knowledge, equipment, materials, facilities and information technology into a system that delivers value to customers and returns to shareholders. It is through hard-to-copy systems and processes that organizations are able to keep their value promises unique and maintain a sustainable competitive advantage. Are your systems and processes optimized around your business model and your value promises? The Enterprise Systems Design course trains students in the rigorous application of the tools of business analysis and Lean/Six Sigma. Sponsored projects to address the process design or improvement opportunities the sponsor defines. (Offered Fall and Spring Semesters) To learn more and to propose an enterprise systems design project, follow this link: ENGM 3000: Enterprise Systems Design (formerly ENGM 272).
Innovation Strategy (Engineering Management Capstone Project)
Do you have a concept based on new or emerging technology that you believe could have important societal impacts, but are short on time or unsure of the best strategy for commercializing it? This challenge is often faced by early-stage technology entrepreneurs and faculty innovators at research universities. The Engineering Management Capstone Project course trains students in a comprehensive, systematic methodology (Accelerated Radical Innovation) that the teams apply to work with their sponsors through the thinking, analysis, and planning processes needed to turn their concept into a workable innovation strategy. (Offered Spring Semester) To learn more and to propose a capstone project, follow this link: ENGM 4950: Capstone Project (Innovation Strategy) (formerly ENGM 296).
Senior Design
Do you have technical challenges or opportunities in the path toward commercialization? Senior design project courses provide senior engineering students experience with real-world projects in which they apply their training in their engineering discipline to solve these problems while attending to budgets, reviews and deadlines. (Year-long project starting in the Fall Semester) To learn more and to propose a senior design project, follow this link: Senior Design Projects
Integrated Team Projects
Many sponsors have projects that follow a logic of their own – that don't correspond to the course and disciplinary boundaries in engineering schools. These can turn into some of the most interesting and challenging student team projects. We encourage sponsors to bring these projects to us. We will respond by reaching out to the various departments and faculty where the needed expertise resides – in the major engineering disciplines as well as in fields like computer science, physics, nanoscience, business, and economics – and configure an interdisciplinary student team, with appropriate faculty supervision, to address your need. (May extend from one to multiple semesters.) To learn more and to propose an integrated team project, follow this link: Integrated Projects
Contact (for all projects)
Yiorgos Kostoulas, PhD, MBA
Professor of the Practice of Engineering Management
Engineering Management Program
Vanderbilt University School of Engineering
615.343.4965 | yiorgos.kostoulas@vanderbilt.edu