Inaugural Joint Engineering Capstone Project

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A cross-functional team of students from the Engineering Education (EED) department and the Computer Science & Engineering (CSE) department are working a joint capstone course during AU18 and SP19 semesters. The students are building a solar energy forecasting tool showcasing various technical areas of expertise: Computer Sciences (app development & data mining), Finite Element Analytics (analysis of field atmospheric data), and Celestial Mechanics (solar vs cloud dynamics on irradiance).

The project, sponsored by NextEra Energy, will develop a laptop-based tool for solar energy facilities that will allow more accurate performance determination and energy forecasting. The tool developed will be piloted in two of the sponsor’s Solar Photovoltaic facilities.

The capstone project is a collaboration with  EED’s Multidisciplinary Capstone program from Bob Rhoads’s ENGR 5901.01/5902.01 course sequence and Al Cline’s CSE 5911 courses. The project will involve the joint efforts of one engineering team for the year but two CSE teams, one semester each. 

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Left photo (L to R): AU18 Software Team: Jacob Harmon (CIS), Jacob Ferrara (CSE), Alberto Romanach (CSE), Elliot Dehnbostel (CSE), Al Cline (CSE Sr. Lecturer) Right photo (L to R): Engineering Team: Brooke Hartman (Accounting), Evan Austin (Atmospheric Sciences), Mike Miller (Electrical and Computer Engineering), Alec Paige (Mechanical Engineering), Ryan Weiper (Electrical and Computer Engineering), Bob Rhoads (Director Multidisciplinary Capstone)