Perceived Engineer Weaknesses

In 1990, a BYU faculty team of Robert H. Todd, Spencer Magleby and Carl Sorensen surveyed industrial companies that hire new engineering graduates. The results of this survey pointed out perceptions of weaknesses in newly graduated engineers.

Perceived Weaknesses of Engineering Graduates

• Technical arrogance
• No understanding of manufacturing process
• A desire for complicated and "high-tech" solutions
• lack of design capability and/or creativity
• Lack of appreciation for variation
• All want to be analysts
• Poor perception of the engineering process
• Narrow view of engineering disciplines
• Don't to get hands dirty
• Consider manufacturing work boring
• No understanding of the quality process
• Poor communication skills
• Taught to work primarily as individuals

To address these weaknesses, the aforementioned faculty team developed BYU's Capstone Program.

The Capstone Program was started in the fall of 1990 with 4 projects, 3 faculty coaches and 22 students. The program has grown to include close to thirty projects a year, thirty faculty coaches, and over one hundred students. Faculty and sponsoring companies involved with the program continue to give the program high marks for helping students learn the practice of engineering.

In addition to the overwhelming positive response, the track record of successful projects has been very good. Present repeat rate for sponsors is between 60 and 70 percent. A sample of repeat project sponsors includes: Boeing, Ballard Medical, Geneva Steel, General Motors, Ford Motor Co., Thiokol, Valtek, K-Tec, Pacific Gas and Electric, Harris Corporation, and Hill AFB. Several of this year's sponsors are supporting more than one project. Some examples of past industry-sponsored design and build projects are, Valtek's "Radial Drill Indexer", Wood Grain Millwork's "Wood-Grain Printer", Aerodynamics' " Roller Coaster Wheel Tester", Boeing's "Shear Tie Drilling Machine", K-Tec's " Bread Loaf Slicer", and Ford's "Check Valve Insertion System". To date nearly 500 projects have been completed.