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Cook Engineering Design Center (CEDC)

The Cook Engineering Design Center (CEDC) coordinates Thayer School's links to industry. Directed by Professor Ron Lasky, the CEDC matches industry professionals, who have specific workplace problems that need to be solved, with students who have the engineering savvy to solve them.

Industry-Sponsored Student Projects

Students work on industry-sponsored projects as part of their work for the B.E., M.E.M., or M.S. degrees.

  • In the two-term engineering design sequence, ENGS 190/290, student teams are paired with industry partners to solve an engineering design challenge in the workplace. Each team works with its industry partner to develop a solution—a hardware prototype, a software program, or a manufacturing process. Over the 23 weeks between project definition and final deliverable, the student teams present their on-going work to professional engineering review boards. Recent ENGS 190/290 projects demonstrate the range of possibilities for student work.

  • The Master of Engineering Management project (ENGG 390), required for M.E.M. students, is tied to an internship at an industry sponsor's company. The M.E.M. project may focus on engineering or management or both. Students present the results of their internships to a professional review board. The CEDC assists the M.E.M. program office and Career Services in identifying possible internship sponsors.

  • In the M.S. program, a candidate may choose an industry-sponsored project for a thesis topic. The project might be a new problem or the continuation of a successful ENGS 190/290 project that a company sponsor wants carried to a higher level. In funding an M.S. thesis, a company gains access to the faculty advisor's expertise while the student delves deeply into a project of strategic importance to a sponsor.