Vertically Integrated Projects in Engineering

Catalog description

The Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) engage undergraduate students in long-term, large-scale, multidisciplinary project teams that are led by faculty. VIP courses are project-based, team-based courses directly supporting faculty research and scholarship. VIPs under this course number have a particular focus on engineering topics, with team membership coming from across RIT’s colleges. Each VIP team has large-scale and multi-faceted objectives in research, design, entrepreneurship, and/or community outreach & service. A VIP faculty advises each VIP team composed of 2nd through 5th year students, with each student participating from one to three years. VIP teams generally can, and will, also include Graduate students at the Masters and PhD levels. New VIP students learn from and replace those who graduate by engaging in peer-to-peer learning and mentorship which sustains each VIP team beyond any one student. The teams are: Multidisciplinary - drawing students from different disciplines on campus; Vertically-integrated - maintaining a mix of sophomores through PhD students each semester; Long-term - each undergraduate student may participate in a project for up to three years. Students taking the 400-level course will: have technical foundations within their discipline, pursue needed knowledge/skills independently as-needed, make meaningful contributions, assume technical/leadership responsibilities, and serve as mentors for junior members. Students will be required to make significant contributions to the project, maintain detailed notebooks describing their contribution to the project, attend and participate in team meetings, learn about topics specific to each VIP via tutorials and readings from appropriate literature, and participate in reporting and presentations.