Yes. We prefer to see proposals from universities as soon as they can be submitted. In the proposal, please include a description of expected student participation, with particular attention to how students will approach “cross-domain” or multi-department solutions, if suited to the research task. The Capstone Marketplace Objectives document in the Resources section lists “attributes” we feel are important for a student design project. 

It depends. We have government organizations, such as USSOCOM and other offices in DoD, that have already set aside funds for Capstones on their topics.  If your problem aligns with an existing DoD sponsor’s interests, we can use the funding we have, with sponsor permission. Otherwise, you will have to identify funding support for your student project. Your funds first get transferred to the DoD office (USD R&E) that supervises the SERC and the Capstone Marketplace. Their DoD Contracting Office will approve transfer of funds to Stevens Institute. The Capstone Marketplace will showcase your problem topic and receive proposals from university teams.  When a proposal is accepted by you, Stevens will write a subcontract to the university to fund the student team.

The System Engineering Research Center (SERC) is a University Affiliated Research Center for the Department of Defense.  Its focus is on advanced research in System Engineering.   Stevens Institute leads a 20-plus university consortium to execute SERC’s activities.  To drive one of SERC’s thrusts for human capital development, a Capstone Marketplace has been created as a “clearing house” to connect government operators with undergraduate student teams working on senior design projects.  Stevens provides administrative, contract, legal, and other support to manage the Capstone Marketplace.  See “About the Capstone Marketplace” for further information. 

Each university’s policy on IP needs to be stated in its proposals. SERC’s interest in IP is to protect the government’s rights to use any IP created with federal funds.  There is further guidance in the Resources section regarding these government rights.  (See SERC-CAPSTONE-release-of-information document.) The SERC Contract Office and the universities’ business offices agree on how IP is to be handled as a part of contract awards.  Additionally, Faculty Advisors and student team members are required to formally acknowledge the IP policies at the start of their projects.  The IP arrangements are documented in team Project Plans, and presented at the Fall kickoff meeting.