SCOPE (Senior Capstone Program in Engineering)

What is SCOPE?

SCOPE is a unique industry-university collaboration, and the culminating experience of an Olin College student's education. Over the course of a full academic year, seniors work in multi-disciplinary teams to provide innovative solutions to a company’s real-world problems.

At Olin College of Engineering, a fundamental part of our philosophy is that learning occurs through immersion in real-world applications.

We believe that undergraduate students can create value in the world while learning.

SCOPE Projects

Explore SCOPE projects by interest area, sponsor and year.

See all SCOPE Projects

2024-25 SCOPE Projects

Research

Accelerate Wind

Research

Robotic Manipulation using Tactile Feedback

To help Amazon Robotics' research and development efforts, this year's SCOPE team created a robotic system that utilizes tactile and vision sensors to grasp a ball and throw it to reach a specified target.

Research

a graphic with a bird feather and the words blue origin

Conformal Coating Rework Machine

A semi-automatic robotic spray-coating machine for simplifying and accelerating Blue Origin’s current in-house PCB rework process.

Research

Sustainable Design for Forceps' Lifecycle

Research

WISE written below two human figures with hands raised like trees and leaves

Creating Generative-AI Powered Learning Systems to Facilitate Equitable K-2 Literacy Education

The BU WISE SCOPE team is working with generative AI models to create a web-app that will act as a “reading buddy.”

Research

CV Detection of Powerline Encroachment

LineVision is challenging the Olin SCOPE team to investigate the performance capabilities of our next-generation edge infrastructure through the development of a proof-of-concept system for real-time monitoring of the transmission-line right-of-way

Research

Financial Assistance System Redesign for Families in Need

The SCOPE team is working with the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care through a user-oriented collaborative design process to improve on the current family user experience of the Childcare Financial Assistance (CCFA) process, making it faster and easier for families to get assistance.

Research

Empower: A Consent Framework for Health Data

The Microsoft Research NERD's Resolve SCOPE team focuses on creating a public-facing consent framework for the community served by flok Health. The project emphasizes secure, ethical data handling practices and seeks to build trust within marginalized health communities by prioritizing informed consent.

Research

Moderna

Research

Push Test Automation

Our team is working to automate a physically taxing process by designing tooling that reduces the manual strain on thumbs and improves the consistency of the quality check.

Research

Identifying Manufacturing Variations in Computerized Stitching

Our team is working with New Balance to investigate certain manufacturing processes for New Balance shoes at their Lawrence, MA factory.

Research

Pfizer

Research

Logos for the Santos Family Foundation and Volpe Center

Data Illuminators: Scalable Data Collection for Nighttime Crosswalk Lighting

Our SCOPE team is aiming to provide a streamlined, efficient data collection method and analysis process to inform decisions of street lighting and pedestrian-vehicle safety teams for 2-3 municipalities in Massachusetts and beyond.

See projects from years past

Sponsor a SCOPE Team to:

Work with a team of differently-trained engineers to look at a problem from a new perspective.

Student teams provide innovative solutions to industry sponsors’ significant projects.

IP belongs to the sponsoring organization.

Build a presence on campus for recruiting.

SCOPE sponsors have hired many students for internships and full-time employment.

Support Olin's leadership role in the movement to transform engineering education.

Olin was founded to become an important and constant contributor to the advancement of engineering education in America and throughout the world and, through its graduates, to do good for humankind.

Contact Lauren Palmer to learn more: [email protected]

SCOPE By the Numbers

4-6

Innovative Olin Seniors per Team

Academic Year of work--Sept-May

1,000s

Ideas, iterations, faculty advising meetings, aha moments

100%

Sponsor-Owned IP

We continue to be impressed

by the caliber of students we’ve worked with through the Olin SCOPE program. Not only do they possess critical and creative thinking capabilities, they are polished product managers, eager to take on new challenges outside their comfort zone. Our team learns just as much from them as I believe they learn from us through our projects and incredible partnership.

Kersten Elenteny

Director, Pfizer

Determine if a SCOPE partnership is right for your organization

Olin students learn user experience and design thinking skills from day one, along with a heavy measure of self-directed learning, teamwork, and project management experience.

This approach creates engineering innovators, inventors, entrepreneurs, and leaders who apply the skills they’ve learned over their first three years at Olin to an industry project in SCOPE.

SCOPE projects are much deeper endeavors than typical senior capstone projects, and are especially relevant for preparing engineering graduates because sponsors scope out projects that really matter to them. Teams of approximately five students work to provide innovative solutions to industry sponsors’ significant projects as a full-year September to May course. Each team of students is assembled through the combined efforts of students and faculty to meet the technical challenges of each project.
Every engineering manager has a running list of projects that they wish they could get to:

examining manufacturing challenges, product development and prototyping for new applications, improving user interfaces, product ideation and market exploration, etc.

These projects are in the category of what we call “Class 2” for an organization - not your critical path projects, but projects that have good potential upside if only you had the time or people available to look into them. And these are the kinds of projects where our SCOPE teams have had significant impact for many sponsor organizations.
We work closely with potential partners to ensure that there is a good culture match between our organizations and skill match for the project.

Our advance discussions with sponsors set up SCOPE projects that provide exceptional value to our industry partners while providing an important and exciting educational experience for our students.

Areas of focus include:
- Mechanical Engineering
- Electrical Engineering
- Computer Engineering
- Bioengineering
- Robotics
- Engineering Design
- Prototyping
- Entrepreneurship
- Human-centered design
- Sustainable design
SCOPE entails a significant commitment…

From the STUDENT TEAMS:

a full academic year course with substantial internal and external deliverables, including weekly progress updates to the sponsor’s liaison, frequent internal reviews of design and engineering work to get feedback from faculty and SMEs, and mid-year and final presentations and reports;

From the SPONSOR:

a sponsorship fee of $60,000, a liaison who is committed to supporting the student team including a weekly call, and access to background information including organizational perspective and technical expertise;

And from OLIN COLLEGE:

a strong structure in place to support the teams; each team has a faculty advisor, subject matter experts, bi-weekly sprint reviews, ongoing workshops to support the students in their project roles, dedicated workspace, budgets to purchase materials, and full use of the machine shop and support, for example.
Additional Details for Potential Sponsors

Here you will find information on the timeline for sponsoring a SCOPE project, the benefits of becoming a SCOPE Sponsor and the notable milestones during the Academic Year in which projects are being worked on.

Ready to start a conversation about SCOPE?

Contact Lauren Palmer

Associate Director of Partnership Development

[email protected]

STORY: Sustainability Comes to SCOPE

New partnerships with clean tech companies and more reflect growing student interest and talent.

Cali Wierzbanowski ’21 poses with the team's state-of-the-art software and VR headset.

Olin SCOPE Team Helps ROV Pilots Explore Ocean Depths

For a SCOPE project during the 2020-2021 academic year, Olin students develop a virtual control room, allowing pilots and scientists to gain a better understanding of the ocean depths.

An Olin College student in black blouse and maroon pants holds a mic and presents in front of an audience of peers and corporate sponsors on May 2019 during Olin's annual SCOPE Summit.

SCOPE 2020-2021: COVID-19 Can’t Stop These Students from Making an Impact

This year, Olin’s Senior Capstone Program in Engineering (SCOPE), in which teams of seniors embark on a year-long project for and with a corporate or nonprofit sponsor, is truly exceptional.

A photo of two young women in a classroom working to modify a walker

SCOPE Alumni Q&A Featuring Michael Heyns '13 and Mariah Moon '13

Michael Heyns ’13 and Mariah Dunn Moon ’13, both currently working at Microsoft, are partnering with the Olin SCOPE team, AI + Inclusion: The Future of City Navigation, this semester. Inclusive design is a methodology that enables and supports the full range of human diversity. However, when cities aim to incorporate inclusive design, people with visual disabilities can be overlooked. Michael and Mariah answer a few questions about what it’s been like to partner with Olin as SCOPE sponsors.