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The Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) Program
Lead Institution: Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA
Collaborating Institutions: Morehouse College,
Purdue University, University of Strathclyde
Category: Curricular
Date Implemented: January 2009
Website: http://vip.gatech.edu, https://engineering.purdue.edu/vip,
http://www.strath.ac.uk/viprojects
Program Description: The Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP)
program is an undergraduate design program that operates in a
research and development context. Undergraduates on VIP contacts) shows increasing integration across gender, years, and
teams earn academic credit for their participation in design teams. Students at Purdue were slightly more interactive across
teams that create products based on ideas from faculty research. graduate and undergraduate student ranks. Students tended to
The teams are: Large 10-20 students per team; Multidiscipli- develop 2-3 sources of advice. Graduate students are knowl-
nary drawing students from around campus; Vertically edge leaders and serve as the primary resources for the range of
Integrated a mix of sophomores through seniors each semes- advice and assistance, but there is important peer exchange
ter; and Long Term undergraduates may partici- among undergraduates. The data show not only that
pate for up to 3 years. The products and systems the advice-based ties flow across undergraduate and
teams design and develop are of sufficient scale and graduate students, but that the undergraduate
complexity to be of significant benefit to the faculty students are also engaging across rank regarding
mentors' research effort. The size and vertically technical and project management information and
integrated nature of VIP teams function like a small assistance. While it is expected that information
engineering design firm. Students progress from should flow within each team, results showed that
"entry-level" positions at the sophomore year, significant ties exist across teams at both institutions.
during which they learn about the projects and technology from Assessment Information: The critical benchmarks are the
the more senior students. As juniors they apply what they learn number of faculty, graduate students and undergraduates
in their courses and as new team members to the design of the involved, the number of disciplines involved, and the total
project. As seniors they generally lead some aspect of the number of teams. At GT, the ultimate goals include: at least
project and are mentored in technical and project management 100 teams and a total enrollment each semester of 1500 or more
tasks by the graduate students and faculty. The program works students; at least one VIP team in each discipline; and full
well in any discipline and is especially well-suited to multi- integration into the curriculum. Current goals include a uniform
disciplinary efforts. The VIP program traces its origin to the strategy across all engineering and computing disciplines for
Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) Program. integrating senior design/capstone courses with VIP so that VIP
We observed some weaknesses in EPICS that led to the is both the first true vehicle for multidisciplinary senior design
creation of VIP. EPICS has insufficient recognition of faculty and students can remain members of their VIP team while
effort as team advisors in the evaluation processes leading to satisfying senior design requirements. We are currently propos-
pay increases and promotions, which can be overcome in part ing further research to correlate student performance, as
by focusing the teams on projects of benefit to faculty research measured by design notebook grades and peer evaluations, with
efforts. In EPICS, some projects drawn from the community centrality to the collaborative network within a student's team.
lack sufficient technical depth to challenge the students, which Funding/Sustainability: At both Purdue and Georgia Tech, the
can be addressed by focusing the teams on design problems start-up costs were roughly: 25% release time for the lead
embedded in faculty research efforts. Finally, projects were faculty member; support for a research staff member; a TA to
limited to disciplines closely associated with community issues, help with course management, oversight of the VIP lab,
which can be overcome by focusing on faculty-initiated administration of the design notebook process and the peer
projects. Companies support VIP with donations of funds or evaluation process; a room large enough for a meeting of 20 or
equipment. Partners/customers of VIP teams are typically the more people; projector; a few desktop and laptop machines; and
same as those associated with each faculty advisor's research access to virtual servers. Funding was raised via NSF grants,
effort. Every discipline involved contributes its own expertise the endowment income for Prof. Coyle's Chair and Center,
to the overall collaborative effort of each VIP team. ECE and the College of Computing, and gifts from several
Anticipated and Actual Outcomes: We anticipated the companies and donors. At Georgia Tech, all funding is recur-
formation of sophisticated collaborative networks within and ring. The College of Engineering recently approved a request
between VIP teams and various groups of students and tracked for recurring funds for a Program Manager to assist with the
and characterized the networks within and between the teams at administration and growth of the VIP Program. VIP is thus
Purdue and Georgia Tech. Results show students actively already sustainable over the long term. To assist with the
interact regarding both technical and managerial advice. The continued expansion of the program, the VIP leadership of all
number of individuals with whom students interact has in- schools will continue to collaborate on proposals to the Na-
creased slightly as the program has grown. The E-I index (# of tional Science Foundation, foundations, corporations, and
contacts outside group - # of contacts inside group)/(total potential donors.
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