Partner with Alvernia Engineering: Sponsored Student Projects & Capstones
Bring your organization’s engineering challenges, improvement opportunities, and technical needs to Alvernia students through sponsored design projects, senior capstones, internships, and other applied engineering partnerships. Alvernia University works with companies, nonprofits, municipalities, healthcare organizations, schools, community groups, entrepreneurs, and other partners to turn real needs into meaningful engineering learning and problem-solving opportunities.
Partners do not need to arrive with a fully developed project scope. Start with a pain point, technical need, improvement opportunity or idea. Faculty in the John R. Post School of Engineering will help determine whether the idea is a good fit for a design course, senior capstone, internship, research collaboration, O’Pake project or another Alvernia pathway.
Real-World Engineering, Built with Partners
Alvernia students learn engineering by doing engineering. Project partners give students the opportunity to work on authentic technical challenges while bringing new ideas, analysis, prototypes, testing, process improvements, and recommendations to organizations across the region.
Projects may involve Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Industrial Engineering Technology & Management, or interdisciplinary work involving more than one field.
How the Partnership Process Works
- Identify the need. Make a list of pain points, technical questions, improvement opportunities, project ideas, or internship needs.
- Start the conversation. Contact Dr. Joseph Mahoney and Dr. Caitlin Long to discuss the opportunity.
- Find the right pathway. Alvernia reviews the idea and helps determine the best fit, which may include a semester-long design project, year-long senior capstone, academic-year internship, summer internship, Apprenticeship to Degree opportunity, Project #6 through the O’Pake Institute, faculty collaboration, grant-funded work, or another university partnership.
- Define expectations before work begins. Alvernia and the partner clarify scope, timeline, project contribution, significant expenses, confidentiality, intellectual property, deliverables, partner responsibilities, and any additional review requirements.
Ways to Work with Alvernia Engineering
Semester-Long Design Projects
First- and second-year students complete team-based design experiences in courses such as EGR 110 and EGR 210. These projects are best suited to focused problems that allow students to move through the engineering design process within one semester. Students typically contribute approximately 20 hours of work per student during the semester. Spring project scopes typically begin to be finalized by October.
Year-Long Senior Capstone Projects
Fourth-year students complete a year-long capstone experience in EGR 480/481. Capstone projects are appropriate for larger engineering problems that require sustained design, analysis, prototyping, testing, iteration, documentation, and communication. Students typically contribute approximately 150 hours of work per student during the academic year. Project scopes typically begin to be finalized by July for the upcoming academic year.
Academic-Year Internships
Organizations may host engineering interns during the fall or spring semester through experiences such as EGR 485. Academic-year internships are typically completed by third- or fourth-year students and include at least 125 hours of work during the semester. Alvernia also encourages traditional summer engineering internships, which may allow students to commit more time each week and become more deeply immersed in an organization’s engineering work.
Semester and summer internships
For semester and summer internships, the student is employed directly by the organization. Hiring, compensation, supervision, work schedule, and workplace policies are handled between the organization and the student. Alvernia oversees only the academic component when the internship is taken for course credit. Employers are responsible for ensuring internship compensation and employment practices comply with applicable law and their own policies.
Apprenticeship to Degree
Partners interested in a longer-term workforce-development relationship may explore Alvernia’s Apprenticeship to Degree Program. This pathway may be appropriate for organizations seeking a sustained talent pipeline through paid experiential learning over multiple semesters or years.
Project #6 Through the O’Pake Institute
Some needs extend beyond the scope of an engineering course. Project #6 through the O’Pake Institute may be appropriate for under-resourced projects involving business strategy, entrepreneurship, commercialization, marketing, operations, or broader organizational support.
Contact Information
Organizations interested in engineering internships should connect with Alvernia’s Office of Career Development. Employers interested in Apprenticeship to Degree opportunities should contact the Office of the Provost.
Project Contribution and Expectations
Project partners are asked to make a contribution that supports student learning, basic materials, supplies, and project administration.
- Semester-long design projects: $250 per sponsored project for the 2026-2027 academic year
- Year-long capstone projects: $500 per sponsored project for the 2026-2027 academic year
The project contribution supports modest project expenses. If a project requires larger materials, specialized components, equipment, software, fabrication, testing, shipping, travel, or other significant expenses, those expenses must be purchased or provided directly by the project partner. Items purchased directly by the partner remain the partner’s property unless the partner gives written approval to transfer them to Alvernia University.
A project contribution is not a fee-for-service payment. It is not a consulting fee, testing fee, design fee, product-development fee, or contract payment. It does not purchase professional engineering services, certified results, guaranteed deliverables, or an implementation-ready solution.
These projects are undergraduate educational experiences. Students work under faculty guidance and follow the engineering design process, but their work should be understood as student work completed within an academic course, research, or internship experience.
What Kinds of Projects Are a Good Fit?
Potential projects may involve product design, mechanical systems, electronics, controls, automation, manufacturing, infrastructure, civil systems, biomedical devices, accessibility, data collection, testing, process improvement, safety, sustainability, prototyping, or other applied engineering needs.
An idea does not need to be fully defined before you contact Alvernia. The first conversation is meant to understand the need, determine educational fit, and identify the best path forward.
Projects involving health data, human subjects, medical devices, cybersecurity testing, controlled technology, export-controlled information, site access, or safety-sensitive work may require additional review before students can participate.
What Project Partners Provide
Successful projects depend on active partner participation. Partners should be prepared to:
- Provide a clear description of the problem or opportunity.
- Identify a primary project contact.
- Share appropriate background information and technical context.
- Answer student questions and participate in scheduled check-ins or design reviews.
- Identify significant expenses, site-access requirements, safety issues, IT restrictions, or other constraints early.
- Identify confidentiality or intellectual-property needs before project work begins.
- Review public-facing materials before final presentations when appropriate.
What Students May Deliver
Deliverables depend on the project scope and course level. Student teams may produce:
• Final reports and presentations
• Background research and technical reviews
• Design concepts and engineering recommendations
• CAD models and drawings
• Preliminary calculations and analyses
• Prototype concepts or physical prototypes
• Testing plans and experimental results
• Process maps and improvement recommendations
• Feasibility analyses and recommendations for future work
• At minimum, each student project team is expected to produce a final report and final presentation.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Start with a pain point, technical question, improvement opportunity, or possible idea. Alvernia will help determine whether it fits an engineering course, internship, research project, or another partnership pathway.
No. The project contribution supports student learning and modest project expenses. It does not purchase professional services, certified results, guaranteed deliverables, or an implementation-ready solution.
Yes. Alvernia is open to non-disclosure agreements and intellectual-property release agreements when appropriate. Required agreements must be completed through the approved Alvernia process before confidential or proprietary information is shared with students.
Yes. Partners may discuss academic-year internships, traditional summer internships, and longer-term Apprenticeship to Degree opportunities.
Confidentiality, Intellectual Property, and Public Presentations
Alvernia is open to using non-disclosure agreements and intellectual-property release agreements when appropriate for a student project. Partners should identify confidentiality, proprietary information, intellectual property, safety, legal, IT, or access concerns as early as possible so those needs can be addressed before project work begins.
Partners should not share confidential or proprietary information with students until any required non-disclosure agreement or intellectual-property agreement has been completed through the approved Alvernia process.
Alvernia University students, by default, retain intellectual-property rights to work they produce for a class. If a partner needs different intellectual-property terms, an intellectual-property release agreement must be completed before the project begins. Partners may also request a non-disclosure agreement before project work begins. Only approved Alvernia University intellectual-property release agreements and non-disclosure agreements may be used.
Students are expected to publicly present their design work at the end of the project. Student teams will share public-facing presentation materials with the project partner before the presentation to help confirm accuracy and avoid disclosure of proprietary information.
This webpage is intended to clarify expectations. It does not create a legal agreement between Alvernia University, the project partner, or students.
Examples of Engineering Projects
• A garage-door safety system for large machinery operators
• A gear-and-sprocket redesign for a distribution center
• A cost-effective gas-station pricing display
• A weatherproof network enclosure for cybersecurity field equipment
• These examples show the range of challenges students can explore. They are not intended to limit the kinds of needs that partners may bring forward.
Explore Alvernia Engineering
Discuss an Engineering Project
Have a pain point, technical need, improvement opportunity, or project idea? Start by sending a short description of the challenge, any known timeline, technical area, expected significant expense, confidentiality concern, safety issue, IT or site-access requirement, and the outcome you hope to achieve.
For engineering project next steps, contact Dr. Joseph M. Mahoney, Chair of the John R. Post School of Engineering and Professor of Engineering, and Dr. Caitlin Long, Director of Technology Transfer and Innovation Commercialization.
Organizations interested specifically in engineering internships may contact Marc Goldman in Alvernia’s Office of Career Development.
Employers interested in Apprenticeship to Degree opportunities should contact the Office of the Provost.