Projects Day
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Every spring semester, the entire HMC community gathers for "Projects Day," a special event where 35 to 40 Clinic teams unveil their project findings to professors, friends, families, company liaisons and other sponsor representatives.
The Office of Alumni and Parent Relations in conjunction with the Harvey Mudd College Clinic Program invites you to attend the 42nd Annual Projects Day on campus. On Tuesday, May 1, a special breakfast will be held for parents.
Time: 9:00 a.m.
Location: Aviation Room, Hoch-Shanahan Dining Commons
You can register on-line or call the Office of Alumni and Parent Relations at 909.621.8436 (please include the names of your guests). The RSVP deadline is April 27.
Please circulate this information to other parents. E-mail parents@hmc.edu with questions or for additional information.
Wanted: Parents to Support Clinic Program
Many Mudd parents have a student that will participate in a Clinic project during their junior and/or senior years. This innovative capstone program, begun in 1963, has resulted in over 1,300 projects completed with over 350 sponsors. However, most parents are probably unaware that they can support HMC's Clinic Program. We have had many Mudd parents sponsor Clinic projects, either with their own company or involving an employer.
Every year Corporations and National Laboratories sponsor 35 to 40 Clinics. Many return the next year and some companies have sponsored dozens of Clinics during the past 47 years. The HMC Clinic Program engages students in solving real-world, technical problems for corporate clients, national and research laboratories and start-ups. Our engineering, mathematics, physics, and computer science departments each conduct Clinic projects that draw upon the unique talents of our students and faculty advisors.
Students work in groups of four or five under the guidance of a student project manager, a faculty advisor, and a liaison from the sponsoring organization. Projects begin in September, involve about 1,200 to 1,500 work hours and are completed the following May.
The sponsor's liaison outlines the project requirements, approves the team's proposal for accomplishing the work, and receives weekly progress reports. In most cases the student team visits the sponsoring company during the first month and typically provides a summary presentation to senior officials at the end of the project. Clinic teams present their research during public forums held on-campus and submit final written reports to the sponsoring organization upon completion of the project. Sponsors retain full rights to all intellectual property developed by the team. Every Clinic Project is formally presented at a special year-end event called Projects Day.
Clinic is the centerpiece of the professional practice component of the College's curriculum. Our clients pay a fixed fee for student teams to work on current problems which the company or agency needs solved. The objective is to produce useful results on an open-ended authentic project to the client's satisfaction within the constraints of time and budget. The students do the work; the faculty advises, coaches and evaluates; the client informs, guides and accepts or rejects the results. This time-tested program produces outstanding solutions for the vast majority of clients; during the past several years the projects resulted between 10 to 15 patent disclosures being filed annually.
Clinic is a win-win: our students get a tremendous educational experience, with many accepting employment at sponsor firms after graduation. Sponsors benefit from innovative solutions (deliverables include prototypes, code, algorithms, etc.) as well as recruitment opportunities for sought after Mudders.
So, what can parents do to help? If you work for or know of a firm that would be an excellent candidate to sponsor a Clinic, let our Office of Corporate Relations know about it. Provide a contact name, telephone number or e-mail address and we'll do the rest. Please submit your recommendations to the Director of Corporate Relations Barry Olsan. If you have any questions, call 909.607.7015.
