Introducing the Capstone Connector
A BSU bus driver is pictured utilizing a new digital tracking system developed by a Capstone Connector team of students. On the left, the driver is holding a blue tablet that utilized an older manual paper entry method. Photo courtesy of Huseyin Ergin
By: Ted Baker—
Muncie, IN—The Innovation Connector is pleased to announce the formation of the new Capstone Connector initiative. While serving as the start-up technology hub for the greater Muncie community, the Innovation Connector recognized the opportunity to connect college students to local businesses and organizations to match technology talent with existing business software technology needs. For most college majors, students must complete a final course that is a culmination of their course work called a capstone course. “There has been a disconnect with local university and college computer science talent and the Muncie community,” states Ted Baker, Executive Director of the Innovation Connector. “I have had numerous area businesses ask me about connecting with student talent, but that path is not always easy. By partnering with Dr. Huseyin Ergin, a Ball State University computer science instructor, we will help bridge this gap.”
The Capstone Connector exists for one reason: to connect local community partners with university/college student capstone teams to solve partners’ technological problems by building custom software. It is open to any company, startup, a non-profit organization, faculty member, or individual. The Capstone Connector is industry-agnostic and will serve any industry as long as a computer application is needed.
Capstone Connector aims for the collaboration to be beneficial for all stakeholders. Benefits include:
- The capstone teams benefit from working with a real partner.
- The community partners benefit from having their technological ideas turning into software products.
- The community has a chance to keep its bright talents to itself.
- The students have a chance to be hired immediately – keeping talent local.
How does Capstone Connector work?
- Community partners propose a project to the center.
- Director of Capstone Connector analyzes the project. The Director will work with the client to determine fit for the program and if changes are necessary.
- Capstone Connector assigns a student development team to the community partner.
- Community partner and student development teams work together by meeting at least once a month. At every meeting, student teams are responsible for creating and demonstrating a running software to their community partners.
“Capstone Connector doesn’t have strict requirements for the proposed projects,” said Dr. Huseyin Ergin, Director of Capstone Connector. “The only thing you need to be aware of is that we don’t build business card-like static web pages. There are hundreds of online services that do this for no or low cost. We are developing custom software for your custom needs. It might be a full-stack application, a library, a mobile application, a web application, or any other software development. The community partner is free to select its technology stack for the projects. If not, the director and the team will choose the most suitable stack for the partner.”
A Success Story:
An example of a recent project was for the BSU Bus Shuttle system. The capstone team built a web application software to replace the paper-based bus statistics collection of the Transportation Services. The supervisor can now track how many people get on the bus or left at the stop more accurately, easily, and with fewer errors. The application is designed to work with inconsistent internet connections and not lose any data. (See photo above.)
Cost of the projects:
The accepted projects do not have any development costs billed to the partner. However, there may be some fees for the expenses of the student teams used to cover the partner-student team meeting expenses (such as traveling) and any software licensing or cloud costs throughout the development.
Contact Capstone Connector:
The Capstone Connector also can provide a solution for keeping the projects running after the student development team graduates. Capstone Connector also respects your intellectual property. Just contact us to discuss your specific situation or to propose a project.
Dr. Huseyin Ergin, Director of Capstone Connector, hergin@bsu.edu
Ted Baker, Executive Director of Innovation Connector, tbaker@innovationconnector.com,
Direct Office Contact Number: 765-285-4902