Another great semester teaching UW-Madison’s Computer Science Capstone has come to a close! For those new to the Capstone, it’s all about experiential learning. Students form agile teams of 4-6 people and work on a project for a corporate or non-profit partner all semester. I teach various agile software development frameworks (Lean Start-up, Google Design Sprints, Scrum, Kanban, etc) the students use them while delivering their projects. The course roughly mirrors the book I published this year, Agile Discovery & Delivery. So if you can’t take the course, you can at least grab a copy of the book!
This semester we had 10 partners, 17 teams of students, and almost 50 mentors & sponsors helping to bring these projects to life. Usually, I write a big article covering what we learned, our partners, and what’s next. This year, however, we have so many amazing partners, I wanted to dedicate a whole article just to them.
2023 Capstone Partners
I am really excited to talk about our Fall 2023 partners. We went from six partners last fall to ten this year and they all did a fantastic job with the students. Here’s who joined us this past semester:
- Capital One – Capital One is one of our founding partners and was back for the fourth year in a row. Students always love working on their projects, which revolve around FinTech topics. This year, we had three returning mentors and two former students on our mentor team. It’s one of my very favorite things to see students graduate and not only get jobs through the relationships they form during the Capstone, but come back and participate as mentors in future semesters.
- Epic – Epic is also one of our founding partners and is back for their fourth year too! One of our mentors was back for his fourth semester, which also brings me a lot of joy. They came up with a great project this semester, incorporating artificial intelligence with one of their existing products to make the user experience better.
- Esker – Esker is brand new partner for us this year. Two of my former students got jobs at Esker and got them excited about the Capstone. They write automation software for other companies and were a joy to have join us this year. Those two students also served as mentors for two of our teams.
- Holos – Holos is a virtual reality company and was an exciting partner addition for the class this year! Last Lock, a long-time course partner and smart lock start-up referred them to me. Their projects turned out really good. There’s nothing like walking into a lecture hall and seeing your students wandering around with VR headsets on their heads, preparing for their final demos!
- Horizon Systems – Horizon Systems, an insurance business, is also new this year. I met them at NVISIA’s ProdCon where I gave a talk about the course and they immediately got in touch with me. They did a project around security and customization that their team did a great job on!
- Last Lock – As mentioned above, Last Lock is a smart lock company that’s been with us for three years now. They hire so many people out of this course, that most of their mentors are former students. It’s always fun to see what kinds of cutting-edge projects they set-up. This year was no exception.
- PBS WI – I basically grew up on PBS and am thrilled to have them in class this year. Students ended up creating a 3D interactive site that was fully accessible so all users can enjoy the content. The project was done in conjunction with a PBS series coming out next year.
- Schneider National – Schneider National, a logistics company, was also a new company for us. Based three hours away in Green Bay, their mentor group showed up in person for every class demo and were really committed to their success. Students ended up working on a competitive intelligence project that I think they found very useful.
- State Cartographer’s Office (SCO) – SCO was our second non-profit to join us this fall. They brought with them a really fun records mapping problem that I can’t wait to try out on my own. If you’ve ever wondered what used to be on the land where your house is today, this is the project for you!
- Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) – UCS was our third non-profit to join us this semester. They keep a database of all of the satellites launched that is currently used by a plethora of journalists and scientists to keep tabs on what’s floating around us. That database needed some modernization and the students gave it just that!
It’s one of my very favorite things to see students graduate and not only get jobs through the relationships they form during the Capstone, but come back and participate as mentors in future semesters.
– Amber R Field, Capstone Instructor
Who’s Joining Us in 2024?
For the first time ever, we’re expanding to bring students and partners a Spring semester course. Most of our partners from the Fall are coming back and we’re adding three great new ones:
- Hacking 4 Impact – Hacking 4 Impact is an organization that grew out of a program that Steve Blank, Stanford Professor and Founder of Lean Launchpad, started to help keep us all safe, Hacking 4 Defense. It’s got a very similar structure to the course already, but they work with government organizations to come up with really important problems for the students to solve. This semester’s problems will center around climate change.
- GE HealthCare – I’m very pleased to have GE HealthCare joining us this semester. Their team has so many great project ideas for the students. They’re not only partnering with the Capstone, but they are working with a new institute on campus, the n+1 Institute. Through n+1 they can be involved in research and other projects with the university as well.
- PromptPath – PromptPath is an AI-driven start-up in the car space. They are really early-stage and looking for students who can make a real impact on their business. I know our students are up for the challenge.
How To Become a Partner
Without partners, this class doesn’t happen. We are currently looking for partners for our Fall 2024 & Spring 2025 courses. If you’d like more information, please reach out to me at afield@wisc.edu.