Continuing Challenges in Selecting Industry Projects for Academic Credit: Points to Consider and Pitfalls to Avoid

Many academic programs use industrial projects within their teaching curriculum. These provide an exposure to real customers, challenging problems currently faced by industry and the opportunity to interact with working professionals in a situation driven by quality, schedules, and users. Selecting projects that fit todaypsilas academic environment, is a constant challenge. This paper presents how at Carnegie Mellon we have refined our project selection criteria to provide a better fit between our needs and those of our industrial partners. Criteria, issues to consider and pitfalls to avoid in the project selection process will be discussed.