Group of students who participated in i-Capstone

GENE403/404 Interdisciplinary Capstone

GENE 403/404 is a two-course capstone sequence where students work in interdisciplinary teams to solve important problems with their engineering skills and techniques. Multi-disciplinary techniques will be applied to a design project. Teams will be comprised of students from more than one academic plan, either within the Faculty of Engineering or across faculties.

GENE 403/404 is held-with a variety of other course codes from other faculties to facilitate engineering students forming interdisciplinary teams with students from other faculties. Students from other faculties are an important part of i-capstone (interdisciplinary capstone), which involves course codes from multiple faculties all held-with each other. Students typically enroll in a course code from their home faculty, and are then all together in the i-capstone classroom. There are specific course codes from Environment, Health, Math, and Science that are exclusive for students in those faculties. ARTS450 is open to all students (3B and up) across campus to participate in i-capstone including students from the Faculty of Arts. SCI 300 and BIOL 400 are capstone courses in the Faculty of Science. 

Students must apply to and be accepted into GENE 403/404. Students can apply as an individual, as a fully-formed group, or as as partially formed group that will add other members through class facilitation.

Students interested in GENE 403/404 can apply using the application form. Applications will be reviewed on an ongoing basis by the capstone instructor team. Submissions must be received by the beginning of the term you wish to begin GENE 403. Please be aware that space is limited.

Applications will be assessed based on the following categories:

  • interest in interdisciplinary capstone
  • interdisciplinarity of project approach (where applicable)
  • project impact potential (where applicable)
  • team make-up (where applicable)

For GENE 403/404 inquiries, please contact the support team by email. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

I’m looking for a great interdisciplinary team and project.
  • You’re in the right place! 
  • GENE 403/404 is designed to form interdisciplinary teams with students from diverse academic backgrounds and shared interests. The course has structure and activities for you to meet potential teammates and discuss high-quality project opportunities with external partners. 

I am looking to connect with an external project partner.

  • Take a look at list of capstone project opportunities which we will also discuss in class.  
  • It is also possible for these external projects to be completed within your home capstone course if your instructor agrees. 

I have a great idea and am looking to build a team.

  • GENE 403/404 might be a good fit. A key question is how the project aligns with the courses’ interdisciplinary aspects. 
  • Reach out to us if you want to discuss the suitability of your project for GENE 403/404. Consider the categories of interdisciplinarity outlined below.  

I want to work by myself.

  • Engineers Canada, the external body that oversees accreditation of academic programs, requires capstone courses to be a team experience. 
  • It is possible to work with a team where not all members are enrolled in the course. For example:
    • Working as part of a professor’s research team.
    • Working as part of a student design team. 
    • In these kinds of circumstances, you would still be expected to have an open mind about meeting new teammates in the course. We don’t force people to work together. We do have organized structures and activities to introduce potential good teammates to each other. 

I want to work remotely.

No, GENE 403/404 students are expected to attend classes in person so therefore remote participation is not permitted. If a student has a local co-op term, they must submit a letter from their employer verifying the location of the work term and providing explicit permission for release time during scheduled classes. Please submit this verification via email. 

I want a sequence change.

Please connect with your academic advisor to explore the possibility of a sequence change. Note that successful completion of GENE 403/404 requires in-person class participation and ongoing work with one's capstone team outside class time.

I want a split sequence team, with some team members in 4A spring and some in 4A fall.

This is not permitted. Historical experience with split sequence teams is that they don't work well because the separate sub-teams often get alienated from each other and make succeeding in the course difficult.

If the team has a prior track record working together through other university structures such as Velocity or student design teams then we encourage you to contact us. For example, there have been some very strong interdisciplinary capstone teams affiliated with Waterloo Rocketry. There needs to be a strong and clear plan about how a split sequence team makes sense for the project. 

Most of the team members are from one program but we have someone (or a minority) from another program.

  • GENE 403/404 can be a good home for such a team. Please consider the interdisciplinarity categories and project impact categories above. 
  • Alternatively, if the project aligns with the home capstone course of the majority, you can invite the student from the minority program to your home capstone course. 

My circumstance is not addressed above.

Note that GENE 403/404 replaces your home program’s capstone course sequence. If you are accepted to GENE 403/404 then your academic advisor will remove your home program’s capstone course sequence from your course enrolment. If your home program has a 3B capstone, pre-capstone, or design course, you must complete that course on schedule with your cohort even if you take GENE 403/404 in fourth year.

Examples of 2025 i-Capstone teams

  • Team WaterHive: Iqaluit water delivery optimization (looking for new students to extend this project in 2026!)
  • Team Asphalt Avengers: computer vision for pothole detection
  • Team ODDBOX: overdose detection and response notification device
  • Team Stemmy: algorithmic analysis of stem cell images, in collaboration with Princess Margaret Cancer Centre
  • Team UW Access: campus mapping for accessability (looking for new students to extend this project in 2026!)
  • Team RAID: data anomaly detection in collaboration with UW Finance & HR