The exact scope of teams’ deliverables will be finalized with client companies. This is a sample of students’ capabilities:

1. Develop and execute a contract between a team and the client company.
2. Identify the need (the pain) and propose a solution (the cure).
3. Use best practices, systems thinking, analytical concepts, and software-based capabilities to simulate and optimize the proposed solution.
4. Provide client companies with a complete end-to-end design, logical flow, test scripts, and software implementation/graphical rendition of the proposed solutions.
5. Develop simulation models to emulate company’s systems
6. Performing in a global, multidisciplinary, cross-functional environment.

Here are some sample project descriptions from prior terms:

Feasibility of building auxiliary dwelling units (nanny flats) in San Diego, CA

While the population of San Diego County is steadily rising, the available housing inventory is continually decreasing. The County is in a dire need of affordable housing options that can help alleviate, what is now, a growing housing crisis.

Team Watson has designed an 800 square foot, one-bathroom/ two-bedroom Auxiliary Dwelling Unit (ADU) that can be built on existing, suitable residential zoned lots that already have-single family homes built on them.  

This ADU design is supported by a complete; construction engineering requirements, project management support, financial and economic analyses, market potential research, and regulatory feasibility studies prepared by Team Watson.

At all-inclusive costs of under $150,000, a turn-key delivery timeline of about four months, and with the streamlined approval process, this would be an opportunity for current homeowners to secure additional income streams. In addition, the expected price point of $1,700 per month is a very attractive option for current renters.

From the purely economic point of view, the lower market clearing rent price point and concurrent increase in available housing units is expected to have a positive impact on the current housing crisis.

From the strategic perspective, this proposal is in line with an overarching regulatory preference for supplanting urban sprawl with increased housing density.

Design of golf cart and electric vehicle affordable charging stations for a 55+ residential community in Orange County, CA

Objective: Design of sustainable Golf Cart and Electric Vehicle parking and affordable plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) charging stations within the over 55 gated community of Laguna Woods Village (South Orange County) – specifically 6102 units/manors in Third Laguna Hills Mutual, but adaptable to entire community of over 12,500 units/manors.

Root-cause analysis of construction megaprojects high failure rates (budget, timeline, quality)

Construction megaprojects are notorious for high rates of failure and not delivering promised benefits.

There is also the misimpression that megaprojects are bigger versions of smaller projects. Reality is very different; megaprojects are orders of magnitude more complex and are hypersensitive with extreme reactions to small perturbations in cost, schedule, or scope.

Research demonstrates that megaprojects experience similar causal factors and failure modes as smaller projects; however, extreme reactions expressed to these stimuli are due to a combination of megaproject complexity compounded by failure modes in four major categories: planning and coordination, execution, governance, and documentation.

Communication breakdowns are one root cause shared in common by all four major failure categories; effective communications is a trainable skillset that can have a positive return on investment for construction megaprojects failure rates that is greatly out of proportion to the investment. 

Airport safety concern and landing pattern redesign for Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, AK

Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska has safety and operational concerns due to limited landing and launching capabilities of runway 16/34 and an overly crowded airspace. With these limited capabilities it reduces the overall operational readiness of the airwing, creates a crowded airspace and also it causes safety concerns to the local Airport.

The main objective and goal of this study is to conduct an examination to determine if the proposed extension of the Elmendorf Runway 16/34 at the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson will bring the expected air safety improvements of 75% to the Anchorage, Alaska metropolitan area by moving 75% of air operations from Runway 06/24 to newly extended Runway 16/34.