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GENE 403Interdisciplinary Design Project 1

Units
0.50
Faculty
Engineering
Subject
General Engineering

When it runs

  1. F24
  2. W25
  3. S25
  4. F25
  5. W26
  6. S26
  7. F26
  8. W27
  9. S27

Ran in 5 of the last 7 terms. Winter 2027: not on the schedule. Spring 2027: schedule not out yet.

This is the first course in a two-course sequence where students from more than one engineering plan work together to solve an interdisciplinary engineering problem. In the course they will formulate and communicate an interdisciplinary engineering problem or opportunity; develop a feasible design project proposal and plan; generate feasible solutions that address the formulated problem; evaluate alternatives and identify preferred solution; address safety, regulatory, sustainability and professional ethics requirements, as appropriate; effectively manage design project technical and non-technical risks using project management tools and techniques; deliver a report and/or a presentation that summarizes the work completed; work effectively as an interdisciplinary team member and/or team leader.

Prerequisites

  • Complete all of the following
    • Students must be in level 4A or higher
    • Complete 1 of the following

Antirequisites

None listed.

Leads to

Fall 2026 sections

Enrolment from UW Open Data, which can trail Quest by up to two days. Instructors and rooms: Schedule of Classes.
SectionClassEnrolledMeets
PRJ 001481437 / 60TTh 16:00–17:20

Reviewed on UW Flow

55% liked it66% easy63% useful

From 11 ratings and 5 comments on UW Flow. The most helpful comments, quoted as written, without names. Read them all on UW Flow.

  • This capstone might be less challenging than others, but be prepared to sift through a lot of unnecessary material. Rayside is known for sticking firmly to his views. If you don't follow his ideology, you can say goodbye to your grades. Also, you will get heavily penalized if your presentations have anything technical/engineering related. Rayside prefers vague discussions on topics like environmental impacts, slide animations/designs, or areas where teamwork can be improved.

    Dec 2024 · didn’t like itOn UW FlowRemove this

  • Is it easier than the other capstones, yes. Do you get way more useless information, also yes. Rayside has many strong opinions, many of which he will not back down on. If you are an engineer without a pre-set group I would recommend not taking this course as it is a hefty gamble whether you get a viable group.

    Dec 2024 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this

  • Go into this course with either a team or a solid idea, otherwise you're not going to have a good time.
    S24 weekly classes involve listening to status updates from each group (Monday) and a lecture (Wednesday). There are weekly deliverables but they are very easy to complete which gives more time to developing the project. My main criticism is that we aren't really given in-class time to work on our projects and I think this is a big reason why attendance is low.
    We have a good professor though - Prof Rayside is very knowledgable about most fields and even though my team spent an entire term developing our project, he still has more subject matter expertise than us -.-'... he goes on…

    May 2024 · didn’t like itOn UW FlowRemove this

  • God I hated capstone, but Dr. Rayside made it suck somewhat less. Cool, practical guy. Respected him deeply and in hindsight, am glad he gave us as much freedom as he did. Would say to stick to capstones in your own department unless your have 30-50% of your group from another engineering or something, otherwise it's not really worth it

    Apr 2024 · didn’t like itOn UW FlowRemove this

  • I was right to dread capstone since first year. This is the worst undergraduate course.

    May 2022 · didn’t like itOn UW FlowRemove this

Discussed on r/uwaterloo

13 posts and comments in 13 threads mention GENE 403, May 2014 to December 2024. Quoted word for word, newest first; each reply sits under the post and the comment that started its branch. Search r/uwaterloo for newer posts.

Fall 2024

Spring 2024

GENE 403 1 point, 1 comment

u/josukeZbanger: “I was wondering how GENE 403 was for anyone who registered as an individual without a capstone group. I wasn’t able to join any groups within my cohort, so decided to register for this instead.”

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Fall 2022

Spring 2022

FYDP with students from different programs? 3 points, 3 comments

“Does anyone here know if we can do the capstone / fydp project with students from a different (engineering) program? What if they're in a different stream? …”

u/Legitimate-Data-3764: “Yes for different programs: GENE 403/404 Primary contact: https://uwaterloo.ca/mechanical-mechatronics-engineering/profile/oscar I don't think different streams would work or be accepted.”

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Winter 2022

Spring 2020

Spring 2019

Can you have people from other faculties as a team member in the engineering 4th year design project? 4 points, 2 comments

“Can you have people from other faculties as a team member for the engineering 4th year design project? Such as CS or Science?”

u/crono760: “… The only course that allows you to have students from different disciplines is GENE403/404 ( http://www.ucalendar.uwaterloo.ca/1819/COURSE/course-GENE.html ). They are the intedisciplinary fourth year project courses. …”

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Fall 2017

Any way to disable UWCourseLinker from posting? 16 points, 26 comments

“posting a reply to my comment I find the bot annoying.”

u/Jackhofmann: “PSYCH 483 PSYCH 484 PSYCH 485 PSYCH 486 PSYCH 490R PSYCH 499A PSYCH 499B PSYCH 499C PSYCH 621 PSYCH 630 PSYCH 677A PSYCH 704A PSYCH 704B PSYCH 707 PSYCH 710 PSYCH 714 PSYCH 717 PSYCH 720A PSYCH 721A …”

u/Jackhofmann: “… GENE 21C GENE 21K GENE 22C GENE 22D GENE 23S GENE 302 GENE 303 GENE 315 GENE 395 GENE 401 GENE 403 GENE 415 GENE 501 GEOE 299 GEOE 400 GEOE 498 GEOG 100 GEOG 101 GEOG 102 GEOG 181 GEOG 187 GEOG 201 GEOG 203 GEOG 215 GEOG 222 GEOG 233 GEOG 281 GEOG 293 GEOG 294 GEOG 303 GEOG 309 …”

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Winter 2017

Engineering FYDPs 4 points, 12 comments

“What are all you 3B engineers on co-op saying rn? I don't want to end up like the group that made a desk last year. …”

u/wanTron_Soup: “Multidisciplinary projects are often very impressive, but it requires a bit more coordination. Is gene 403 and 404 still offered? …”

u/Albereon: “GENE 403 and 404 are still around, but I know some people who tried to do a mech/syde offstream group and it was disallowed. Not sure if that came from one or both departments or the course instructor though.”

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Spring 2016

Spring 2015

Free Talk Friday 24 points, 116 comments

“Welcome to Free Talk Friday, where you are able to talk about whatever you want. Please keep it respectful and remember that subreddit rules still apply.”

u/Victawr: “Still don't have an FYDP group or idea...”

u/wanTron_Soup: “If you happen to know people in other programs or have an idea that requires a variety of skills that weren't necessarily taught in SYDE, you can look into GENE 403/404. It's a new course for cross discipline fydps. I took it last year, which was the first time it was offered. …”

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Check it elsewhere for Fall 2026

Calendar versions

Undergraduate Calendar