STORY: 2025–26 SCOPE Program Kicks Off with Boston Scientific, New Balance, and More
As the fall semester gets underway at Olin, so does the College’s largest culminating experience for graduating students—SCOPE, or Senior Capstone Program in Engineering. This year’s projects run the gamut from enhancing early literacy-building apps to improving crosswalk safety automation.
Students speak with one of the SCOPE Sponsors who attended the Showcase.
A staple at Olin since 2005, SCOPE is a unique industry-university collaboration in which seniors work in multi-disciplinary teams to provide innovative solutions to real problems from a group of partner companies.
On Sept. 17, this year’s eight sponsors visited Olin’s campus, met with the student teams to discuss their challenges, and connected with the community at the SCOPE Sponsor Showcase. The Showcase presents an informal way for sponsors to meet and engage with students outside of SCOPE and beyond a regular career fair, putting them front and center with our community.
“The intent behind our SCOPE projects is to tackle a problem that is compelling for both students and partners,” says Lauren Palmer ’09, Associate Director of Partnership Development at Olin. “The projects offer something valuable to the client—maybe something they really want but don’t have the resources for, or an idea they want to test out to make sure it’s the right fit for them. You can see the excitement from sponsors witnessing students working on a project they’ve been wanting to get off the ground for a while.”
The number and type of SCOPE sponsors changes from year-to-year, reflecting the size and interests of the senior class. This year, 75 percent of the sponsors are returning after having collaborated with SCOPE previously.
Boston Scientific is the longest-running SCOPE partner, with 2025 marking their 21st year of collaboration. Boston Scientific’s project team will design and fabricate a mechanism to provide enhanced tools and visualization at the tip of a duodenoscope without compromising stability. Other long-term partners include Amazon Robotics, the Santos Family Foundation/Volpe National Transportation Center, and Blue Origin.
A student and Lauren Palmer ’09 speak at the SCOPE Showcase.
Brand-new to SCOPE this year is plant-based meat startup Tender Food, who will collaborate with their student team on developing a method and system to dry thin, delicate sheets of fibers in a way that is both time and energy efficient.
“We’re excited to extend our collaboration with Tender, which started through a faculty member, continued in Olin’s dining hall, and now moves to a new level through SCOPE,” says Palmer.
Other SCOPE sponsors include Boston University Wheelock Institute for the Science of Education (WISE), New Balance, and Robo Kits.
SCOPE teams will work throughout the academic year on their projects and directly with their sponsor organizations. In the spring, they present their work both directly to the partner companies, as well as to the larger Olin community at the annual SCOPE Summit. See a video of the 2025 SCOPE Summit.
Olin is always on the lookout for new SCOPE sponsors to work with Olin’s innovative students to address problems from new perspectives. If your company is interested in learning more about SCOPE sponsorship—as well as building a pipeline of employable, career-ready engineers—please email Lauren Palmer at lpalmer@olin.edu.