Academics
  /  
Undergraduate Program
  /  
Client Project Challenge
Important Dates for our Clients for Spring 2024

We are excited to be working with you. Here are some dates to keep in mind for the Spring 2024 Projects.  

Data Preparation. Early March. The sooner you can pull the data together, the better. Let us know if you need to talk about anything related to this. 

NDAs Due. Tuesday, March 12, 2-2:30 CT. On this date, we have a student-only session teaching them about NDAs in general. If you want the students to sign an NDA, you should have it by this day. This will help the students get it signed by the kickoff.  

Kickoff!!! Wednesday, March 27, 3:30 – 5:30 CT (with a happy hour to follow). If you can be on Campus, we’d love to see you in person. From 3:30 – 4:00, you will meet with the faculty instructors. At 4:00, you will meet with your student teams.  Use this time to get into the details as deeply as possible. After you meet with the students, if you have time, some faculty will be around for a happy hour and to learn more about NU. This will be in the Tech Building, Cohen Commons (4th Floor).  

Site Visit. If possible and practical, the students get a lot of value from a site visit. If you could schedule this sometime between Thursday, March 28 and Thursday April 4th, that would be great.  

Student Proposals Due. April 5th. You will have submitted your problem. We also ask the students to submit a proposal of what they’ll do by the end of the 2nd week. We would like you to carve out time during the kick-off through the next week to help the students finalize their proposal. 

 

Scheduling the Final Presentation with you and your Executives. We suggest you try May 30 or May 31st. This is before the students' final presentations are due to us. But their final presentation to us is due during finals week. If you wait until that week, it gets harder to schedule the students. After that week, it is even harder. 

Final Presentations for the Class. Thursday, June 6th, 9-11 am CT (Time subject to change). This will be a 5-minute video summary from the students along with 5 minutes of Q&A from the instructors. You are more than welcome to attend. However, because this is short, we recommend you schedule something longer with your teams. 


Graphic of the front of a shuttle

Introduction of Electric-Powered Campus Shuttles at Northwestern University

In switching from a diesel to electric-powered bus system, fleet sizes must satisfy demand with the additional incorporation of on-route charging stations.

Ferrara logo

Mixed Bag Optimization for Ferrara Candy Company

A candy company aimed to fill mixed bags by piece count and weight requirements, but needed a flexible marketing tool to prevent overfilled candy bags.

UPS logo

Redesigning the Geographical Territories for UPS Chicago

Lengthy travel times and high package volumes led UPS Chicago to improve methods of customer-hub assignment pairings.

Illustrated faces of people from many backgrounds

Identifying Sentencing Biases in the Illinois Court System

With limited data on the Illinois judiciary, a comprehensive data set was required to encourage accountability among judges and eliminate potential sentencing bias.

Lurie Children's Hospital logo

Optimizing Scheduling of the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit at Lurie Children’s Hospital

Lurie Children's Hospital aimed to improve patient processing in the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit, but needed a way to account for bed utilization and waitlisted appointments.

Attea Flyers logo

Automated Scheduling Platform for Attea Middle School

Highly personalized student schedules led a local middle school to streamline the complex process of student scheduling.

Penda Health logo of hands holding a heart graphic

Inventory Management for Penda Health

A health company wanted insight into their inventory management to reduce lost revenue and improve patient experience.

Bank of America Chicago Marathon logo

Bank of America Chicago Marathon Medical Volunteer Allocation Handbook

Efficient staffing of medical volunteer locations throughout the Chicago Marathon is imperative in the event of an emergency.

Graphic of electric charging station

Feasibility Study for Electric Vehicle Charging Stations in Evanston, Illinois

The City of Evanston looked to encourage electric vehicles with charging stations, but needed an implementation strategy.

Lot of bikes parked on racks

City of Evanston Bicycle Rack Distribution Analysis

Bike parking at inconvenient locations led the City of Evanston to search for a better bike rack distribution.

Red Cross logo

Evaluating Fire Resiliency in Evanston, IL

American Red Cross aimed to assist those who need disaster relief with better models to improve disaster preparedness and resiliency.