Date of Graduation

5-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science in Biological Engineering

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Biological and Agricultural Engineering

Advisor/Mentor

Brian Haggard

Committee Member

Terry Howell

Second Committee Member

Phillip Jones

Abstract

This honors thesis provides a retrospective analysis of how the 2025 inaugural University of Arkansas’s ASABE Fountain Wars Student Team could be improved through project management. Project commitment, early stakeholder influence, rich communication, and a detailed project plan are all attributes of successful projects, and the team’s strengths and weaknesses within these categories were determined through a team poll. After the poll was conducted, three methodologies, Agile, Hybrid, and Waterfall, were assessed to determine how they would effectively address the team’s weaknesses. A weighted objectives table was created to compare each methodology’s effectiveness across the management categories. The analysis revealed that having a detailed project plan was the team’s major weakness, which positioned the Traditional methodology as the highest-scoring option. However, upon reflection of both the quantitative and qualitative experiences of the team, a Hybrid approach with a lean towards Waterfall would be the best retrospective fit for the team.

Keywords

Project Management; Student Design; Engineering; Agile; Waterfall

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