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In this paper, the authors present initial evidence for validity of the Motivation in Team Projects (MTP) assessment. This work is prompted by the challenge faced by engineering educators to develop in graduates a wide range of technical and professional knowledge, skills, abilities and attributes. The development and documentation of students' motivation, essential to graduates' workplace productivity, are generally overlooked in engineering programs. A prerequisite to accomplishing this educational objective is having a means to assess students' motivation in authentic engineering experiences, such as found in capstone design courses. The Motivation in Team Projects assessment is an assessment of a student's motivation while engaged in a capstone design project. This article describes the process used to define the MTP assessment concept and presents its three components for motivation-related attitudes, behaviors, and development. After stakeholder review and further investigation of motivation constructs, a prototype MTP assessment is defined and pilot tested in multiple capstone design classes at The Ohio State University. Student responses are described in the context of early validation of the MTP in capstone courses. Additional steps are described to further the development and validation of the MTP instruments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]