Project
Student Originated Software
Fall Quarter, 2009-2010
Tue:1:00 pm-2:30 pm, Lib 2708
Web site: Academic Program Page
 
 
Professor: Sherri Shulman
Office: Lab 1 1009
Phone: 867-6721
Email: sherri@evergreen.edu
Office Hours: By arrangement
   
 

Current Project ideas

 
Project Description
Your project is divided into two major pieces: the research phase during the fall quarter and the implementation phase during the winter and spring. The fall research phase also has two pieces. Initially you should research your topic: you need to do background work to see what topics appeal to you most and what aspect you will explore. The outcome of your research is the research proposal. After your research proposal is approved, you should focus on exactly what you will do, what the scope will be, how it can be accomplished, preliminary design, feasibility studies, etc. The outcome of this research is your thesis proposal. After your thesis proposal is approved, you will begin work on your implementation during the winter and spring. Note that I'm using the word implementation loosely: you may choose to do a theory project that does not include an actual implementation.

Readings

You will need to create your own list of readings that reflect your project. 

Project Requirements
 

  1. Think about possible topics. Topics may come from previous classes: were there questions you had about some topic(s)? Is there a particular area of computer science that you enjoy? theory? systems? Is there some area that you want to explore in more depth? Is there some application that you've been yearning to develop? Your project may be an implementation or an in-depth study or a combination.
  2. Submit a written research proposal. There are important pieces of your proposal that you should consider, that may not occur to you. This portion of your project is intended to be worth 2 credits. Using a strictly quantitative approach to credit: this is about 60 hours of work during the fall quarter. In the winter and spring, your project work will be worth 4 credits each quarter. Again, this is about 120 hours of work per quarter: a total of 300 hours of time for your initial research, design, implementation, and final report. That's a lot of time, but it's still finite! You can't do everything. So you need to think about the scope of your project. During the fall, you should be doing research on your topic: refining your ideas into a project that you believe you can complete, that has interest to you, and that includes substantial computer science technical components. Your research proposal should include:
    1. A short description of your topic: what are you trying to do.
    2. A short description of why this is of interest and what it will contribute to your computer science education. It's not enough for this to be an interesting question to you. This is an advanced computer science program, and the work you do here should be an opportunity for you to add depth and/or breadth to your computer science education.
    3. A plan on how you intend to proceed in this research portion of your project. During the fall your work should be concentrated in research or study of your topic to understand the project parameters, the technical issues, the literature in the field, and so on.
  3. Your research proposal should be turned in to me by the end of week 4. That means that you have 4 weeks to decide what topic you want to explore and write up your proposal. You may work alone or in a group (no more than 3 in a group). I will sign off on your proposal by the end of week 5. At that point we will start to schedule project consultation time on Tuesdays.
  4. Weeks 5 through 10 you should spend completing the work in your proposal. This work may span continued research, design, proof of concept sketches, and so on. This is not intended to be time in which you actually do the implementation. You are doing the supporting work to insure that you have a well-defined project when you enter the winter quarter.
  5. At the end of the quarter, you should submit to me your thesis proposal. This is the outcome of the research you have done into your project. Your thesis proposal should include your final proposal (which may have changed somewhat during the research phase), actual project milestones, and project checkpoints. This is due by the end of week 10. I will sign-off on your thesis proposal during your evaluation conference. Remember ... you will have a great deal of unstructured time to do your background research and then to do the actual project. Milestones and checkpoints are intended to help you structure your time. Make sure that these are meaningful and will help you complete your project on time.
  6. For the winter and spring quarters you will follow the milestones and checkpoints set up in your thesis proposal, meeting every other week with me on Tuesdays.
  7. At the end of spring quarter you will give a presentation on your project, and turn in a report. I will publish guidelines for your final report separately.