Student Project Guidelines

Dr. Mike Frank
8/22/01

I am generally happy to supervise undergraduate or graduate students on any projects of mutual interest under the CISE course headings "individual study," "senior project," "graduate research," or "thesis research."  However, such work will be conducted under the following rules.
  1. The student is required to meet with me either once per week or one every two weeks (depending on the amount of guidance needed by the student) for at least 15 minutes, at a regularly-scheduled time, for a review of progress made and to receive guidance.  Reschedulings on both our parts may be needed occasionally, but are discouraged.  Additional time may be available if the student wishes and I am not too busy that week.

    2.  
  2. During the first week of the semester, the student will write up a tentative work schedule for the rest of the semester, with a breakdown by week of the work to be done each week, with milestones every 2 weeks, each of which must include clear deliverables (e.g., a report, design document, program modules, demo, documentation, etc.).  Here is a generic list of deliverables you can start from.  Each milestone must be completed and its deliverables turned in (in whatever state they are in) by the time of that week's meeting.  The description of each milestone will include a statement of exactly how much work must be accomplished, and with what level of quality, in order to earn an A on that milestone.  If I consider that a stated milestone has not been achieved satisfactorily on time according to that written statement, I will assign a grade less than A on that milestone.  All milestones contribute equally to the student's final grade.  During the first week, the student will send me drafts of the work schedule, and revise it as needed until I approve it.  (This initial work schedule document constitutes the first milestone and deliverable.)  Here is a grading form that should probably be used.  Also, each week the student should fill out the following goals & achievements form to help plan and report their activities.

    3.  
  3. The set of deliverables (listed here) for each project must include the following items due by the end of the final 2-week period, or earlier if so scheduled.  Note that each project will probably have many other deliverables due throughout the semester, associated with the project's specific milestones, and it may be appropriate to also schedule preliminary or draft versions of the below-listed deliverables to be due earlier in the semester.

    4.  
  4. The initial work schedule does not need to be perfect, as unexpected problems always arise in any project. When turning in each milestone, the student is allowed and encouraged to also turn in a revised schedule, if necessary, with a revised set of milestones for the remainder of the semester.  If I approve it, the student may complete the semester under the guidelines set by the new schedule.  So basically, throughout the semester, the student sets his or her own goals for the rest of the semester, but the scheduling requirement encourages the student to plan ahead, and the bi-weekly grade provides a strong incentive to the student to both (a) learn to set realistic goals for himself or herself, and (b) work hard to achieve those goals on-time.