Graduate students, or anyone taking this course at the 400 level, will need to complete a significant project that demonstrates understanding of the course content. Students should propose a project and may begin working on it once it has been approved by the instructor.
If you are currently involved in research, it is a good idea to choose a project that complements that work. The same is true if you are in a capstone or other project-centric class. You shouldn’t plan to hand in the same project you’ve done elsewhere, but if you can make them complement one another then you’ll get more out of both (and they will be less work for you).
Take a look at the list of topics if you need inspiration.
Your project should be decidedly non-trivial. The expectation is that it should take around 40 hours of focussed effort on your part.
For example, a graduate student who has developed a software package for a research project might decide to add a test suite to their package; this would likely include all of the following:
The above represent a significant body of work that would benefit the student’s project and call upon a broad cross section of the topics covered in this course.
Email the instructor with an outline of your proposal. You will then meet with the instructor to ensure that your proposed project has the right scope, and is appropriate for the course; you may need to submit a revised proposal after this meeting. You may begin this process at any point during the semester.