Introduction
The capstone project is a compulsory course for every computer science student admitted in or after the academic year 2008/2009. This course serves as a complete design, implementation, and testing experience for the students to transition them to professionals that can effectively function in software engineering teams.
The focus of this project is to design, implement, and test a significant software system under well-defined project goals with a clear plan to successfully achieve the designated goals. Students are urged to prepare ideas suitable for producing a reasonably large system that is of practical use.
In the following, guidelines and information are provided regarding the course. If you are enrolled in CS490, please visit this page regularly to receive the most recent updates.
Project Proposal
Students wishing to enroll in the capstone project course must prepare a project proposal in the semester prior to enrolling in CS490 (most likely while enrolled in CS390). The knowledge gained in CS390 will assist you in developing a project idea, shape your project proposal, and present it to the department of computer science for approval.
Students must start by forming teams of three or four members and must approach a Computer Science faculty for accepting to be their project advisor. The team must discuss a project idea with the advisor and prepare a complete proposal by the end of the semester prior to enrolling in CS490.
Students must use the departmental proposal template to prepare their project proposals. Read the proposal template carefully and understand each section. Remember, you must prepare your resume and submit it along with the proposal.
Project Proposal Presentations
Prior to enrolling in CS490, you must have your project proposals completed and approved by the Capstone Project Committee (CPC). At this time, a project proposal presentation will be coordinated with your advisor. Make sure that your proposal is mature enough and be prepared to defend it while presenting it to the CPC. In your presentations expect CPC members to ask you detailed technical questions about the material you present. You must be able to appropriately address the concerns of CPC members. Notice that the feedback you receive in your proposal presentation aims to improve the work you will perform for your CS490 project.
In addition to technical questions, expect to receive questions on the scope of your work, the purpose and general goals behind it, the final product, a comparison with other similar work, and questions on the particular technologies and framework you chose as your complimentary resources.
Deadlines (Fall 2021/2022)
- The first report is due on 14 Nov 2021. The presentation is on 21 Nov 2021 at 12:30. Location TBA.
- The second report is due on 20 Dec 2021 (NO PRESENTATION).
- The final report is due on 12 Jan 2022. The presentation is on 19 Jan 2022 at 12:30. Location TBA
- Capstone proposals for next semester must be submitted on Monday, 10 Jan 2021, and presented on Monday, 17 Jan 2021 at 12:30.
Project Deadlines
According to the decision of the CPC, every approved capstone project team must successfully accomplish the following milestones with the specified deadlines:
- First progress presentation: describes the overall system specification, architecture, and optionally some perspectives of the design. Deadline: Four weeks since the start of the semester.
- Second progress presentation: describes the complete design of the system. Deadline: Four weeks since the preceding deadline.
- Final presentation: describes the complete picture of the system including specification, design, testing, and a live demo. Deadline: one week prior to the official end of classes.
Important note: The teams must submit a report for each presentation at most one week prior to the presentation deadline.
Note that any report that does not completely adhere to the structure and style of the corresponding template will be rejected by the CPC.
Evaluation
Team members will be evaluated according to the following grading distribution:
| Proposal | 5% |
| Progress reports | 15% |
| Presentation | 15% |
| Final report | 20% |
| Deliverables | 20% |
| Poster | 5% |
| Coursework | 20% |
Grading System
| A | 92-100 |
| A- | 90-91 |
| B+ | 87-89 |
| B | 83-86 |
| B- | 80-82 |
| C+ | 77-79 |
| C | 73-76 |
| C- | 70-72 |
| D+ | 65-69 |
| D | 60-64 |
| F | 0-59 |