CSE Courses

Engineering at Illinois Engineering at Illinois

Term Projects

To receive an extra 1 hour credit (for a total of 4 hours), graduate students must complete a project before the end of the term. Possible types of projects include

  • An educational module that illustrates or demonstrates some important concept or algorithm covered in the course. Here is more information on possible educational projects. Examples are available, both in MATLAB and Java, as models.
  • A research project on some general numerical method. Here are some example ideas for research projects.
  • A research project in which the student applies a numerical method to solve a specific problem arising in the student's own research area.
  • If none of the previous three categories is appealing, then a project consisting of extra homework (assigned by the instructor) is acceptable. In this case, the project proposal should specify a preferred topic (e.g., a chapter from the textbook) on which the extra homework will be chosen by the instructor.
If you are unsure what project to propose or what sort of project would be acceptable, feel free to consult the instructor.

To ensure that a given project is appropriate in scope and content, students electing this option must submit a brief description of the proposed project to the instructor for approval before beginning implementation of the project. The instructor may suggest modifications or alternatives, if appropriate. Projects will be evaluated for both correctness and creativity. The final hand-in for each project will be deemed either satisfactory or unsatisfactory. The project makes no numerical contribution to the final grade, only to the hours of credit received.

Deadlines

  • October 8: project proposal due.

  • November 5: progress report due. For educational projects, hand-in should include a detailed description of the intended functionality and either a detailed sketch of the graphical design or a (possibly crude) prototype implementation. For a research project, hand-in should include a detailed statement of the problem being addressed and a brief synopsis of progress to date. For projects consisting of extra homework, solutions for the problems completed to date should be submitted. The grade for the project will be based on the final version handed in, but this preliminary hand-in is required in order for the final hand-in to be accepted.

  • December 12: final project due. Projects can be submitted in hardcopy or electronically via email. If the latter, pdf format is strongly preferred. Materials submitted should include a brief write-up of the problem addressed and results obtained, and should also include any code you developed.