Princeton University
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Computer Science JIW
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Description:
Provides an opportunity for a student to concentrate on a ``state-of-the-art'' project in computer science. Topics may be selected from suggestions by faculty members or proposed by the student. A list of independent research topics, including each professor's research area, is available here, or from the Undergraduate Secretary in Room 410, Computer Science Building. The final choice of topics must be approved by the faculty advisor.
Prerequisites:
A.B. CANDIDATES ONLY (BSE candidates: please see the CS397
Home Page).
A.B. candidates are implicitly registered for independent research
every semester of their last two years.
B.S.E. candidates who do independent work must register explicitly.
Coursework:
Students enrolled for independent work this semester must attend occasional class meetings where they will be advised about how to do independent work, how to prepare an oral presentation, how to write the final report, etc. The first meeting is on Tuesday, September 21 at 3:00PM in CS 105. Attendance is compulsory.
The student is expected to average at least 10-15 hours per week and to make regular progress reports to his/her faculty advisor. A written report must be submitted to the faculty advisor and to the undergraduate secretary (Tina McCoy) at the end of the semester.
Answers to frequently asked questions about independent work.
Get Started Meeting
Tuesday, September 21, 3:00-3:50PM in CS 105
We will discuss the schedule for independent work projects this semester. You will be advised about how to find an advisor, how to do independent work, how to prepare an oral presentation, how to write the final report, etc. Of course, this meeting is a great time to ask questions.
Here is a link to the slides.
Independent Work Project Form
Due Tuesday, October 5, at 5PM to Tina McCoy in Room 410 of the CS
building.
Each student must submit an independent work project form. The form can be obtained from Tina McCoy in Room 410 of the CS building. On the form, you should identify your CS faculty advisor, provide a project title, and give a brief description of your project goals. You should also attach a detailed outline of your project plan on a separate page.
Beginning-of-the-Semester Project
Proposals
Monday, October 11, 2:30-3:30PM in CS 402.
Each student will give a 5 minute talk to present his/her project plan and progress. During your presentation, you should be sure to convince us that: 1) you are addressing an important problem, 2) you understand various approaches to the problem, 3) you have found an interesting approach to attack the problem, 4) you have a SPECIFIC, DETAILED plan, 5) you know how to make progress, and 6) you will know when you are done.
EACH TALK WILL BE LIMITED TO FIVE MINUTES. So, please come with a presentation that is concise and to-the-point. You probably want to use between three and five slides. For instance, ...
1.Problem description (30 seconds)
What am I going to
do?
Who would benefit?
Why is it hard?
2.Approach (2 minutes)
What approaches have
others tried?
What approach am I
going to take?
Why do I think it
will work well?
3.Methodology (2 minutes)
What SPECIFIC steps
will I take?
Which of these steps
is particularly hard?
What to do if the
hard steps don't work out?
How will I measure
success?
4.Summary (30 seconds)
Say it all again so
everybody gets it
You are encouraged to use transparencies in your talk. To print transparencies on printers in the department see here for instructions. If you prepare transparencies with a PC or a MAC, you will need to save them as postscript files and then print the postscript files on the dept. printers. Alternatively, you can print on paper as usual and then photocopy onto a transparency. Ms. Tina Hill can tell you which photocopier to use and how (most copiers in the department cannot photocopy onto transparencies). Use of gimmicks, props, ... anything you can think of to make your talk more interesting is encouraged. So, be creative!
End-of-the-Semester Project Presentations
Monday, December 13, 1:30-4:30PM in CS 402.
Each student will give a 10 minute talk to present the progress/results
of his/her course project.
EACH TALK WILL BE LIMITED TO TEN MINUTES. Five 10 minute time
slots are allocated for each hour. Sign up for a time slot on the
sheets hanging outside Room 410. Within each hour, the order in which
the five students present will be chosen randomly. BE SURE TO PICK
A SLOT WHEN YOUR ADVISOR IS AVAILABLE.
You probably want to use 5-10 slides for your talk. For instance, ...
1.Problem description (1 slide)
What is the goal of
my project?
What problem am I
trying to solve?
What applications
are there if I succeed?
Why is the problem
hard?
How will I measure
success?
2.Previous Work (1 slide)
What approaches have
others tried?
Under what conditions
have they suceeded and failed?
3.Overview of Approach (1 slide)
What approach have
I tried?
What motivated me
to try this approach?
What is the key idea
behind what I did?
4.Methodology (3 slides)
What components did
I implement?
What issues did I
resolve?
For each issue ...
- What options were there?
- Which of the options did I implement?
What issues remain?
5.Results (1-3 slides)
How do I test my work?
For each issue, which
of the options was best?
Did I meet the goal
of the project?
6.Conclusion (1 slide)
Summarize your key
points, so everybody gets it
What ideas do you
have for future work?
You are encouraged to use transparencies in your talk. To print transparencies on printers in the department see here for instructions. If you prepare transparencies with a PC or a MAC, you will need to save them as postscript files and then print the postscript files on the dept. printers. Alternatively, you can print on paper as usual and then photocopy onto a transparency. Ms. Tina Hill can tell you which photocopier to use and how (most copiers in the department cannot photocopy onto transparencies). Use of gimmicks, props, ... anything you can think of to make your talk more interesting is encouraged. So, be creative!
Final Written Reports
Due Wednesday, January 5, 2000 at 5PM.
The final written report should contain descriptions of the goals, challenges, implementation, results, and conclusions of your project. You should include a review of previous work with appropriate citations from the literature. You should write detailed descriptions of the approach you've chosen, the implementation hurdles you've encountered, the features you've implemented, and the results you've generated. Please do not be vague in your written descriptions. Final reports from previous semesters are available on the shelves in CS401. Following is a sample outline ...