Final Year Projects Dr. Jeyakesavan Veerasamy Director of CS Senior Design Program University of Texas at Dallas, USA

Agenda Final year industry projects in CS & UT Dallas What can you do in your college? Preparing students for final year projects

Why industry projects? Real-world experience for students University colloboration opportunity for industry It is like 3 month interview process to hire new employees!

EE/ME projects 2 semester projects since students need to identify parts, order and assemble etc. Bit slower pace compared to 1 semester CS projects. We are finding it bit harder to find EE projects compared to CS – ME is reasonably new program doing capstone projects 1 st time. Project cost: $13K

CS final year UT Dallas Almost all projects are industry sponsored. We had ~18 industry projects in Spring 2012 term. Typically 4 students/team. Industry pays $8000/project, so they expect results! Industry mentor is actively involved  conducts weekly or biweekly meetings Faculty mentor has limited project manager role. Companies of all sizes: 1 person business to MNCs. Lot of repeat customers & students get jobs too. Final grade is decided by faculty mentor based on the project’s success and each student’s effort.

Industry projects: Process 2 or 3 months before each term: Soliciting projects from industry First 2 weeks of the term: Presentation of projects to students Students form the teams & indicate “favourite” projects. Project assignments  teams Kickoff meeting with industry NDA and IP agreements (paperwork similar to part-time employment)

Industry projects: Process … Remaining term: Students write “Project Proposal / Contract” – typically use 3 milestones (~1 month each) Weekly meetings or conference calls End of term: Senior Design Day Celebration: – Presentations & Poster session – All local industry folks are invited (50 to 100 attendees) – Awards to best projects

Misc. notes Hard to do remote projects with 100% effectiveness. Official warning (mid-term grades) given to lethargic teams  Almost all projects are successful due to weekly tracking & mentoring. Since students selected the projects, we do not need to push them! Students cannot graduate without a good grade in the project course Hire an intern vs. sponsor a final year project

More notes… We have a team of 4 people who work on soliciting projects in addition to our teaching duties. I attend all local technical meetings and promote UTDesign projects – I never thought I will work as a salesman in my life! Trust between colleges & industry is very high.

Observations… We have completed ~65 projects so far in the past 2 ½ years. When companies pay money, they are serious about projects – they push students! Students respond better too. Even average students perform better in project course! 4 credit hour course  we expect students to work 10 – 12 hours per week.

Exception scenarios … Pushy industry mentor – considers students as “cheap labor”? Too soft industry mentor Big companies – weak/no technical mentor Too big or too small projects What if no one wants to do the project? What if a student wants to build on a brilliant idea on his/her own? Do not accept “critical path” projects

What can you do in your college? Start with simple industry projects Direct solicitation of projects from industry/businesses Service projects for college and local community Tackling “Trust factor”: Use your alumni to get started Track progress & ensure “reasonable” success? Encourage a mix of superstars & average students in each team Project success & students’ work  course grade Charge companies for projects? Use latest technologies: – Smart phone applications & games – Use the cloud as the backend

Making students ready for final year projects Create passion for programming right from the start. Need to free them from “Memorization” habit quickly! Use the latest free tools in labs & make it exciting to learn: – TurboC++, NotePad  Alice, NetBeans/Visual Studio/Code::Blocks… Have programming contents Suggest a few extra projects in each course and encourage more students to do them.

Making students ready for final year projects … Showcase a few successful projects for incoming students Highlight team-effort – every one may not know all the latest technologies. Encourage more students to work with industry (internships?) during breaks. needs additional passionate staff /resources

Questions & Answers I am ready for India visit