I have participated in Oregon State University (Corvallis, Oregon USA)
undergraduate senior projects in the past. The Capstone program is an
opportunity for our open source software communities to propose a
three-term project for students and provide mentors to the projects. The
mentors get to interact with students and their evaluation becomes a part
of their performance evaluation grade.
These Capstone university projects can readily support the Apache Software
Foundation health.
I live and work within commute distance of the university. One of the
previous projects had a mentor in Denmark. International cooperation can
be accommodated.
Sincerely,
Steven J. Hathaway
shathaway@a.o
---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: Time to propose a CS Capstone Project!
From: "D. Kevin McGrath" <dmcgr...@eecs.oregonstate.edu>
Date: Mon, August 22, 2016 12:30 pm
To: shath...@e-z.net
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Colleagues --
Have you always wanted a particular software tool developed for your use, but
have never had the time to do it yourself? Well then, read on. Have I got
a deal
for you!
My name is Kevin McGrath. I am the instructor who runs the OSU Computer
Science
Senior Capstone class. The Capstone class is a 3-quarter (Fall, Winter,
Spring)
"career preparation" experience. The major piece of this is doing a
significant
3 member team project.
When the students come to the first class on September 24, I want to present
them with a list of exciting, creative, and real-experience software
engineering
project possibilities. This is where you come in. I am looking for you to use
your needs and experience to propose those project possibilities.
A web site has been setup to give you more information, and let you enter and
edit your project proposals:
http://eecs.oregonstate.edu/capstone/submission/
You have until September 15 to get yours in. If any clarification would be
necessary, you'd have from the 15th to the first day of term to clarify.
That is
when the students will see them, and will start the selection process. In
that
process, I ask the students to "bid" on their top 5 choices. I ultimately
make
the final project assignments, but endeavour to take their preferences into
account. I find I get better results that way.
There will likely be more projects proposed than students teams to do
them. *So,
really sell your project.* Definitely don't understate its cool-ness
factor! The
more excited you sound in the description, the more excited they are
likely to
be when doing it. Excitement is contagious! If you'd be interested in
pitching
your project to the students in person, please let me know! Personally
pitched
projects tend to generate more excitement from the students.
After projects have been selected, we will follow a client-contractor
model in
which I "run" the software contract company and you are one of our valued
clients. The students "report" to me, but you, as client, work directly with
them to design the requirements, set the timeline, approve the progress. You
also get to help assign grades.
This year I'm asking you to explicitly distinguish the projects that are
research oriented vs. those that are more software engineering focused. If
you
would like to propose a research project for the students, please indicate
this
using the Additional Comments field.
Given the nature of a research oriented project, I find that better
results are
had if the students are initially aware of the type of project. If you are
unsure, that is not a problem. I'm happy to work with you on the details
of your
project -- just submit it, and then we can chat about any changes that
might be
necessary.
Any project can be proposed from anybody. I don't care where you are from,
just
that your project represents an excellent software engineering experience for
the students.
Do remember, however, that these are seniors. They have taken the core
classes
so far, but most have not taken some of the electives that would really
help in
some projects, such as graphics, AI, computer vision, etc. Keep that in mind
when proposing.
Several additional points to keep in mind:
1) We ask for about 1 hour per week to interact with the students
2) If you propose a project that will be handed off to another
engineer/developer to mentor, please list their name as well
as an additional contact.
3) Any IP restrictions need to be listed. These can include NDAs,
assignment of IP, etc. University policy is that students own
the IP
of their projects, so if you have something else in mind, be
very
clear from the proposal. Negotiations/agreements will be
between you
and the students, rather than you and the university.
4) The general scope of the project is what you would give one
6-month
intern.
If you have questions or want to discuss project possibilities, feel free to
contact me at:
D. Kevin McGrath
Instructor, Computer Science
Oregon State University
2109 Kelley Engineering Center
541-737-1420
dmcgr...@eecs.oregonstate.edu
Thanks for your time -- I look forward to working with you!
-- Kevin McGrath
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