Dr. Way's Guide to Grand Challenges

The step-by-step approach to excelling at your independent study project & report.

Important Parts

1. Visit the web site, get an advisor & craft a topic abstract
   Thoroughly familiarize yourself by reading the CS department's Grand Challenges web site. You will find information about selecting a topic, how to acquire a faculty advisor for your work, how your work will be evaluated and how not to break any rules of academic integrity. A temporary archive of prior Grand Challenges topics is here, but should soon be available from the main link above. Note that one viable option for a topic is an Internship Supplementation (see the Topics page), where you design a project that draws from your internship experience in a significant and substantial way.
    
2. Implement, experiment, research
   Perform the independent study as you have planned, gathering information and writing up results as you go.
    
3. Meet regularly with your advisor
   Work out a schedule for meeting with your advisor.  The frequency of meetings will vary for each student.  Some students feel comfortable taking a topic and studying it independently with very little outside input, while others thrive on frequent feedback.  Do not hesitate to use email to communicate with your advisor, as this is often the quickest and most efficient means to keep your efforts moving forward.
    
4. Deliverables
   All Grand Challenges projects require deliverables that include some form of a final report. The content of the report will be determined by you and your advisor, and may consist of:
   • a software design, software you created, a demonstration and a summary report
   • a complete research report including cover, abstract, multiple sections, results, and proper citations to references formatted in the proper style for an academic research paper. (Examples)
   • some combination or variation of the above
      
5. Deadline
   The normal deadline is two weeks prior to the end of the semester in which you are finishing your work. This provides your advisor with time to provide feedback and you to make corrections and additions as needed.

updated 09/21/2016