CPSC 490 Senior Project

There are two general approaches:

• Student sells project to professor: you get an idea, write a 3-page prospectus that describes the scope of the project and includes a list of deliverables, and find a faculty member willing to supervise the work (which may require changes in the prospectus)

• Professor sells project to student; a faculty member has a list of possible projects, and you select one (which may involve changes in the nature of the project)

and a host of possibilities in between.

The project should be (1) substantial and (2) novel and including a research component. To be substantial, it should be more than just an extended homework assignment or final course project and should require that you learn more about some area of computer science. Joining the class allows for you to access the titles, abstracts, and web pages of previous projects, so you can get an idea of what students have done previously.

Regular courses meet 2 1/2 hours per week and require 2 to 3 additional hours per week for each hour of class. Using this as a guideline for what it takes to earn a course credit at Yale, the project should be something that you can complete in one semester (i.e., 14 weeks) working approximately 7 to 10 hours per week (i.e., in a total of 100-140 hours).

Note: You cannot be paid for your work on the project. Moreover, to allow others to build on your results, all code and data must be made available to the Yale community.

The official advisor (and thus the person who evaluates the work and assigns the grade) must be a faculty member with (1) a multi-year appointment at Yale; (2) a current appointment in the Department of Computer Science at Yale and (3) a Ph.D. degree or equivalent research qualification--490 should include a research component. However, the de facto advisor need not be, as long as the student meets with the official advisor at least once a month. Your final report should acknowledge all advisors. 

This website shows projects from Spring of 2023, as well as Fall of 2024. Additionally, copies of the written reports are kept in a circulating library managed by the departmental registrar (AKW 003). As an enrolled student in the course, you will have access to all the abstracts and written reports via Zoo. 

Most students take the course during their final term of enrollment as the capstone of the program. However, students applying to graduate school should take it in the fall (or, with permission of the Instructor, in the spring of their junior year) so that they can get a letter of recommendation from their advisor.

Ideally, planning for the project should begin the preceding term (at least to the extent of finding an advisor).

Taking CPSC 490 before your senior year requires special permission from the Instructor, which will be granted only under exceptional circumstances. Non-seniors interested in research should consider CPSC 290 instead. 

No. CPSC 490 only gives you credit toward your 36-credit graduation requirement, and toward the senior project requirement in the major. 

You may take CPSC 490 more than once for Yale credit. 

Yes. However, you must satisfy the end-of-term requirements at the end of each term, and your grade for each semester will be assigned at the end of that semester and will reflect what you accomplished. Thus in effect a two-term project is equivalent to two one-term projects, except that the work may be incomplete at the end of the first semester and the electronic abstract, written report, and web pages for the second semester describe the entire project. 

Yes. However, each member of the group must work on a different part of the project, and your description, electronic abstract, final written report, and web pages must focus on your own contributions. 

Whatever you and your advisor decide, you must complete it by the end of the project. Possibilities include (but are not limited to) code, theorems, simulation studies, data analysis, written reports, and oral presentations.

CPSC 490 is graded using the usual letter grade system. Typically your advisor will decide your grade. 

Yes. If you take CPSC 490 for your senior project, you will need a grade of at least A- to qualify for Distinction in Major. CPSC 490 also counts toward both the numerator and denominator when calculating whether three-quarters of your credits in the major are A- or higher.