Clark F. Olson - CSS 497

• Make sure you are ready: CSS 497 has several prerequisities - CSS 301, 342, 343, 350, 360, 370, 422, 430 and a minimum of 10 credits of CSS elective courses.
• Make sure that Prof. Olson is the right advisor for you. I rarely advise students who have not taken a course with me. You are probably better off with a professor who knows you.
• If you are interested in research, it nearly mandatory to have taken CSS 487.
• If you are performing a project of any sort (anything other than a sponsored industry internship), I require the internship to be split over (at least) two quarters.
• Attend at least one CSS colloquium prior to your presentation. If you plan on completing a sponsored internship in one quarter, this requires planning ahead. See the schedule.
• E-mail me (cfolson AT uw DOT edu) to make sure that I am available and a good fit for your project.
• If everything above is satisfactory, e-mail me a soft-copy of your contract (see notes below). We may need to iterate on it until we are both satisfied.
• Do not wait until too late. Deadlines for submitting contracts can be found at: https://www.uwb.edu/stem/undergraduate/majors/bscsse/capstone#contract

Notes for writing your contract:

• The contract can be found at: http://www.uwb.edu/stem/undergraduate/majors/bscsse/resources#contracts
• Your contract must be well-written. If you have a sponsored internship, it should include your organization, what they do, what product you are working on, and (specifically) what you are doing with it. Other projects should include similar details.
• Incorporate your answers into the Word document, not in a separate sheet. All pages must be typed and submitted (to me) electronically.
• You must use CR/NC grading.
• Use a title that describes what you will be doing, not a company name or a job title.
• For item 6 (project plan), you must include a schedule with deliverables. It is not mandatory that you meet the schedule precisely, but you should have a plan before you start. Your plan should encompass 400 hours of work.
• For item 7 (method and criteria for evaluation), you must include:
  1. Deliverables to your sponsor.
  2. Regular status reports - weekly for a one-quarter internship (sponsored only), every other week for a two-quarter internship.
  3. Colloquium slides + poster (drafts submitted to me 1 week prior to the colloquium).
  4. Abstract (PDF form here) signed by sponsor/advisor prior to colloquium.
  5. Successful completion of the CSS colloquium.
• Please also refer to the guidelines at: http://courses.washington.edu/css497/.

During your internship:

• Your progress reports should summarize what you have done since the previous report and include your plans and any potential roadblocks. No formal structure is necessary. A couple of paragraphs is sufficient. Submit these by e-mail. If you are meeting with me regularly for research, an e-mailed progress report is not necessary.

Notes for the colloquium:

• Practice your presentation more than once beforehand. Ten minutes is not much time. Make sure you can fit into the time allotment. I will hold a practice session, if you want.
• Guidelines for the poster and presentation can be found here.