Capstone Definition

Our philosophy on the capstone course experience

In Capstone courses, students solve substantial problems using concepts that span several topic areas in Computer Science and/or Computer Engineering. Students work together in teams to define the problem, develop a solution, produce and demonstrate an artifact that solves the problem, and present their work using written and oral reports. Class time focuses primarily on project design and implementation, but may include lectures on the practical application of advanced topics. Cross-disciplinary projects that require interaction with other departments are encouraged.

Capstone courses go beyond the typical requirements of other senior-level CSE courses. They are carefully designed to require that students achieve all of the following:

• work on projects large enough to require teams of several students over a quarter
• apply concepts from more than one subarea of CSE (at least at the 300-level)
• engage in a substantial design effort
• present their work using formal oral presentations and written reports, and
• produce an interesting, working artifact

Requirements and Registration

Students in Computer Engineering are required to complete a capstone course as part of their graduation requirements. Students in Computer Science are encouraged to take a capstone, although it is not required to fulfill graduation requirements. Determination of which capstones will be offered and will be approved to fulfill CE capstone requirements is made during Spring quarter of the academic year prior to the course offering. CSE students receive an e-mail asking them to sign up for their preferences and every effort is made to assign students into one of their preferred capstones. Prior to registration for the quarter in which a student is registered, an add code is e-mailed to all students signed up

2011-2012 Capstones:

CE Hardware Track Capstone:

• Spring 477: Hardware Systems (Patel)

CE Software Track Capstones:

• Fall 481c: Robotics (Rao)
• Fall 490z: Algorithmic Game Theory (Karlin)
• Winter 454: Advanced Internet Systems (Etzioni)
• Winter 481: Accessibility (Borning)
• Winter 481: Sound Capstone (Hemingway)
• Winter 481: Home Networking Capstone (Zahorjan)
• Spring 481d: Games Capstone (Popovic)
• Spring 481a: Computational Biology (Ruzzo)
• Spring 481k: Designing Techology for Resource-Constrained Environments (Anderson, Richard & Anderson, Ruth)
• Spring 460:Animation (Mones)

2010-2011 Capstones:

CE Hardware Track Capstone:

• Spring: 477: Hardware Systems (Patel)

CE Software Track Capstones:

• Fall 454: Advanced Internet Systems (Weld)
• Winter 481: Accessibility (Ladner)
• Winter 481: Sound Capstone (Hemingway)
• Spring 481d: Games Capstone (Popovic)
• Spring 481a: Operating Systems (Kimura)
• Spring 481a: Computational Biology (Tompa)
• Spring 481: Capstone Design for Low-Resource Settings (Borriello)

Additional Project Course:

• Spring 460: Animation (Mones) - Does not satisfy CompE Capstone Requirement