Two types of students take this course: students in the ICS Honors Program (ICSHP), and students in the Campuswide Honors Program (CHP). In many ways the requirements are the same for both types of students: you are to select a faculty advisor, do two or more quarters of research with that advisor, and produce a report which is considered to be of honors quality.
Students in the Campuswide Honors Program should discuss their plans with counsellors in the CHP, in order to make sure that they are meeting the research requirements of that program.
Two people primarily oversee the ICS Honors Program: the honors program advisor (or more briefly just the program advisor) is the faculty member in charge of the program, currently Richard Lathrop. The counsellor for the program, currently Neha Rawal, will help orient students and track their progress. Feel free to ask us any questions about the Program.
The most important person for you is your honors advisor (note that this is different from the program advisor). This is the faculty member with whom you will do your project, and varies from student to student.
Several types of meetings are planned for this seminar, including the following.
You should plan to complete your research by winter quarter of your senior year. It is not imperative that you begin your research immediately next quarter if your schedule for graduation allows you enough time. However, there are some important advantages to starting fairly soon, and we encourage you to begin by spring quarter. Starting early gives you more flexibility with regard to finishing the rest of your degree requirements, especially if you want to continue the research for more than two quarters. Also, students often find that faculty who have supervised their honors research project are good sources of letters of recommendation; if you wait until your senior year to start your research, you may have to ask for letters of recommendation before you have even completed your first quarter of research.
Additionally, we will require a series of mini-assignments to help get you started on doing research. These will be intended to introduce you to some of the basic steps in research: making collaborative contacts, reviewing the literature, speaking, and writing, as well as to make you aware of scholarship and graduate school opportunities. Some of the possibilities we are considering include (a) research scholarship opportunities; (b) attend the Grad School workshop, go to the grad school fair, research one grad school, write up a brief report; (c) literature search and write-up; (d) attend one colloqium or seminar during the quarter, write up a brief report; (e) read one research paper from the literature, criticize it; (f) make contact with potential faculty members; (g) prepare short scientific or technical abstracts and talks. We would like your feed-back as to which of these would be most useful.
To make a faculty contact, (a) review the department Computing Research Review to determine research interests; (b) call or email in advance, ask for any background reading material, and schedule an appointment; (c) read the background material, if any, and possibly make a trip to the library to find out more about the general area; (d) show up for the interview prepared with a list of points about the research area that you find interesting, and a list of questions about the area that you would like to know more about; (e) after the interview, send a thank-you note thanking the faculty member for their time.
It is important not to be discouraged if your first few contacts don't result in finding an appropriate faculty advisor. Keep trying. You can improve your chances by first doing even more background reading in the area before you talk to a faculty member, so that you appear to be interested and informed. You can also improve your chances by talking to a wider variety of faculty members, which will expose you to a wider range of research possibilities. Do be sensitive to their time constraints; don't be a bother, but do be persistent.
If you are in the CHP you should finish your research in accordance with the requirements of the CHP. The remainder of this document formally applies only to ICSHP students. However, we encourage ICS students in the CHP also to follow these procedures so that we can keep track of your progress.
After the paper is complete, first have your advisor sign the ``Final Report on the Honors Project'' form, then bring the signed form and the paper to the program advisor to sign, and finally bring the form with both signatures and the paper to the Counselling Office. The normal deadline is June 1; if you will be late, please make arrangements with the Counselling Office well in advance. Once the paper is approved by your advisor and the form is signed by both advisors, you are considered to have successfully completed the ICSHP.
If at any point in this process you have any questions, don't hesitate to discuss them with the program advisor or Counselling Office.
This form must be filed at the of each quarter until a faculty
research advisor has been found and the ``Initial Plan'' has been
filed.
Student name and ID#:
For which quarter and year:
Please describe (by name, date, and result) the faculty contacts
you have made this quarter (three per quarter are required). Also
describe your plan for finding a faculty advisor and beginning your
198s:
Any other comments:
Student signature:
Student name and ID#:
Faculty Honors Advisor:
Quarter in which the first 198 will be taken:
Please write the initial plan for your honors project
below (continuing on the reverse side if necessary), or attach it as
a separate sheet.
Advisor approval --- I approve this initial plan.
Advisor signature:
Honors students may count passing the two 198s as meeting
one ICS project course requirement, provided that the other project
course is in a different area. Which other project course do you plan
to take to meet the project course requirement
for ICS majors?
Student name and ID#:
Faculty Honors Advisor:
The above student has successfully completed a project worthy of
the Honors Program in ICS.
Faculty Honors Advisor signature:
Honors Program Advisor signature:
Is it OK with you if we let other people look at your final report, as
an example of what honors students have done? (Please circle one, and
sign below.) Yes No
Honors Student signature:
Faculty Contact Report for the Honors Project
(To be submitted by the student to the Counselling Office)
Initial Plan for the Honors Project
(To be submitted by the student to the Program Advisor)
Final Report for the Honors Project
(To be submitted by the student to the Counselling Office)
Release of report