Integrated Research Integrated Research Components: Components:

A Practical and Effective A Practical and Effective Alternative to Senior ProjectsAlternative to Senior Projects

Ellen L. WalkerEllen L. Walker

Oberta A. SlotterbeckOberta A. Slotterbeck

Hiram CollegeHiram College

{walkerel, obie}@hiram.edu{walkerel, obie}@hiram.edu

Models for Senior ProjectsModels for Senior Projects• Capstone Project (e.g CC2001)

– Team-based, software engineering

• Honors Research Project or Thesis– Only for the best students– Goal: publishable research

• 2004 Model Curriculum for Liberal Arts Colleges includes either

Integrated Research Integrated Research Components (IRCs)Components (IRCs)

• Individual semester-long projects

• Attached to specific courses– Separate 2-credit course with co-requisite

• Required of all students

• Two IRC’s required to graduate– Generally, junior and senior year

Student Requirements for IRCStudent Requirements for IRC• Proposal - within first two weeks

– Sets scope and evaluation criteria for the project; negotiated with faculty member

• Implementation - semester-long– Must include significant original code

• Poster - 1 week before presentation• Presentation and Paper (as for a research

conference) - end of semester– 20 minute oral presentations grouped into sessions

on the last 1-3 evenings of the semester.

Integrated Research Integrated Research Components (IRCs)Components (IRCs)

• Individual semester-long projects

• Attached to specific courses

• Required of all students

• Two IRC’s required to graduate– Generally, junior and senior year

Why Attached to CoursesWhy Attached to Courses

• Reduced intellectual load for faculty advisor (who is also teaching the course)

• “Research group” experience for students

• Synergy between course and research experiences

• Interactions among pre-IRC and current-IRC students

Adapting Courses for IRCAdapting Courses for IRC• Overview of Research Early

– Both topics and methods– Also motivates non-IRC students

• Refer to students’ projects as examples– Take advantage of students’ work– Provide “hints” when techniques are

applicable– Students doing research ask deeper

questions

Adapting Courses for IRC Adapting Courses for IRC (cont’d)(cont’d)

• Require students to read and present papers from the literature– Models of research– Models of writing– Practice presenting technical papers

Project and Course in Same Project and Course in Same Semester?Semester?

• Rarely does a researcher know all that is needed before the project

• Students’ research does double duty (helps in the course, also)

• Projects tend to focus on topics covered early in the course– Not necessarily a good thing

Courses Offered with IRC’sCourses Offered with IRC’s• Artificial Intelligence• Bioinformatics• Computer Vision• Database• Graphics• Networks• Parallel and Distributed Systems • Simulation• Systems Administration

Integrated Research Integrated Research Components (IRCs)Components (IRCs)

• Individual semester-long projects

• Attached to specific courses

• Required of all students

• Two IRC’s required to graduate– Generally, junior and senior year

Why All Students?Why All Students?

• Meets college-wide “capstone experience” requirement

• All students can benefit from this experience– Experience research process before deciding

about their future– Practice project planning, time management,

communication skills important to workplace

Can All Students Do Research?Can All Students Do Research?

• Projects tailored to students’ abilities – “R”esearch vs. “r”esearch

• Projects are staged– Develop complete simple version before

adding complexity (list versions in proposal)– When time is up, submit latest complete

version -- not necessarily the final version listed in the proposal

Example ProjectsExample Projects

• “R”esearch– Locating, Tracking, and Interpreting Ean-13

Bar Code Waveforms in a Two-Dimensional Video Stream, Jeffrey Adair (2006 SRC Grand Finals 3rd place)

– BLAST Organism Cross-Comparison as a Tool for Genomic Sequencing, Luke Chaney (poster at 25th annual Crown Gall Conference)

Example ProjectsExample Projects

• “r”esearch– A Walk Around Jacobs Field (Graphics)– Gin Rummy (Artificial Intelligence)– Using Shell Scripts to Back Up Various Unix

Systems (Systems Administration)

Building CommunityBuilding Community• Semi-annual research conference

– Open to all; highly encouraged for CS students, especially in early courses

– Generates excitement about the field

• Posters decorate our hall– Sense of “CS Pride” – Conversation-starters with prospective

students

Integrated Research Integrated Research ComponentsComponents

• Individual semester-long projects

• Attached to specific courses

• Required of all students

• Two IRC’s required to graduate– Generally, junior and senior year

Why Senior Year is Too Late Why Senior Year is Too Late

• If the project is poor…– Pressure on faculty to pass vs. prevent

graduation– No opportunity to learn from mistakes

• If the project is wonderful…– No chance to present externally (e.g. SRC)– Too late to apply for fall admission to

graduate school (if newly excited about research)

Why 2 IRC’s? Why 2 IRC’s?

• Feedback from first IRC applied to the second one, so more students end with a positive experience– Grades support this (next 2 slides)

• “Second-IRC” students help “First-IRC” students, so quality improves overall

Grade Distribution 2000-2005Grade Distribution 2000-2005(N=42)(N=42)

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

A+ A. A- B+ B. B- C+ C. C- D+ D. D- F.

IRC1

IRC2

Grade Improvement Grade Improvement (2000-2005)(2000-2005)

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

-4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Grade Difference

 Count

OutcomesOutcomes• Students apply to, and are accepted into,

competitive summer research programs and graduate schools

• Students in summer programs and graduate school report that they were well-prepared

• Students report that IRC project information on their resume and/or web page got them their jobs in industry

Outcomes (cont’d)Outcomes (cont’d)

• Students have presented their IRC projects externally– ACM Student Research Competition– Crown Gall Conference (Bioinformatics)– ECCC Student Research Conference– Ohio Celebration of Women in Computing

Outcomes (cont’d)Outcomes (cont’d)

• Faculty report that the additional effort involved in supervising an IRC (even a large one) is reduced from the old “senior project” days

• Because the IRC is a recognized course, it is counted in faculty load

Challenges That RemainChallenges That Remain

• Getting students to write early drafts of their papers (and giving them feedback)

• Getting students to submit good work externally, especially when it requires rewriting

• Too many students end the semester feeling that they’re “just now ready” to work on their projects

Questions?Questions?

• Our website has additional information– http://cs.hiram.edu/~walkerel/IRC.html