Fwd: Time to propose a CS Capstone Project!

[Roman Shaposhnik <ro...@shaposhnik.org>]

FYI. I think this could have a pretty positive effect on
podling growth. Just the same way that GSOC does
sometimes. Feel free to fwd. to your respective podlings.

Thanks,
Roman.


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Steven Hathaway <sh...@e-z.net>
Date: Fri, Jul 24, 2015 at 2:17 PM
Subject: Fwd: Time to propose a CS Capstone Project!
To: dev@community.apache.org



OSU Capstone Projects - Opportunity to introduce students to ASF
projects and participate in development

I have participated in several Capstone projects at Oregon State
University in Corvallis, Oregon USA.

It is a good start for college seniors to develop their software
design, project management, and engineering business skills.  The
Capstone project is available to open-source software projects,
foundations, and commercial enterprises.  The project sponsor and
mentor is the point-of-contact to mitigate any licensing and
confidentiality agreement issues.  The mentor also evaluates the
performance of the project and gives guidance to the team.

The projects can often benefit from a student group, but understand
that these are undergraduate students in their Senior year at the
university.  The students have other classes around which they need to
schedule their time.   Be sure not to make the tasks overwhelming of
student time and demands, but rigorous enough to be a challenge. A
well-designed project will not only benefit the students, but can also
benefit your Apache project.

It is also useful for the projects have a good presentation of
accomplishments at the OSU Engineering Expo in May.

I live within commute distance from OSU and may be able to help with
some of the campus details in person.

Sincerely,
Steven J. Hathaway

-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject:        Time to propose a CS Capstone Project!
Date:   Wed, 22 Jul 2015 09:10:16 -0700
From:   D. Kevin McGrath <dm...@eecs.oregonstate.edu>
To:     shathaway@apache.org



Colleagues --

Have you always wanted a particular software tool developed for your use, but
have never had the time to do it yourself? Well then, read on. Have I got a deal
for you!

My name is Kevin McGrath. I am the instructor who runs the OSU Computer Science
Senior Capstone class. The Capstone class is a 3-quarter (Fall, Winter, Spring)
"career preparation" experience. The major piece of this is doing a significant
3 member team project.

When the students come to the first class on September 24, I want to present
them with a list of exciting, creative, and real-experience software engineering
project possibilities. This is where you come in. I am looking for you to use
your needs and experience to propose those project possibilities.

A web site has been setup to give you more information, and let you enter and
edit your project proposals:

                http://eecs.oregonstate.edu/capstone/submission/

You have until September 24 to get yours in. That is the date the students will
see them, and will start the selection process. In that process, I ask the
students to "bid" on their top 5 choices. I ultimately make the final project
assignments, but I try to take their preferences into account. I find I get
better results that way.

There will likely be more projects proposed than students teams to do them. *So,
really sell your project.* Definitely don't understate its cool-ness factor! The
more excited you sound in the description, the more excited they are likely to
be when doing it. Excitement is contagious!

After projects have been selected, we will follow a client-contractor model in
which I "run" the software contract company and you are one of our valued
clients. The students "report" to me, but you, as client, work directly with
them to design the requirements, set the timeline, approve the progress. You
also get to help assign grades.

This year I'm asking you to explicitly distinguish the projects that are
research oriented vs. those that are more software engineering focused. If you
would like to propose a research project for the students, please indicate this
using the Additional Comments field.

Given the nature of a research oriented project, I find that better results are
had if the students are initially aware of the type of project. If you are
unsure, that is not a problem. I'm happy to work with you on the details of your
project -- just submit it, and then we can chat about any changes that might be
necessary.

Any project can be proposed from anybody. I don't care where you are from, just
that your project represents an excellent software engineering experience for
the students.

Do remember, however, that these are seniors. They have taken the core classes
so far, but most have not taken some of the electives that would really help in
some projects, such as graphics, AI, computer vision, etc. Keep that in mind
when proposing.

If you have questions or want to discuss project possibilities, feel free to
contact me at:

                 D. Kevin McGrath
                 Instructor, Computer Science
                 Oregon State University
                 2109 Kelley Engineering Center
                 541-737-1420
                dmcgrath@eecs.oregonstate.edu

Thanks for your time -- I look forward to working with you!

                                                 -- Kevin McGrath

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