CMSC 399: Senior Conference — Spring 2022

Welcome to CMSC 399!. This course is a capstone to your undergraduate Computer Science education, in which you will have the opportunity to identify, plan, design, implement, and evaluate a computing-based solution to a real-world problem.

In completing this course, you will gain experience in:

Whether your next step after graduation is industry, academia, research, government, or non-profit, these are the sorts of skills you will need in your career as a successful computer scientist and engineer.

The main deliverable of this course is a final report that describes the motivation for your project, details about the solution/implementation, an assessment of its effectiveness, and your own personal reflection on the process.

All graded work will receive a grade, 4.0, 3.7, 3.3, 3.0, 2.7, 2.3, 2.0, 1.7, 1.3, 1.0, or 0.0. At the end of the semester, final grades will be calculated as a weighted average of all grades according to the following weights:

Your project advisor will also recommend a grade for your work this semester. The above grades will be combined with your advisor’s recommendation: 70% advisor and 30% instructor.

It is essential that all members of the course community work together to create a supportive, inclusive environment that welcomes all students, regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexuality, ability, or socioeconomic status. All participants in this course deserve to and should expect to be treated with respect by other members of the community.

Class meetings and group working time should be spaces where everyone feels welcome and included. In order to foster a welcoming environment, students of this course are expected to: exercise consideration and respect in their speech and actions; attempt collaboration and consideration, including listening to opposing perspectives and authentically and respectfully raising concerns, before conflict; refrain from demeaning, discriminatory, or harassing behavior and speech.

Students are expected to submit deliverables by the specified due date and time.

If you know that you will need additional time to finish a deliverable, you are expected to notify the Instructor before the due date, otherwise the submission will receive a late penalty, or may not be accepted at all.

If you test positive for covid, please let the instructor know and do not come to class. You should still submit deliverables even if you test positive for covid.

All students in this course are expected to abide by the Bryn Mawr College Honor Code.

This can, of course, be tricky to navigate when it comes to working with data, frameworks, technologies, etc. that are new to you but also well-documented on the Internet. If you are intending to use code written by someone outside your project team, be sure to discuss this with the instructor in advance.

Your mental health and wellness are of utmost importance to the course Instruction Staff, if not the College as a whole. If you or someone you know is in distress and urgently needs to speak with someone, please do not hesitate to contact BMC Counseling Services: 610-526-7360 (610-526-7778 nights and weekends).

Students needing academic accommodations for a disability must first register with Access Services. Students can call 610-526-7516 to make an appointment with the Director of Access Services, Deb Alder, or email her at dalder@brynmawr.edu to begin this confidential process. Once registered, students should schedule an appointment with the professor as early in the semester as possible to share the verification form and make appropriate arrangements. Please note that accommodations are not retroactive and require advance notice to implement. More information can be obtained at the Access Services website .