Undergraduate Thesis Information

Develop Research Skills

As an undergraduate, you are able to develop your research skills. Use the undergraduate thesis course as a technical elective in your degree program. You choose the area of research and, with the supervision of a faculty advisor, explore your area of interest.

You will start your thesis project by registering for an independent study course. Upon successful completion you can then move to the undergraduate thesis course.   

Thesis Advisor and Committee

Once you have been approved to move your project from an independent study to a thesis you will need to form a Thesis Committee. The role of the committee is to guide your research and evaluate the completed thesis. It consists of a thesis advisor and at least two additional committee members. One of these members may be from outside the department.

Guidelines when choosing your thesis advisor:

• Must agree to mentor, help plan, oversee, and evaluate your thesis project. 
• Must be a fully affiliated faculty member of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering.
• The thesis advisor serves as chair of the thesis committee. This committee must have at least two members qualified to evaluate the final work.

Guidelines for the thesis committee members:

• Be faculty members in the department of Computer Science and Engineering
• With the agreement of the Thesis Advisor, other qualified evaluators may serve on the committee. This could be a faculty member from another department, or a scientist or engineer who has relevant research expertise.    

The Program

While enrolled in undergraduate thesis (CS or CEG 4990), you will complete your proposed research and write a thesis. This thesis will describe your research and summarize the results. You may enroll in this course only one time. Once you have written your thesis, you will defend it at a public presentation.

Evaluation

You will pass the course upon successful defense of your thesis. A successful defense requires a majority vote of the committee with advisor agreeing with the majority. Failure to complete or successfully defend the thesis will result in a U grade.