CS2190 Research Reflection Document

Due: Thursday, May 6, at 11:50pm.

For this assignment you will write up a short document on some aspects of research in computing, based on what you have seen and heard this semester in CS2190.  While most of you are second years, others may be starting their Senior Thesis sooner.  And a few of you might even be 4th years.  So there are three alternatives for exactly what you do for this, depending on where you are in your degree program.  Each one involves writing a paper that's between 500-1000 words.

When you turn in your paper, at the top please state which Alternative you've done.  Submit your paper in Word, .txt, or PDF format to Collab.

Alternative 1: Required for anyone who will start STS 4010/4050 this summer or next academic year (i.e. SEAS 3rd years)

For those of you who are 3rd years or are planning on doing the senior thesis early, the goal of this exercise will be for you to start to identify topic areas in which you might do your senior thesis.   You will write a paper of about 500-1000 words in which you discuss at least two possible topic areas (at most three) that you have heard about or read -- these should be areas that you would consider making the subject of your senior thesis.  

For each possible subject, you should:

1. Briefly describe the research area in general (as if you were explaining it to an STS professor or another professor in engineering).
2. For at least one of the faculty members here at UVa working in that area, look at their website (or department websites, or their published papers) and write a few sentences summarizing at least one project or topic they are doing that interests you.
3. Discuss why this topic area interests you, what particular aspects of the subject area interest you, etc.  Clearly this is a personal preference, which may be hard to explain, but try to give me something on this.
4. Discuss your ideas about what you might do in that area for your thesis.  (These could be specific.  But if you're not sure, try to say if you want to focus on building or developing something, or on doing more pure research, or doing an evaluation or experiment.)
5. If work in this area fits in with your post-graduation goals, describe that.

While it's not required, I strongly urge you to stop by at least one professor's office hours and have a short chat about their your ideas.  (If you do this, give a short report in the report.)  If you know about other students' thesis or research work in this area, you could also talk to them and report on what they tell you.

Note:  Some students have an idea for a senior thesis that is not an obvious match with a professor in CS or CpE.  It is possible (but harder) to do a senior thesis on such a topic.  If you have such an idea, write about that topic.  You need to identify any professor outside of CS who might serve as the advisor for your project. And, you must also write about at least one other possible topic that does closely sync up with what a CS or CpE professor is doing.

Alternative 2: Required for those who have started or completed their Senior Thesis

Since you don't need to worry about selecting a topic for your senior thesis, you must choose at least 2 areas of research that CS department faculty are engaged in that you've heard about in CS2190. These must be different than the area that your thesis addresses! Write a document like the one for Alternative 1, but with a focus on items 1, 2 and 3 listed there.

Also, add a section at the end of your paper that describes one significant change (or at most two) that you would make if you could change anything about the CS degree program that you are completing.  Describe the problem you're addressing, what your solution is, and why it is the best way to address the problem you've identified.  (You can write freely -- if your ideas are reported to other faculty, your name will not be used!)

Alternative 3: Required for those who will not start STS 4010/4050 next year (i.e. 2nd years) or College Students

This will be like Alternative 1.  Follow the instructions for Alternative 1, but you do not have to address item (4) in your document.  (Item 5 is optional too.)  You do need to write about at least two areas (at most three).  You may write about research topic areas that you found interesting, even if you're not at all sure that you want to do a thesis in these areas later.  In other words, your document can address areas that you liked, or found new and interesting, etc. -- without worrying so much about whether you'll do this for your research project later.