COSC/EATS/PHYS 4001.06: Space and Communication Sciences Workshop

2004-2005

project contract template
current projects
old project descriptions

General Information

Course Director & E-Mail contact: Prof. N. Bartel, bartel@yorku.ca
Meetings: occasional meetings (time/location to be determined)
Office Hours: Petrie 331 Mo: 1:30--2:00

Current Students

Calendar Description

Individual projects will be assigned by mutual agreement between the student and a faculty member. The work may be done under supervision by the faculty member, or under supervision of an industrial associate to that faculty member. The projects will be self-contained problems of a design nature, and will be pursued in the manner of a space project. Thus, the first step is to define the requirements of the design, the second is to carry out a review of previous work, and the third is to execute the design. Following that, the design shall be tested, normally through simulation, and conclusions drawn. A report of professional quality shall be written and submitted.

Prerequisites: Satisfactory completion of the 3000-level courses in the Space and Communication Science core.

Course Administration

  1. Faculty members interested in supervising projects submit to the course director short project descriptions in electronic (ascii) form, with the following information:
    2. These project descriptions will be made available on WWW pages (as soon as they are received).
  2. Each student selects one or more projects of interest to him or her and applies for the project by submitting to the project supervisor a short resume. Alternately, a student and a supervisor can prepare a proposal for a project.  For larger projects several  students can work on different aspects of the project. Details should be discussed with the course director. If the student's background is not suitable for the project, the supervisor has the right to refuse to supervise the student. If a student is unable to find a supervisor through the normal route described above, he or she should contact the course director.
  3. Each student completes the course contract with his or her supervisor, and forwards a copy to the course director. The contract must specify the requirements of the project, including deliverables (e.g., software or hardware) and the criteria for the evaluation of the project. The amount of work expected of the student is the equivalent of a full-year course, i.e. approximately 10 hours per week over the full academic year (Fall and Winter term). A supervisor is expected to allocate approximately 1 hour/week for the supervision of every project over the full academic year, and to provide continuous feedback.
  4. Since this is a mandatory course, the course director will act to ensure that different supervisors use more or less uniform criteria to measure the progress and to evaluate projects. To this end, the course director will be familiar with the contents of the projects by attending the presentations and receiving copies of the written reports. A project supervisor may discuss the course standards with the course director, but the grades are assigned by the supervisor.
  5. Any questions of administrative or organizational nature should be addressed to the course directors.

Grading Guidelines

Each component of the project evaluation will receive a letter grade. For the purposes of averaging, letter grades will be converted to numeric values according to the scheme presented in the University's undergraduate calendar for Pure and Applied Science. 
Letter  Point   Interpretation
grade   value
A+       9       Exceptional
A        8       Excellent
B+       7       Very Good
B        6       Good
C+       5       Competent
C        4       Fairly Competent
D+       3       Passing
D        2       Barely Passing
E        1       Marginally Failing
F        0       Failing

Presentations

Each student will make two presentations:
Last update:  Nov. 1, 2004.
Name Supervisor Project
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