Capstone Project
- Level
- Graduate
- Status
- Placeholder
Note: this course is still being designed and calibrated; the page content is for reference and does not represent the final teaching version.
Syllabus
Course Overview
Capstone Project integrates skills from systems, security, engineering, and research-method courses into a real delivery. It is not a large homework assignment; students must handle real constraints such as changing requirements, data quality, deployment environments, ethical boundaries, and long-term maintenance.
This is the integrating course in the 55AA curriculum, intended after at least three track courses.
Prerequisites
- Completion of software engineering and at least one systems or security core course.
- Experience with team development, lab records, and technical writing.
- Project proposal must pass review.
Learning Outcomes
- Propose clear, bounded, and evaluable project goals.
- Create an engineering plan, risk register, and ethics review notes.
- Deliver a runnable, reproducible, and maintainable system or research prototype.
- Support technical claims with data and experiments.
- Complete a technical report and demo for external readers.
Course Format
- Two meetings per week: one for core concepts and one for labs, paper discussion, or project review.
- The course proceeds over 16 weeks, each with a checkable assignment, lab, or project milestone.
- Reproducibility is required: code, configuration, data, lab logs, and reports must be reviewable by staff or peers.
Weekly Plan
Project selection and problem definition
Submit a one-page proposal and success criteria.
Project selection and problem definition: lab and review
Submit a one-page proposal and success criteria. Complete the paired lab, record issues, and explain design tradeoffs in class review.
Related work and requirements study
Complete product, paper, or user research.
Related work and requirements study: lab and review
Complete product, paper, or user research. Complete the paired lab, record issues, and explain design tradeoffs in class review.
System design and risk review
Submit architecture, threat model, and risk list.
System design and risk review: lab and review
Submit architecture, threat model, and risk list. Complete the paired lab, record issues, and explain design tradeoffs in class review.
First prototype
Deliver a minimum runnable version and test plan.
First prototype: lab and review
Deliver a minimum runnable version and test plan. Complete the paired lab, record issues, and explain design tradeoffs in class review.
Midterm review and roadmap adjustment
Demo the prototype and revise goals and scope.
Midterm review and roadmap adjustment: lab and review
Demo the prototype and revise goals and scope. Complete the paired lab, record issues, and explain design tradeoffs in class review.
Experiments, deployment, and user feedback
Collect reproducible data or real user feedback.
Experiments, deployment, and user feedback: lab and review
Collect reproducible data or real user feedback. Complete the paired lab, record issues, and explain design tradeoffs in class review.
Hardening, documentation, and handoff
Complete tests, deployment notes, and maintenance docs.
Hardening, documentation, and handoff: lab and review
Complete tests, deployment notes, and maintenance docs. Complete the paired lab, record issues, and explain design tradeoffs in class review.
Final defense and archiving
Submit code, report, demo, and reproducibility package.
Final defense and archiving: lab and review
Submit code, report, demo, and reproducibility package. Complete the paired lab, record issues, and explain design tradeoffs in class review.
Assessment
Concept questions, reading responses, design tasks, and small programming or lab exercises.
Project delivery, reproducibility package, technical report, demo, and process records.
Participation in discussions, demos, code or paper reviews, and peer feedback.
Submit reproducible artifacts, a technical report, and a demo explaining methods, results, limitations, and future work.
Course Project
Each team completes a real system, tool, dataset, or research prototype. Projects may come from lab needs, open-source communities, course platforms, or security-engineering practice.
Policies
- AI tools are allowed, but generated code, lab notes, and design suggestions must be reviewed by the student and disclosed in the report.
- Students may not submit code, proofs, configuration, or experimental results they cannot explain; each member must defend their own design, tests, and tradeoffs.
- Late work affects iteration grades, but the course values reproducible, auditable, and maintainable results over last-minute accumulation.