UTDesign CS Spring 2015 Expo Celebrate Senior Capstone Projects
Computer Science seniors in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science gathered on May 8th to present their capstone projects at the UTDesign Computer Science Expo. In Spring 2015, twenty-two teams ranging from three to five members each participated in the Expo. All students in the Computer Science BS program are required to complete a one-semester team-oriented capstone project in order to graduate. This final project allows students to apply concepts they have learned in past courses, engage in a full-scale design process, as well as practice their project-management and problem-solving skills. Under the UTDesign program, these capstone projects are proposed by the industry. The following companies sponsored the projects for the Spring 2015 UTDesign CS Expo: AT&T, Hydrotex, STARK Research, Martino Ventures, LNT, Aprima Medical Software Inc., iPhotonix, HBS Systems, Scratchwork Development LLC, Fujitsu, Texas Instruments (TI), Metroplex Technology Business Council (MTBC), Total Facility Solutions, and Rockwell Collins. Students, industry professionals, and computer science faculty members attended the Spring 2015 UTDesign CS Expo.
After the opening remarks by Dr. Ivor Page, founding Director of the CS UTDesign program, the teams took to the podium for their oral presentations. The teams were allowed to use only one slide to present their work. Brevity was key in covering the goal of the project, design of the project, project testing, validation plan, results achieved, project management approach, and acknowledgement of sponsors – all within their allotted five minutes.
Following the oral presentations, the teams took their places for the poster presentations where they were able to discuss their projects with judges, faculty, industry visitors, and interested students in more detail. These projects afford students exposure to real world problems, and in the process, they gain industry experience, and also learn new technologies that are being used in the workplace. As an ancillary benefit students have the opportunity for internships or employment recruitment by company sponsors.
Projects were judged by the industry visitors and faculty along various dimensions. The following were the top three winners:
First Place – Fit Time!
(sponsored by Martino Ventures)
(From the Left) Dr. Jey Veerasamy, Pete Poorman, Assistant Director Corporate Relations, Alankrutkumar Patel, Dennis Ryazanov, Henry Alfaro, Andrew Halcomb, and Dr. Miguel Razo-Razo the UTDesign Computer Science Director
Second Place – Visualization and Pre-processing of Distributed Big Noisy Datasets
(sponsored by AT&T)
Rachel Csabi, Hazen Eckert, Leah Ferrell, Morgan Kenyon, Xi Zhang
Third Place – Big Data Analysis for the Internet Topology
(sponsored by Fujitsu)
Gaurav Bathija, Nikhil Kamik, Vivek Raman, Humza Shazad
Dr. Miguel Razo-Razo, current director of the CS UTDesign program, has been involved with the program since its inception. “I am becoming more and more impressed with the quality of work that the students are able to produce. The UTDesign program is a great opportunity for students to prepare for the real world. They can practice and acquire new skills to enrich their portfolio, and exercise teamwork and leadership; while companies get the opportunity to bring talented youth to work with them, and at the same time learn what our students can do.”
The UTDesign program at UT Dallas is a valuable resource that helps companies expand their current outreach by taking advantage of the skills of UT Dallas’s talented computer science students. Many companies, such as Texas Instruments and Tyler Technologies, field multiple projects every semester. There have been many instances where the code developed by the students was put into production by the company.
To view the posters and abstracts from the Fall 2014-Spring 2015 UTDesign Expos click here.
About UT Dallas Computer Science Department:
The Department of Computer Science at UT Dallas is one of the largest Computer Science departments in the United States with over 1,300 bachelor’s-degree students, more than 1150 master’s students, 150 PhD students, and 75 faculty members. They are committed to exceptional teaching and research in a culture that is as daring as it is supportive.