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The thesis requires that the student work under the direction of a thesis advisor
drawn from the School of Computing graduate faculty. Normally, the student approaches a faculty member who
has research interests in an area that the student is interested in. If the faculty member is
willing to work with the student as thesis advisor, then the student and advisor identify a problem
with research elements suitable for a Masters thesis and the student enrolls in the thesis course
- CIS 6970: Thesis (3)
to develop the problem. The student reviews the work of others who have addressed elements of the
thesis topic, preparing a short thesis prospectus which reviews this work and which describes the thesis
problem. When the work has progressed sufficiently, the student and advisor identify two additional
graduate faculty members to form a thesis committee. The student presents the prospectus to the thesis
committee, which reviews the scope of the material and suggests ways to both focus and improve the
thesis work. This may require 1 or more iterations before the thesis committee is satisfied.
The student must prepare the thesis in accord with the
School of Computing Thesis Guidelines and defend the thesis
in a presentation attended by at least 5 members of the School of Computing graduate faculty.
The student must enroll for at least 6 hours of CIS 6970, and must enroll for any term in which
actively working with the thesis advisor (including the term that the thesis is defended). Since
thesis work is research-oriented, no set time for completion is stipulated, so students pursuing
this option must discipline themselves to make proress without the help of defined milestones.
Thesis work orients towards "proof of concept" software development rather than a defined
deliverable, and is expected to advance the state of the discipline. |