- Integrate previously learned material in a novel application area of data science.
- Complete a significant project using data science methods and principles.
- Present results of your project in a professional forum or to a business client.
- Document your data science journey and skills through a blog.
- Leverage modern data science tools to share your work (e.g. GitHub)
Some program years have more than one class listed for your senior project. We would like you to take DS 499.
Your senior project is an opportunity for you to build a portfolio of work that documents your skill sets as an undergraduate data scientist. Here is an example from Andrew Wolfe. Each project will also need to include a publishable article that will be shared on our LinkedIn Data science group.
The type of data or coding that you tackle does not have to be like Andrew's project. Each student will also be required to give a formal presentation at the end of their project. (Such as a presentation at the Research and Creative Works Conference.)
- Work for more than 10 hours a week for a data science employer on a data science project that leverages your skills from the program.
- Propose a full-semester project that moves through the complete data science process. You will be responsible to submit a project proposal before the semester of your senior project credits begins.
- Complete 3-5 (depending on the difficulty) quick skill trainings and provide those trainings to a group of learners.
Your senior project is built to give you a space to develop your own products as a data science major. It is important to think about when and how this class is taken during your major.
We recommend that you take it your last semester and expect that you will take it during your senior year. This is a capstone experience for you to demonstrate to yourself and employers that you can use the tools you have learned throughout the data science program to complete original self-directed work.
If you are completing a full semester project, you will be responsible to submit a project proposal before the semester of your senior project credits begins. This proposal will be a one-page document that proposes a novel question or problem that you would like to address. The proposal should include information about the type of data you will need to find. If you plan on working with an individual professor (instead of taking DS 499) then you should also include a list of professors that you would prefer to be your mentor on the project.
This senior project is self-directed. You will meet with your class at least once a week to report your progress and ask for guidance. (If working individually with a faculty mentor, he or she will set up recurring meetings with you.) You will be responsible to complete 126 hours of work on your project to be able to earn an A grade. Your hours together with your deliverables documented below will define your final grade in your senior project. Your faculty mentor will need to add you to our byui.harvestapp.com account. You will track your hours weekly.
Each project will have its own unique deliverables that will be negotiated in the project proposal. For example, some projects could require the development of an R package, multiple presentations to a client, or deeper learning of machine learning techniques. All projects are expected to have the following deliverables delivered during the semester at the specified week in the semester.
| Item | Description | Date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Propose your senior project plan | Day One |
| 2 | Finalize project proposal & Draft blog created | Week 1 |
| 3 | Finalized data science resume submitted | Week 2 |
| 4 | Data ingested or documented process for ingestion & First post about your project | Week 4 |
| 5 | Update project proposal with detailed steps to completion & Second post about your project | Week 6 |
| 6 | Submit abstract to R&CW conference | Week 7 |
| 7 | Draft version of final project post & Third post about your project | Week 9 |
| 8 | Build out Github with project work | Week 10 |
| 9 | Post final version of project post | Week 11 |
| 10 | Present at R&CW conference or client | Week 12 |
| Grade | Hours | Deliverables |
|---|---|---|
| A | 126 | An amazing project or work presentation (Poster presented at RCW) |
| B | 90 | All three posts and a completed project of good quality (Poster presented at RCW) |
| C | 60 | At least two posts and a completed project of good quality (Poster presented at RCW) |
| D | 40 | Attend class a few times |
| F | < 40 | |
| 11 | Finish all materials and review blog wit | D |