Independent Studies and Master Projects


I accept Independent Study students (CS612) and M.Sc. project (CS610) students under the following circumstances:

  1. Independent Study:

    Normally, a student needs to complete a previous regular course with me and receive grade "A". I will then suggest a topic for Independent Study. Sample past topics were: "XML and MathML", "JDBC drivers and the use of JAVA for database connectivity", "Graphical User Interface for Illustra ORDBMS", "Extension of HTML by tags for representation of chemical compounds", "Understanding JAVA Servlets, RMI, and JNI", "Study in current understanding of Cloud Computing", etc.
    I have a list of possible topics for independent studies and M.Sc. projects. The list is available to UK/CS students on demand.
    Before I accept an IS, a syllabus (in effect a prospectus of work to be done) needs to be agreed upon. Such syllabus does not have to be long, but must clearly spell the work to be done.

    While some programming is always expected, an independent study requires an extensive information collection and presentation. Every Independent Study results in a report (of app. 10 word-processed pages, plus a possible appendix with the code when programming is involved) presenting the results of the study. In addition, the student will make a presentation on the Departmental Keeping Current seminar.

  2. Master Projects:

    Often a good project stems out of Independent Study done earlier. Projects done under my guidance included: "Data Dispatcher for Java Database Connectivity", "Implementation of JDBC driver", "Implementation of HTTPClient1.1", "Secure Distribution of Complex Data using Object-Relational Database System", "Tool for data transportation from relational to object-oriented databases", "IEUniversity: Information Extraction from University WEB Pages", "Supporting database connections to ASP solvers", "Time management of HTML pages", "Investigation of ISLMP musical score repository". Like Independent Study, a M.Sc. Like an independent study, a project needs to have an agreed upon syllabus. Master project always involves implementation of some software. A topic for Master Project is negotiated during the initial phase of the collaboration. The Students search WWW and look for relevant literature to support claims in the report. Although I suggest topic for M.Sc. project, the student should take an active role in selecting a topic related to her/his interests. In conformance with Departmental regulations, the project is presented and defended publicly.

  3. Each project under my sponsorship must be certified for its originality and must carry after the title page, a separate page with the following certification:
    I, undersigned, certify that that the project reported in this document has been implemented by myself, and myself alone, and that the intellectual content of this project is my own exclusive contribution with the possible exception of the involvement of my advisor, Dr. V.W. Marek.
    I certify that the report was written by myself, and that there is no significant quotes from sources either quoted or unquoted.

Last modified: 12/15/2017