School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence

About this opportunity

Our programs in computer science support the evolution of the computing and informatics disciplines, and the integration of computer and information sciences with other disciplines such as biology, geography, anthropology, public health, urban planning and mathematics.

Our computer systems engineering programs are concerned with the analysis, design and evaluation of computer systems, both hardware and software. This field of study not only focuses on how computer systems work, but also how they integrate into the larger picture.

The discipline of informatics makes connections between the work people do and technology that can support that work. It combines aspects of software engineering, human-computer interaction, decision theory, organizational behavior and information technology.

Thesis

The honors thesis and your capstone project are different courses. They are typically advised by different advisors on different projects. However, you can combine your honors thesis with your capstone project in, for example, CSE423/424 or CSE485/486. The following are the suggested approaches.

Find team members and select a team project for capstone class. Once you have selected the project, you may contact your project sponsor and request to do the honors thesis together with the capstone project. For an honors thesis the project sponsor will assign you additional tasks within the team project designated for thesis work. The workload of the additional tasks should be roughly the same as the workload of the capstone project. The combination of the two projects should save you time in preparation, such as learning hardware, software, and environment. You are expected to have unique work for these two projects, capstone assignments and thesis work.

Typically, the capstone project sponsor will serve as Thesis Director. If your project sponsor is not an ASU faculty member, you may ask your capstone instructor to serve as Thesis Director and ask the sponsor to serve as the Second committee member. Remember, pursuing an honors thesis alongside your capstone means creating individual work for the thesis that builds upon the group project. Successful students often assume a leadership role in defining their capstone project or project domain. This can be helpful in later developing your thesis plan and honors Thesis Prospectus based on the Engineering capstone project options.  

Another suggested approach is to identify and speak to a faculty member about your honors thesis ideas to see if the faculty member is interested in working with you as your honor's Thesis Director. Then, if the faculty member agrees to serve as your Director, you can further discuss with the faculty the possibility to extend your honors project into a capstone project by taking on additional students. In this case, your thesis advisor can submit a capstone project reserved for you and your team. You can build the team in your capstone class to take the designated project.

If your project sponsor or the capstone instructor is not familiar with the process of combining these two projects and its requirements, please refer them to the FHA (Honors Faculty Advisors).

Honors thesis requirements in relation to their senior capstone project. If CSE students work on a project for their honors thesis in relation to their senior capstone project:

• The capstone instructor or capstone project sponsor (if the sponsor is an ASU faculty member) may serve as thesis director.
• A second committee member is also required and will be a member of the ASU faculty/staff with professional expertise in the project area, or a qualified local professional who works outside of ASU and has experience with the project area. 
• The Second Committee member may not be an undergraduate peer or a direct relative of the student.
• In a thesis and capstone project combined team, both Barrett students and non Barrett students are possible. The Barrett students who combine the thesis and capstone project are required to complete additional assignments or tasks toward the thesis and meet on a regular basis with their thesis committee.
• The thesis project topic options will be determined by the CSE faculty/Thesis Director, not necessarily determined by the students. 
• The CSE faculty/Thesis director will set the project assignments and expectations for the Barrett students, which will be outlined through the Thesis Prospectus.  
• All Barrett students are required to submit a written thesis to Barrett and participate in an oral thesis defense. 
• Students may produce individual papers or work on group projects, as determined by the Thesis Director. 
• Barrett students in group projects are required to submit their own Thesis Prospectus and submit their own copy of the final thesis to Barrett. 
• Students will earn thesis credit through CSE 492/493 and be awarded a letter grade or Y grade as determined by the thesis Director. A Z grade may be used as a placeholder while the project is in progress. 
• When combined with capstone courses, students who relate their honors thesis will do both CSE492 and CSE493 sequence aligned with the capstone I and II sequence. The honors thesis is a two semester experience. 

Dr. Chen’s supplement: http://www.public.asu.edu/~ychen10/teaching/cse493/capstone.html

Academic Preparation

CSE493. CSE492 and 493 (and 499, 484) may be taken only by senior students who have completed at least one semester in residence and who have a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or higher in the major or field of specialization. It will be ideal if a student has completed CSE310.

CS/CSE Honors Students are allowed to use an extra three hours of their electives which can be satisfied with CSE493. Students may not use more than 6 hours of total credits in CSE499, 492,
493, and 484 towards either degree program in Computer Science or Computer Systems Engineering.

Recommended Timeline

Students can start thinking of thesis topics as early as their freshman and sophomore years. The students should definitely have a clear plan of the thesis topics or research by their junior year.

Other Honors Opportunities

FURI (Fulton Undergraduate Research Initiative)
Undergraduate students within Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering can also participate in FURI (Fulton Undergraduate Research Initiative) to receive a stipend while doing a research or working on a thesis:

View a list of research labs.

View a list of faculty members who are actively looking for students to do their project.