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Invest in our country's and our region's technological future. Gain more than 900 hours of focused attention for your project.​

What is a Capstone?             Who are Capstone Sponsors?             Who are Capstone Students?

Benefits to the Sponsor        Suitable Project Concepts                   Expectations for Capstone Sponsors

The Capstone Process         Timeline.                                                Students FAQs

What is a Capstone? 

Capstone projects are academic semester-long experiences for students nearing graduation. Student teams complete a substantial data science project that solidifies knowledge gained in the classroom and equips them for success in the following phase of their careers.

This fusion of classroom learning and work experience enables students to get ready for a career in industry and make the connection between theoretical ideas and practical applications.

Student teams make use of the technical and design skills they have developed throughout the Data Science curriculum to satisfy the sponsor’s objectives. They scope the issue and choose the most appropriate software, ML, and DL models to employ for it using standard software engineering and data science approaches. Then they create, evaluate, implement, and record their solution.

In order to assure project success and quality as well as to familiarize themselves with the process of professional software design, students also employ professional project management techniques. 

All projects are carried out within the parameters of the course by student teams, under the direction of faculty, and in close coordination with the sponsor.

Benefits to the Sponsor

Capstone sponsorship allows an organization to form an in-depth connection with a group of students who are nearing graduation. Through this connection, you may be able to find potential candidates and introduce them to the objectives and culture of your business. Capstone sponsorship serves as a mentorship role, helps our students become professionally ready, and instills positive habits as they get ready for the workforce.

In addition to your team, all students in the capstone course will be exposed to your organization as teams report out their work to the class. This offers excellent visibility, as capstone courses are large, and spreads word of mouth as students talk about their experiences throughout the year and at the university expo.

Suitable Project Concepts

All project concepts should have a clear purpose with a recognized value to industry or society. They should have specific functional objectives and provide significant design challenges.

Projects must have a level of complexity that is compatible with a five to seven -person team of master's students working on average 10 hours each for 15 weeks in the spring semester. Students should be able to explore various design solutions and make choices based on sound engineering reasoning with creative latitude in arriving at a final design and implementation.

Exploratory or proof-of-concept projects can be quite successful as capstone projects.

Customer-critical initiatives cannot be approved as capstone projects unless the customer assumes full accountability for the result. Results that are "good-to-have" and "test-of-concept" studies are more likely to be appropriate. Although the goal is to make every project a success, the primary purpose of the capstone is educational. The University of Colorado cannot take any responsibility for results deemed by the customer as “insufficient.”

Sample Projects

Expectations for Capstone Sponsors

The Capstone Process

With the help of course instructors, sponsors scope a project appropriate for master’s students and identify a technical lead who can interact with the team. In early January, projects are shared with students, who select their preferences. Instruction staff match students with projects according to preferences and skillsets required by the project. 

In the first three weeks, approximately half of students’ time will be spent on coursework where they study requirements elicitation and analysis, software process models, systems engineering, software configuration management, risk management, team work, software documentation, IP law, and ethics. The remainder of the students’ time is focused on scoping and architecting a design approach to their team project. By the end of the first three weeks, students and sponsors will come to a written agreement as to the scope of the project and requirements for successful project completion. 

Teams continue their work through the rest semester  building, testing, and iterating on their models. At the end of the spring semester, students will present at our College of Engineering Expo, attended by thousands of students, faculty, and sponsors. 

Teams give 3 presentations to the class in the semester and are subject to three reviews by the Project Review Board. Sponsors are welcome to attend any, or all, of these meetings.

All sponsors are required to actively participate in the project they have funded. The project's sponsors should choose a Technical Lead from company who can commit to the project for at least one hour each week. Close contact with the team during the early project definition phase is critical for project success. Depending on the software process model being utilized, the frequency of sponsor-team encounters will vary, and these are arranged jointly by the sponsor and team.

Course instructors are to be CC’d on all team contact.

Timeline

Students FAQs