Students Show off Projects during Winter Semester Showcases

A number of CS students finished the semester strong by displaying their projects during the winter semester project showcases. Students, professors, and parents were able to see a combination of hard work, creativity, and skill during the ENG 100, EECS 183, EECS 373, EECS 467, and EECS 494 project showcases.

ENG 100: Gaming for the Greater Good

Gaming for the Greater Good, taught in W15 by Dr. David Chesney, introduces first-year engineering students to programming and computer science through the development of computer games. This course is unique because Dr. Chesney uses it to introduce students to the concept of “engineering for the greater good;” projects in his class must meet a socially relevant need or educational purpose. Through their work in the course, students acquire both sound programming skills and a knowledge of engineering production, ans well as a focus on the needs of the user.

EECS 183: Elementary Programming Concepts

Elementary Programming Concepts, taught in W15 by Dr. Mary Lou Dorf and others, is an introductory course in computer programming for non-CS majors in the College of LSA. Topics rcovered during the course were control-flow, introductory data structures, algorithms using selection and iteration, basic object-oriented programming, testing, and debugging. Dr. Dorf has reworked the curriculum to replace the final exam with a final project and showcase – a large undertaking with over 600 students in the class!

EECS 373: Embedded System Designs & Implementation

Embedded System Design & Implementation, taught in W15 by Prof. Prabal Dutta, is for junior/senior students and is focused on the principles and practices of modern embedded systems design. In class, students learn about computer architecture beyond the CPU, fundamentals of the hardware/software interface, techniques for sensing and controlling the physical world, and a few other topics.

EECS 467: Autonomous Robotics

Autonomous Robotics is a theoretical and hands-on introduction to robotics from a computer science perspective. It was taught in W15 by Prof. Benjamin Kuipers. Topics included kinematics, inverse kinematics, sensors, sensor processing, motion planning, control, Kalman filters, dynamics, and artificial intelligence methods.

EECS 494: Computer Game Design and Development

Computer Game Design and Development, taught in W15 by Jeremy Gibson, exposes senior-level students to both the design and development aspects of computer game design. The course culminates in a video game showcase where the students demo the games that they have created for their capstone projects. Students are expected to use a thorough knowledge of C#, a general purpose programming language, and Unity, a game development engine that enables students to easily combine code, graphics, sound, animations and effects into a working computer game. With these tools, students were asked to design and develop increasingly complex games throughout the semester.

EECS 498: Building a Mobile Phone Ensemble

Building a Mobile Phone Ensemble, taught in W15 by Prof. Georg Essl, was first taught in Fall 2009 and merges engineering practices, mobile phone programming, and sound synthesis with new music performance, composition, and interactive media arts. Students in the class design and develop their own new mobile phone instruments and compose new performance works that explore the creative potential of their imaginations. They perform their new works at a public concert in April, at the end of the term.