SYST 798 / OR 680

Research Project / Applications Seminar

Kathryn Blackmond Laskey
Department of Systems Engineering and Operations Research
George Mason University
(703) 993-1644
Office hours: 3-4PM Thursday or by appointment
Office location: 321 ST2

Spring, 2008
ST2 Room 9

Course Description

This course is designed to be the capstone course for the master’s degree program in Systems Engineering, the master's degree program in Operations Research, and the certificate in computational modeling.  Students complete a major applied group project. Work includes project proposal planning, completion, documentation, and presentation. For Operations Research students, the focus is on model development and implementation involved in the practice of operational modeling. For Systems Engineering students, the focus is on assessing stakeholder needs, developing a solution, and performing analysis to demonstrate that the solution meets stakeholder needs. This course provides the students with the opportunity to put all of the course material covered in the past into practice.  It also provides the faculty with the opportunity to test the student’s ability to have assimilated the course material and certify that the student is ready to receive the Master of Science degree in Operations research or System Engineering.    

The class will be divided into project teams. Each team must tackle a complex, unstructured project and develop a solution that will be presented to stakeholders.  Students will apply the technical, management, and teamwork skills they have developed during their studies. A major component of the students' grade will be a presentation to be given at the end of the semester to SEOR Department faculty and outside stakeholders.

Course Information

Class Hours:             Th 7:20 – 10:00 pm, ST2 Room 9
Pre-requisites:           21 graduate credits in Systems Engineering and/or Operations Research (SE students must have taken SYST 611)
Instructor:                 Kathryn Laskey
Office:                       ST2 Room 321
Office hours:              Thursdays 3-4PM or by appointment

Requirements

The main activity in this course is a group project. Each team of 3 or 4 students is responsible for choosing a project, developing a solution, producing  interim deliverables, writing a final report, and presenting results to faculty and external sponsors.  Each group must have an identified stakeholder for whom work is being performed. Stakeholders are expected to provide guidance and feedback on students' work. Projects may be related to a student's job, but must be separate from the student's assigned work responsibilities. Project groups and sponsors must be finalized by Week 3.  Each group is responsible for constructing and maintaining a group web site describing their project. The web site may be built in WebCT and/or a site of the student's choosing.  Please use relative addressing for all internal pages.  At the end of the semester, web sites will be moved to a permanent location, where they can be viewed by future students as examples of past projects.  The web site must contain links to softcopy versions of the final presentation and final report.  Each individual student must maintain an activity log which is subject to inspection on demand.  There will be interim reports and presentations throughout the semester, including midterm and final self and peer evaluations.  At the end of the semester, students will hand in a final report and give a presentation to faculty and outside sponsors. 

Spring 2007 and Spring 2008 Project Web Sites

Evaluation Criteria

Grades for the group will be based on the project proposal (10%), web page (5%), activity log (5%), self and peer evaluations (5%), other interim deliverables (15%), final report (30%), and faculty/sponsor evaluation of final presentation (30%).  Individual grades will be adjusted from the group grade based on the self and peer evaluations and the faculty/sponsor comments on individual final presentations.

Readings

There is no assigned text for this course.  The following are useful references on problem-solving, oral and written communications, and teamwork:
  1. How to Solve It: Modern Heuristics, by Z. Michalweicz and D.B. Fogel, Springer, 2nd edition, 2004.
  2. Exploring Requirements: Quality before Design, by D.C. Gause and G.M. Weinberg, Dorset, 1989.
  3. Adios, Strunk and White: A Handbook for the New Academic Essay by G. Hoffman and G. Hoffman, Verve, 3rd edition,   2003.
  4. Teamwork is an Individual Skill: Getting Your Work Done When Sharing Responsibility,  by C. Avery, M.A. Walker, E. O'Toole, Berett-Koehler Publishers, 2001.

Schedule 

Jan 24 Introduction to course. Background information exchange. Presentations of project ideas.
Jan 31 Team formation and initial project planning.
Feb 07 Finalization of teams. Discussion of project ideas and scope.
Feb 14 Team project proposal due.  Contains problem definition, preliminary requirements, technical approach, expected results, initial project plan
Feb 21 Status reports (10 minutes per team) and working meeting
Feb 28 Working meeting 
Mar 06 Progress reports (20 minutes per team)
Mar 13 Spring break - no class (but teams may use this time to  meet)
Mar 20 Status reports (10 minutes per team); working meeting; Mid-term self and peer evaluations due
Mar 27 Individual meetings with teams to discuss progress
Apr 03 Formal progress presentations (30 minutes per team)
Apr 10 Formal progress presentations (30 minutes per team)
Apr 17 No class (teams may use this time to meet)
Apr 24 Dry run of final presentation
May 01 Dry run of final presentation. Written final report hardcopy due for display in SEOR office. Final web site due.
May 09 (Friday 12:30 - 16:00) Final presentations to faculty and sponsors