ECE 499 - Engineering Project

ECE 499 Project Course (ongoing)

Instructional Team

Course Description

ECE 499 is an engineering project requiring the student to demonstrate initiative and assume responsibility. The student will arrange for a faculty supervisor prior to registration. Students can propose their own topic. A project report is required at the end of the term.

The ECE 499 Project is an elective course that can be taken once by a student in their 4A or 4B term. Note that this is a single-term course. Once a project topic of interest is determined, then a supervisor should be found (typically a faculty member of ECE). The departmental web pages for faculty should be consulted to learn more about the research interests, recent publications and supervised graduate student thesis titles of the individual faculty members. Each faculty member has an official web page here (maintained by the department) and additional links to personally maintained web pages of many faculty can be found here or elsewhere on the univeristy websites. The student should identify and contact a potential faculty member to arrange a meeting and discuss the possibility of doing a 499 Project supervised by them. The professor may already have some possible areas for a project and give you the opportunity to work with an active research team. Although most faculty have a narrow area of research interest, they also tend to have a wide area of expertise and may be willing to supervise a project that you are interested in. Many students have a topic that is of interest to them and then try to find a faculty member willing to supervise it.

In some cases, it may be permissible for a team of students (typically 2) to work on a project of sufficient complexity. The same regulations apply to a team project.

A Project is also well suited to the student pursuing a combined Bachelors/Masters program. In this case, a Project is often taken in the 4B term to prepare for the research in the Masters program by actively joining the professor’s research team during the project duration.

Registering for the Project Course

Once the student has found a faculty supervisor for the project, they can fill out the registration form. The faculty supervisor must also sign the registration form. When completed, then return the form to the course coordinator (mcrowley@uwaterloo.ca) and ECE Advising (ECE Advising eceadvis@uwaterloo.ca). Students typically have until the term’s regular course drop and add time to finalize an ECE 499 Project. It is generally expected that the Project Supervisor is a faculty member of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, but elsewhere in Engineering is possible under exceptional circumstances.

Registration Form:

Once the form is submitted to the Course Co-ordinator, they will inform the departmental staff to allow registration in ECE 499 for the student.

Project Evaluation

By the end of term the project should be completed, and a report written. This report should be submitted for evaluation by two faculty members:

  • the student’s project supervisor
  • plus another faculty member who the supervisor will invite

The evaluation should be completed by the project supervisor using the evaluation form below, and returned to the course co-ordinator and ECE Ugrad staff.

Ideally, the report should be submitted at/before the end of lectures in the academic term prior to the start of exams. It certainly should be completed within a week after the end of classes. This allows sufficient time for the readers to evaluate the report and provide a grade to the course co-ordinator to be submitted.

Evaluation Form:

Learning Outcomes

The objective of this elective is to provide the student with an opportunity of studying, in depth, a topic of their choice. In doing so, they are expected to demonstrate initiative and ability to define a problem and develop a solution logically and accurately, so that they can appreciate, discriminate, and draw conclusions from observations and ideas. They also need to demonstrate they can make recommendations and communicate effectively by means of a written report on their work. In their 4A term, each student who elects to do an ECE 499 project proposes a topic of their choice and arranges for a faculty member to approve their proposal and to act as their project supervisor. The student may also select a topic from a list of projects provided by the faculty. There is a great deal of latitude in the choice of topic and the department supplies materials and provides technician/computer-time and test equipment, all within reasonable limits dictated by budgetary constraints.

Tentative Class Plan

No scheduled classes. The course works as a project coordinating between a student and a supervising faculty member. The project is defined in collaborations between the student and professor, then evaluated by an additional professor for the final grading of the project for the term.

A formal report must be generated at the end of the academic term in which ECE 499 is taken. This report is read and evaluated by the student’s supervisor as well as a second faculty reader. The report is to be submitted at/before the end of lectures in the academic term prior to the start of exams. This allows sufficient time for the readers to evaluate the report and provide a grade.

Late / Missed Content

The final delivery deadline for the project writeup needs to be within the regular term exam period in order to give time for the project supervisor, and secondary faculty reader, to grade the report and submit grades to the course co-ordinator before grades are due. If there is a need for some additional time the student should work proactively with their project supervisor and the course co-ordinator. If the student does not submit a report or arrange extensions before the end of the term exam period they will receive zero for the course.

Generative AI

The general GenAI policy is provided below. But for this project course it is important for the student and project supervisor to agree to their policy on the use of GenAI tools. The project supervisor’s wishes on the use or restrictions for this project will override any policy below.

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) trained using large language models (LLM) or other methods to produce text, images, music, or code, like Chat GPT, DALL-E, or GitHub CoPilot, may be used under specific conditions in this course with proper documentation, citation, and acknowledgement. Permitted uses of and expectations for using GenAI will discussed in class and outlined on assignment instructions.

Recommendations for how to cite generative AI in student work at the University of Waterloo may be found through the Library.

Please be aware that generative AI is known to falsify references to other work and may fabricate facts and inaccurately express ideas. GenAI generates content based on the input of other human authors and may therefore contain inaccuracies or reflect biases.

To protect the privacy and security of any data entered, students should use the University’s version of Co-Pilot and login with their UW ID. Data entered into other systems can be added to training sets, monitored, geolocated and even reproduced as output which may share private personal information or result in intellectual property breaches.

In addition, you should be aware that the legal/copyright status of generative AI inputs and outputs is unclear. Exercise caution when using large portions of content from AI sources, especially images. More information is available from the Copyright Advisory Committee.

You are accountable for the content and accuracy of all work you submit in this class, including any supported by generative AI. You should be able to readily demonstrate your knowledge of your submissions. To demonstrate your learning, you should keep your rough notes, including sources, research notes, brainstorming, drafting notes and prompts. You may be asked to submit these notes along with earlier drafts of your work, either through saved drafts or saved versions of a document.

Administrative Policy

Policies for the project should be determined on an individual basis for the project with the professor and student, however, in general, the work by the student on the project, and the interaction on the topic should be consistent with Faculty of Engineering guiding practices for teaching.

Faculty of Engineering Guiding Practices

Territorial Acknowledgement: The University of Waterloo acknowledges that much of our work takes place on the traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishinaabeg and Haudenosaunee peoples. Our main campus is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land granted to the Six Nations that includes six miles on each side of the Grand River. Our active work toward reconciliation takes place across our campuses through research, learning, teaching, and community building, and is centralized within the Office of Indigenous Relations.

Inclusive Teaching-Learning Spaces: The University of Waterloo values the diverse and intersectional identities of its students, faculty, and staff. The University regards equity and diversity as an integral part of academic excellence and is committed to accessibility for all. We consider our classrooms, online learning, and community spaces to be places where we all will be treated with respect, dignity, and consideration. We welcome individuals of all ages, backgrounds, beliefs, ethnicities, genders, gender identities, gender expressions, national origins, religious affiliations, sexual orientations, ability – and other visible and nonvisible differences. We are all expected to contribute to a respectful, welcoming, and inclusive teaching- learning environment. Any member of the campus community who has experienced discrimination at the University is encouraged to seek guidance from the Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Anti-racism (EDI-R) via email at equity@uwaterloo.ca. Sexual Violence Prevention & Response Office (SVPRO), supports students at UWaterloo who have experienced, or have been impacted by, sexual violence and gender-based violence. This includes those who experienced harm, those who are supporting others who experienced harm. SVPRO can be contacted at svpro@uwaterloo.ca

Religious & Spiritual Observances: The University of Waterloo has a duty to accommodate religious and spiritual observances under the Ontario Human Rights Code. Please inform the instructor at the beginning of term if special accommodation needs to be made for religious observances that are not otherwise accounted for in the scheduling of classes and assignments. Consult with your instructor(s) within two weeks of the announcement of the due date for which accommodation is being sought.

Respectful Communication and Pronouns: Communications with Instructor(s) and teaching assistants (TAs) should be through recommended channels for the course (e.g., email, LEARN, Piazza, Teams, etc.) Please use your UWaterloo email address. Include an academic signature with your full name, program, student ID. We encourage you to include your pronouns to facilitate respectful communication (e.g., he/him; she/her; they/them). You can update your chosen/preferred name at WatIAM. You can update your pronouns in Quest.

Mental Health and Wellbeing Resources: If you are facing challenges impacting one or more courses, contact your academic advisor, Associate Chair Undergraduate, or the Director of your academic program. Mental health is a serious issue for everyone and can affect your ability to do your best work. We encourage you to seek out mental health and wellbeing support when needed. The Faculty of Engineering Wellness Program has programming and resources for undergraduate students. For counselling (individual or group) reach out to Campus Wellness and Counselling Services. Counselling Services is an inclusive, non-judgmental, and confidential space for anyone to seek support. They offer confidential counselling for a variety of areas including anxiety, stress management, depression, grief, substance use, sexuality, relationship issues, and much more.

Intellectual Property: Be aware that this course contains the intellectual property of their instructor, TA, and/or the University of Waterloo. Intellectual property includes items such as:

  • Lecture content, spoken and written (and any audio/video recording thereof).
  • Lecture handouts, presentations, and other materials prepared for the course (e.g., PowerPoint slides).
  • Questions or solution sets from various types of assessments (e.g., assignments, quizzes, tests, final exams); and
  • Work protected by copyright (e.g., any work authored by the instructor or TA or used by the instructor or TA with permission of the copyright owner).

Course materials and the intellectual property contained therein are used to enhance a student’s educational experience. However, sharing this intellectual property without the intellectual property owner’s permission is a violation of intellectual property rights. For this reason, it is necessary to ask the instructor, TA and/or the University of Waterloo for permission before uploading and sharing the intellectual property of others online (e.g., to an online repository).

Permission from an instructor, TA or the University is also necessary before sharing the intellectual property of others from completed courses with students taking the same/similar courses in subsequent terms/years. In many cases, instructors might be happy to allow distribution of certain materials. However, doing so without expressed permission is considered a violation of intellectual property rights and academic integrity.

Please alert the instructor if you become aware of intellectual property belonging to others (past or present) circulating, either through the student body or online.

University Policy

Mental Health: At the University of Waterloo, we are dedicated to supporting your mental and emotional well-being. Our Counselling Services offer confidential support, including individual counselling, workshops, and crisis intervention. If you’re struggling, please reach out for help at 519-888-4096 or visit their website for more information.

Academic integrity: In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the University of Waterloo community are expected to promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility.

Grievance: A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of their university life has been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for initiating a grievance. Read Policy 70, Student Petitions and Grievances, Section 4. When in doubt, please be certain to contact the department’s administrative assistant who will provide further assistance.

Discipline: A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity to avoid committing an academic offence, and to take responsibility for their actions. A student who is unsure whether an action constitutes an offence, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offences (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about “rules” for group work/collaboration should seek guidance from the course instructor, academic advisor, or the undergraduate associate dean. For information on categories of offences and types of penalties, students should refer to Policy 71, Student Discipline. For typical penalties, check Guidelines for the Assessment of Penalties.

Appeals: A decision made or penalty imposed under Policy 70, Student Petitions and Grievances (other than a petition) or Policy 71, Student Discipline may be appealed if there is a ground. A student who believes they have a ground for an appeal should refer to Policy 72, Student Appeals.

Note for students with disabilities and disabling conditions: The University of Waterloo recognizes its obligations under the Ontario Human Rights Code to accommodate students with known or suspected disabilities and disabling conditions (e.g. medical conditions, injuries, impacts of trauma such as from violence or discrimination) to the point of undue hardship. To support this obligation, AccessAbility Services (AAS) collaborates with all academic departments and schools to facilitate academic accommodations for students with disabilities and disabling conditions without compromising the academic integrity of the curriculum. If you believe you may require academic accommodations (e.g., testing accommodations, classroom accommodations), register with AAS as early in the term as possible by completing the online application. Students already registered with AAS must activate their accommodations for each of their courses at the beginning of each term using AAS’ online system. If you require assistance, contact AAS by phone (519-888-4567 ext. 35082), email (access@uwaterloo.ca) or in-person (Needles Hall North, 1st Floor, Room 1401).