Syllabus

Grade Breakdown (BDD I):

• 20% Class participation (active in presentations, turning small assignments)
• 20% Active in projects
• 10% Presentations
• 25% Proposal
• 25% Mid-project report

Grade Breakdown (BDD II):

• 20% Class participation (active in presentations, turning small assignments)
• 20% Active in projects
• 10% Presentations
• 25% Final report
• 25% Code and documentation

Course Plan

BDD is a 1 year course split across the two semesters (BDD I and BDD II). The first semester is focused on 1) getting situated with and learning about a problem, 2) developing an approach, and 3) beginning to execute the approach. The second semester is focused on 1) executing and debugging the approach, and 2) Technical written and oral communication. Specifically:

Semester 1:

• Week 1: Intro and mini-Hackathon (Rank-order matching)
• Weeks 2-3: group and project selection
  • Students will select from a list of projects
  • Groups will be chosen around each project (<6 members/group)
  • Rank-order voting will ensure best fit matching across projects
• Weeks 4-7: Formulate an approach to the problem
  • Deliverable: Each group will submit a short proposal outlining their project. including
  • Problem formulation: What is the problem you are tackling and why is it important? What are the specific challenges?
  • The proposed method: How are you planning to solve the problem? What methods are you going to use and how will they address the stated problem?
  • Expected result & deliverables: What tangible evidence of your effort will be produced? Is there a target performance? Is there a target code-base?
  • Expected pitfalls & mitigation strategies: What is most likely to go wrong? Are there coping strategies if said issues do arise?
• Starting in week 4 class time will include a weekly recap from each group. These recaps will outline current progress of the group. During the project organization weeks, the recap will consist of presenting the literature and identified approaches with the express goal of getting feedback from the broader group.
• Approach execution & Iteration Weeks 8-14
  • Deliverable: Each group will submit by the end of the semester a mid-project report outlining the successes and challenges faced so far. This report should reference the original proposal and outline:
    • What of the proposal has been tried, and what were the challenges and results?
    • What in the initial proposal did not work and what steps were made to address or circumvent the problem?
    • What are the next steps and are there any required changes to the project deliverables in light of the work thus far?
• After week 7, the weekly recaps will persist, however the topic will change from the literature and identified approaches to current progress and emerging challenges or roadblocks that the group is dealing with.

Semester 2:

• Weeks 1-8: Approach execution & iteration
• Weeks 9-14: Dissemination.
  • Deliverable: Each group will submit
    • A project report that will serve to present the entirety of the effort over both semesters. This will include
      • Project description and motivation
      • Methods & Approach
      • Results & deliverables
      • Conclusions & future work
    • A finalized code-base with full commenting and documentation
    • A 30-minute oral presentation of the work
    • A poster design to be presented at the BME Design Day