Engineering Report

This is a project course specifically for MEng students. After completing one term, M.Eng. students can conduct an engineering project and write a report in their area of specialization, in lieu of 6 credits of conventional coursework. Students need to identify a project and supervisor before registering for the course. Students will receive guidance from their project supervisor in developing the research topic.

There is flexibility about when and where the project is performed. Students need to take the initiative in finding or developing a project. There are three principal ways of generating a project:

Students can choose from an existing list of projects submitted by ECE faculty. The M.Eng Program Advisor has sent a link to these projects to all M.Eng students for you to view.

Students can also design their own projects in this course. Students are encouraged to approach individual faculty members if they have project ideas. The faculty member will be responsible for the day-to-day direction of the project and will agree on a final mark with the M.Eng. Program Advisor (MPA).

Students can write a report in conjunction with a coop placement or volunteer position. In this case, someone outside the university may have involvement with the project supervision, but the final mark will be decided by the Program Advisor.

Students will receive guidance from their project supervisor in developing the research topic.

How does this course differ from a MASc thesis?

This project course is half the credit value of the MASc project and there is no requirement for a formal oral examination, research component or archiving of the report.

Unlike a research degree, there is no expectation that this project will be publishable, although students are encouraged to submit it to the UBC eCircle repository. Confidential work can form part of a project and although this does not need to be published, the faculty supervisor and MPA must be able to review it.

Please review the EECE 597 course requirements (below and as a EECE 597 Course Requirements) with your supervisor during the first week of the semester. It is particularly important to discuss these requirements with external supervisors.

EECE 597 Requirements

There is flexibility about when and where the project is performed. It could be a purely paper study supervised by a faculty member in ECE or it could result from an external coop placement. Some important notes:

The Program Advisor (MPA) is ultimately responsible for submitting the course mark and should be consulted if there are any questions on policy.

A student must identify a project and supervisor before registering for the course.

Since this is an EECE course the project must have adequate electrical or computer engineering content.

A supervisor may be from outside the ECE department or outside the university, but in that case, the MPA will approve the proposal at the beginning of the course.

Supervisors and students must inform the MPA of any potential conflicts of interest. These might include having a supervisor who is a family member and the MPA will specify what remedy is appropriate.

There is a Connect site for this course, to which all registered students will have access. This is primarily to provide a confidential central depository for written work, which will be used in the case of any disputes. Since the supervisor may not have direct access to this site a pdf copy of written work should be sent directly to the supervisor with an identical copy uploaded to the Connect site.

The supervisor will specify the details of the requirements and the assessment for the particular project and normally will provide the final mark to the MPA. According to the course title the main deliverable is a final project report and in the case of dispute only the written work on the Connect site will be reassessed by the MPA or delegate.