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Director of Undergraduate Studies

The Director and Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Kahlert School of Computing work closely with students and faculty to administer the undergraduate degree programs.

Director of Undergraduate Studies
James de St. Germain
Professor, Lecturer
germain@cs.utah.edu
MEB 3190B

Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies
Daniel Kopta
Associate Professor, Lecturer
dkopta@cs.utah.edu
MEB 3190A

Transfer and prior learning credit

Transfer credit

To petition for credit to satisfy computing degree courses based on work done outside of the University of Utah, perform these steps:

1. 1. 1. 1. Locate materials that fully describe the course taken.

            • • course description
              • outline of topics covered
              • list of assignment descriptions
              • prerequisite courses
              • textbook or required reading

   1. Verify that the transfer credits have posted to your Degree Audit. If you have a prior degree, you may need to provide an academic advisor with a copy of your transcript for verification.
   2. Follow the instructions below for each course to be petitioned.

      • • For a Kahlert School of Computing course, complete the Transfer Course Evaluation Form.
        • For a Math, Biology, Physics, or Chemistry course, see College of Science Transfer Course Evaluations.
        • For a general education course, complete the Gen Ed Exception Form.

Credit for prior learning (AP, IB, and more)

https://admissions.utah.edu/information-resources/prior-learning-credit/

Capstone experience

Every student pursuing a Kahlert School of Computing degree must complete a two-semester capstone requirement, choosing between a team-based software project or an individual research thesis.

Senior project

Small teams of students develop significant software systems using disciplined software engineering practices in CS 4000 (AI, CS, and SD majors) or DS 4800 (DS majors) followed by CS 4500 / DS 4850.

Students may opt to complete a clinical capstone project, sponsored by local industry.

Bachelor’s thesis

An individual student conducts research under the supervision of a faculty member and ultimately produces a publication-quality description of the work in CS 4940 followed by CS 4970.  Both courses require permission of the Director of Undergraduate Studies.  For more information, an interested student can self-enroll in the Canvas course for Undergraduate Research and Thesis.

Honors thesis work

Both the senior project and bachelor’s thesis options of the capstone experience may be used to satisfy the Thesis Work requirement of the Honors Degree.  For more information see the Canvas course for Undergraduate Research and Thesis or contact an academic advisor.

Teaching assistant application

A student who has completed CS 2420 and has excellent performance in one or more CS/DS courses is encouraged to apply to be a teaching assistant at https://ta.cs.utah.edu/.

Academic Credit for internship

CS 4010: CS Internship is an elective course, taken typically during the summer between a student’s junior and senior year, in which students earn credit for coursework supporting an internship experience.  Enrollment is by permission only; see the pre-enrollment guidelines.

Scholarships

Kahlert School of Computing undergraduate students are eligible for scholarships offered by both the Kahlert School of Computing and the Price College of Engineering.  Awards are available for full-time students for fall and spring semesters only.  Continuing students, incoming transfer students, and entering freshmen are invited to apply.  See https://www.price.utah.edu/scholarships for the application and important dates.

Note: BS/ MS students are eligible to receive undergraduate scholarship funding only while they are in the undergraduate portion of the program.

 

Laptop and software requirements

Laptop requirement

Any student in a Kahlert School of Computing courses with laboratory sections is required to bring and use their personal laptop during the lab class.

Do not share laptops

Students should not share laptops for these reasons:

• • Assignments and other coursework are private to a particular student and must not be shared.
  • A student may need administrative access to their laptop.
  • A student may need to install/uninstall software packages.

Backing up data

Each student is responsible for the data on their laptop and should backup this data to a remote location (e.g., UBox, Google Drive) regularly so that loss of a laptop does not prevent the student from a timely completion of their coursework.

Suggested specifications

Most modern laptops built in the last two years should suffice for the minimum requirements.  Students may use either Macintosh or Windows compatible computers.  At least 512GB of storage is recommended.  Tablets are not recommended.

Required software

The laptop may run Windows, OS X, or Linux, as long as it is able to run the software required by courses, which may include PyCharm and Python, Eclipse and Java, C#, Linux or a virtual machine running Linux.  In general, it is the responsibility of the student to install and maintain the software on their laptop.

Access to the Price College of Engineering software via virtual machines

The Price College maintains a repository of virtual machines that students can access via a web browser or standalone application.  See the Remote Access FAQ for more information on remotely accessing these machines.  In some cases, the use of virtual machines alleviates the need for students to have specialized software running natively on their laptops.