ucla cs capstone project

Welcome! This website celebrates UCLA’s commitment to enhancing the scholarly development of our undergraduate students by providing them with opportunities to culminate their baccalaureate education with a creative demonstration of their knowledge and skills.

The long-term goal of the Capstone Initiative, which began in 2006, is to broaden substantially the availability of undergraduate capstone experiences.

I encourage you to explore this site to learn more about this exciting work and, if you aren’t already, to consider how you might become involved.

Adriana Galván Dean, Division of Undergraduate Education

Your Next Career Starts Here.

One year    full time    on campus, the professional master of engineering degree.

UCLA’s one-year Master of Engineering (MEng) self-supporting, professional degree is designed to develop future engineering leaders. The degree addresses the needs of both students and industry, tailored to those who wish to pursue technical management positions, with both high-tech skill set and management savvy. The program includes an interdisciplinary technological concentration, an engineering professional development component and a capstone project.

WATCH OUR INFO WEBINAR: UCLA Samueli School of Engineering Master of Engineering Program Overview

The 2024-25 application deadline is January 15, 2024.

 admissions decision notifications will be delivered via email by march 2024 from both the master of engineering program and the ucla graduate admissions office. applicants will be notified if anything is missing from their applications..

AREAS OF STUDY

Excel among a team of innovative engineers, business leaders and the UCLA network of cutting-edge technology and research labs. All areas of study involve an interdisciplinary technology concentration drawing from various departmental expertise.

Artificial Intelligence

Area Director: Prof. Guy Van den Broeck . Integrate faculty expertise from Computer Science, Computational Medicine, and Electrical and Computer Engineering. Focus on building smart machines capable of reasoning, learning and acting intelligently, and performing tasks that typically require human intelligence. VIEW DETAILS

Autonomous Systems

Area Director: Prof. T. C. Tsao . Integrate faculty expertise from Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science. Focus on recent advances including dynamic systems and controls, machine learning, optimization, and embedded and cyber-physical systems. It will also explore important autonomous system technologies including robotics, autonomous electric vehicles, transportation network, smart grids, etc. VIEW DETAILS 

Data Science

Area Director: Prof. Guy Van den Broeck . Integrate faculty expertise from Electrical and Computer Engineering, Computer Science and Computational Medicine. Focus on unifying statistics, data mining and analysis, machine learning, and distributed and parallel systems to understand and analyze large amounts of data. VIEW DETAILS

Digital Health Technology

Area Director: Prof. Eleazar Eskin . Integrate faculty expertise from Computer Science, Bioengineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Computational Medicine and the David Geffen School of Medicine. Focus on digital health tools that have the vast potential to improve our ability to accurately diagnose and treat disease and to enhance the delivery of health care. VIEW DETAILS

Green Energy Systems

Area Director: Prof. Jenn-Ming Yang . Integrate faculty expertise from Materials Science and Engineering, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and Electrical and Computer Engineering. Focus on renewable energy and energy storage including energy generation (fuel cells, solar energy and other renewables), storage systems (batteries, supercapacitors and large-scale storage), and smart grid systems and grid integration. VIEW DETAILS

Integrated Circuit Design

Area Director: Prof. C K KenYang.   This course addresses the growing demand for high-performance circuits in AI, communication and emerging technologies. Moreover, it equips students with the skills to tackle the challenges posed by new devices and complex circuitry. VIEW DETAILS

IoT Systems

Area Director: Prof. Mani Srivastava . Integrate faculty expertise from Computer Science and Electrical and Computer Engineering. Focus on the foundation needed to design, implement and fabricate systems for the “Internet of Things” — where computing, sensing, actuation and communication capabilities are embedded in and coupled with physical spaces and humans. VIEW DETAILS

Translational Medicine

Area Director: Prof. Song Li . Integrate faculty expertise from Bioengineering, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Computational Medicine and the David Geffen School of Medicine and Dentistry. Focus on improving human health and longevity by translating discoveries in biomedical sciences into disease therapies. Translational medicine facilitates the development of diagnostic tools and therapeutics, and the application of systems biology and data sciences to biomedical problems. VIEW DETAILS

COURSEWORK FOCUS

Interdisciplinary technology concentration.

Each technology concentration requires five engineering courses. These five courses are cross-departmental and are offered as part of the traditional master’s program.

Engineering Professional Development

Engineering professional development requires three graduate-level courses that can include technical project management, systems engineering, financial management, management communications and engineering entrepreneurship.

Capstone Project

Industry-sponsored capstone projects will enhance connections and networking opportunities vital to career development. The project will involve students working in teams to conduct hands-on design, fabrication and testing. It will integrate all aspects of degree requirements: technical, financial, management and communication. VIEW DETAILS

“The Master of Engineering professional-degree program will develop valuable business and technology skills sets for our students — preparing them for today’s dynamic workplace as they become tomorrow’s industry leaders.”

— Jenn-Ming Yang , Faculty Director of the new MEng program and Associate Dean, International Initiatives and Online Programs

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UCLA Graduate Programs

Graduate Program: Computer Science

UCLA's Graduate Program in Computer Science offers the following degree(s):

Master of Science (M.S.)

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

With questions not answered here or on the program’s site (above), please contact the program directly.

Computer Science Graduate Program at UCLA 404 Westwood Plaza Engineering IV, Room 291 Box 951596 Los Angeles, CA 90095-1596

Visit the Computer Science’s faculty roster

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

Visit the registrar's site for the Computer Science’s course descriptions

• Admission Requirements
• Program Statistics

(310) 825-0060

[email protected]

MAJOR CODE: COMPUTER SCIENCE

• Capstone Option 1: C&S BIO 199 & M187

Capstone Option 1: C&S BIO 199 & M187 is designed for students completing research in a UCLA faculty member’s lab. This is the most common option pursued by students to satisfy the Capstone coursework.

About Capstone Option 1

Required Courses: C&S BIO 199 (4 Units) AND C&S BIO M187 (4 Units)

In Option 1, students will engage in supervised research with a UCLA faculty member while taking 4 units of C&S BIO 199, a directed research course. At the completion of C&S BIO 199, the supervising faculty mentor, also known as the Primary Investigator (PI), will assign a grade based on students’ work in the lab and a culminating paper or project providing evidence of work completed, as outlined in the 199 contract.

Students will then complete C&S BIO M187, a research communications class that teaches students to communicate research results both orally and in writing through in-class presentations and completion of the senior research thesis. In this class, students will complete the three deliverables for the Capstone project as described here . The final grade for M187 will be assigned by the professor of the class, in consultation with students’ senior research advisor, based on the deliverables completed.

Planning for Capstone Option 1 Courses

For Option 1, C&S BIO M187 is typically offered in Spring quarter (subject to change). Most students will take this course in Spring of their 4 th year. Prior to taking C&S BIO M187, students must take at least one quarter of C&S BIO 199. It is recommended that students plan for this course in Winter quarter of their 4 th year, immediately before C&S BIO M187, but other quarters are possible. While students are not required to take a second C&S BIO 199 course while enrolled in M187, they are expected to continue their research during the quarter in which they take M187.

Research Expectations for Capstone Option 1

Students are expected to find their own research project prior to starting the Capstone courses. Students are required to complete, at minimum, two quarters of research supervised by a UCLA ladder faculty member while they are enrolled in the Capstone courses. Students are advised, however, to start early, ideally finding a project in their junior year. Some research labs will not accept senior students due to the amount of time it takes to train and onboard a new student into the lab. Therefore, starting in the junior year is recommended.

Students may take additional quarters of C&S BIO 199 to get credit for their research, but this is not required.

For the Capstone research, students will want to find a ladder faculty member (rank of assistant professor, associate professor, professor—not an adjunct or lecturer) who will agree to supervise their thesis. A faculty member who has “In Residence” listed after their professorial rank is fine (e.g., Associate Professor In Residence). Students can check faculty member titles via the UCLA Directory . If students are unsure if the Primary Investigator (PI) they hope to work with is a ladder faculty member, please send questions to Message Center .

The goal is to find some part of a project for which the student can be the lead person that creates a coherent and contained research story, even if it is contributing to a larger goal or project by the faculty member/PI (usually it is). The individual part (i.e. student contribution) should involve some aspect of math modeling, computational simulation, or data analysis, so that there is a quantitative/mathematical/computational piece. The research should also be connected to a biological question. In the end, students should look for a project for which they can explain and justify a goal, then communicate what they did to achieve said goal. For the purposes of the Capstone classes, the research needs to be enough for a coherent story: a 10-minute presentation, a poster, and an approximately 10 pages or longer paper.

Students are encouraged to fill out a Research Compact to outline goals and expectations for the project. Students should also provide their faculty mentor with a copy of Expectations for PIs Supervising CaSB Capstone Research Projects document.

Enrolling in the Capstone Option 1 Courses

C&S BIO 199 is a contract course. Enrollment requires the creation of a contract between the student and the professor who will be supervising the research. The contract outlines the research project that the student will be working on and describes what tangible evidence the student will provide at the end of the quarter as evidence of work completed (this is normally in the form of a final paper or project). Contracts are generated via MyUCLA (go to the “Academics” tab and then “Contract Courses”). Students must fill out the contract and obtain their professor’s/PI’s signature. The contract should then be emailed to the CaSB Undergraduate Office no later than Wednesday of Week 2 of the quarter. The CaSB Departmental Counselor will obtain the second required signature from the CaSB Chair. More info about contract courses can be found here .

C&S BIO M187 enrollment will be via MyUCLA during regular enrollment passes.

Students following Capstone Option 1 who are interested in substituting another department’s 199 course for C&S BIO 199 should submit a course substitution petition. Petition forms and policies can be found here .

Sample Syllabi and Resources

Interesting links.

• 5-Year B.S./M.S. Departmental Scholar Program
• Academic Advising
• Academic Eligibility
• Advising Appointments
• Career Exploration
• CASB Student Profiles
• Commencement
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• Poster Session
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• Registration and Enrollment
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• Bioinformatics Concentration
• Bioinformatics Track
• Major Methodology Core Descriptions
• Biological Data Sciences Concentration
• Biological Data Sciences Track
• Capstone Courses & Research Expectations
• Capstone Option 2: C&S BIO 198A & 198B
• Biomedical Systems Concentration
• Capstone Option 3: C&S BIO 195 & M187
• Concentration Curriculum (Major Admits Before 22W)
• Dynamical Modeling Track
• Neurosystems Concentration
• Systems Biology Concentration
• Track Curriculum (Major Admits 22W and Forward)
• Customized Tracks
• Uncategorized
• December 2014
• February 2013
• December 2012
• October 2010

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