In addition to the course requirements, each major must carry out an integrative exercise (“comps”). During fall and/or winter terms of the senior year, the student will participate in a capstone project. Students will work in small teams of students on a faculty-specified topic, where each team is supervised by a faculty member. Each project involves both a theoretical component (designing and validating algorithms, analyzing data) and an implementation component (developing, testing, and debugging software). Check out the rubric for measuring success.
Upon conclusion of the project, each team will present its work in a colloquium, open to Carleton students, faculty, and friends and family members. In addition, each team is expected to document its work on a website and release the finished software.
You can see information on past comps projects in our archives. Each spring term, we publish the projects for the upcoming academic year.