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).
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 web site 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.