Syllabus

The goal of the Early Undergraduate Research Experience program (EREP/U2RPHD) is to help ease undergraduate students with no prior research experience into their first research experience, preparing them to seek out URA opportunities afterwards. In this program, undergraduate students will work in teams (2-4 students) on a research project with a graduate student mentor, attend a mandatory virtual and synchronous research methods course taught by Computing Research Association (CRA), and a mandatory in-person weekly research meetup with all undergraduate students and graduate mentors in the program.

The course components and the corresponding grade breakdown are as follows:

1. CRA Research Methods Course (60%)

CRA’s research methods course will cover the foundations of research with the goal of supporting students in completing their pre-identified research project. Participants will develop and apply practical research skills, like reading and interpreting research papers, conducting literature reviews, and analyzing and presenting data. Students will hone their research comprehension and communication skills, develop an understanding of research ethics, and build their confidence in their identity as a researcher. All concepts and skills will be taught in the context of students’ projects.

Students are expected to actively participate in the same course session and time (i.e., either the Wednesday or Thursday session) as their research team. They should be attending all course sessions with camera on, arriving on time, participating in discussion when prompted, completing course assignments in a timely fashion). Students will be allowed no more than 2 unexcused absences throughout the CRA course. The grading will be done by the CRA course instructor and communicated to the EREP/UR2PhD program coordinator at University of Waterloo.

2. Research Project (20%)

Active involvement in a research project, through engagement with your research group (1-3 other undergraduates), graduate student mentor, and faculty advisor (if applicable), is extremely important. Active involvement means: consistently showing up to research team meetings, meeting task deadlines, communicating effectively with team members, grad mentors and faculty advisors, etc. At the end of the term, students will be rated by the graduate student mentor and faculty advisor on the level of their research involvement and contribution, which can be Outstanding (20% + 5% bonus), Meet Expectations (20%) or Does Not Meet Expectations (10%).

3. Research Meetups (20%)

Students are expected to attend the weekly in-person research meetups, which is meant to provide a welcoming peer support environment where all students and mentors in the program can learn from each other. Meetups may involve social / ice-breaker activities, project presentations from individual teams, panel discussion about graduate school and research as a career, etc. This component of the course is graded by attendance, which is in-person.

Communication Protocol

Students are expected to attend class. Special consideration can be made for a few exceptions (e.g., academic travel, illnesses and family emergencies). However, students must discuss their anticipated absence with the instructor. In the event of illness due to COVID, please stay home.

Evaluation

Students will be evaluated on the quality of their participation in the CRA course, research project and research meetups.

Policies

Academic Integrity

In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the University of Waterloo community are expected to promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. See http://uwaterloo.ca/academic-integrity for more information.

Grievance

A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of his/her university life has been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for initiating a grievance. Read Policy 70, Student Petitions and Grievances, Section 4. When in doubt, please be certain to contact the department’s administrative assistant who will provide further assistance.

Discipline

A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity (check https://uwaterloo.ca/academic-integrity/) to avoid committing an academic offence, and to take responsibility for his/her actions. A student who is unsure whether an action constitutes an offence, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offences (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about “rules” for group work/collaboration, should seek guidance from the course instructor, TA, academic advisor, or the Undergraduate Associate Dean. For information on categories of offences and types of penalties, students should refer to Policy 71, Student Discipline. For typical penalties, see the Guidelines for the Assessment of Penalties.

Appeals

A decision made or penalty imposed under Policy 70 (Student Petitions and Grievances) (other than a petition) or Policy 71 (Student Discipline) may be appealed if there are grounds. A student who believes he/she has grounds for an appeal should refer to Policy 72 (Student Appeals).

Note for Students with Disabilities

AccessAbility Services (formerly the Office for Persons with Disabilities), located in Needles Hall, Room 1132, collaborates with all academic departments to arrange appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities, without compromising the academic integrity of the curriculum. If you require academic accommodations to lessen the impact of your disability, please register with AccessAbility Services at the beginning of each academic term.