Project Proposals

As part of Day 16’s pre-class assignment (which is due March 11, 2026, by 5 pm), you will make a short slide deck to present your project ideas to your colleagues. If you’re still having issues coming up with a project idea email your instructor and/or come to office hours and let them know. We’re here to help brainstorm! Do this sooner than later so that they have time to help you out. Just a reminder: if you find a better idea later on in the course and you want to switch to a different project, it is OK to do so. However, please discuss this with the instructor first to ensure adequate time and content.

For the pre-class assignment, you’re expected to prepare 1-3 slides for your proposed project idea. In class, you will be expected to give a very short presentation to a classmate (or two) using these slides. Here is one possible way to construct your slides:

Slide 1: Motivations: What question(s) do you want to answer? Why do you want to study this project?

Slide 2: Model/Computing Method: Briefly describe what model or computational method you plan to use for your project. The class will cover more modeling material as the semester progresses and you might need to use techniques that go beyond the scope of the course so, for now, a rough sketch will do.

Slide 3: Python Tools: What tools do you expect to use for data manipulation and visualization (plots)?

Regardless of how you set up your slides, you should make sure to include all of the content outlined above.

Making your slides

You can make the slides in whatever program you prefer (e.g. Google Slides, Powerpoint, or Keynote), but you need to output your slides in PDF format, name it LastName_FirstName.pdf, and upload it to the D2L dropbox for the Day 16 pre-class assignment.

Also, be prepared to present these slides to your classmates so that you can discuss any concerns you might have about your idea and get their feedback.