Overview
Interested Coastal Carolina University students at all academic levels (including freshmen!) are welcome to contact me at mmurphy2@coastal.edu for more information about independent study projects. Students in all academic programs offered by the Department of Computing Sciences are welcome to participate, including students in fully online programs. For the most part, it is not necessary to be on the Conway campus in order to work on these projects. That said, some projects that involve hardware may be easier to do on campus.
Undergraduate Students
Academic credit is available for CSCI 399 (Independent Study) for 1 to 3 credit hours per semester. In general, new students would start at 1 credit hour, increasing credit hours in one of these projects (or another faculty-led project) in future semesters. A time commitment of 50-75 clock hours per semester is expected per credit hour of CSCI 399.
Students in the B.S. Computer Information Systems and B.S. Information Technology degree programs (online or in-person) can count CSCI 399 credits toward the 12 credits of CSCI courses numbered 200 or above for each program. Students in the B.S. Computer Science degree program can count CSCI 399 credits toward the 3 credit requirement of a CSCI course numbered 200 or above.
Graduate Students
For projects at the graduate level, students can elect the thesis option. CSCI 799 (Thesis Research) credits would apply for up to 6 credit hours. Graduate students electing the thesis option would complete a masters thesis in accordance with Graduate School requirements. Please note that some projects are intended for lower-level students and are not suitable for graduate thesis work.