College of Inform & Comp Sci 496L - IS- Makerspace Lab

This course is designed to provide CICS students with a structured environment for developing an idea into a minimal viable hardware prototype, relying heavily on the resources and expertise available through the college's Physical Computing Makerspace. Students will meet once per week with the instructor and will be responsible for creating a written project abstract and using that as a roadmap for building a physical prototype, with accompanying documentation, for presentation at the end of the semester. Weekly sessions will include peer review/brainstorming as well as critique and recommendations from the instructor. For a passing grade, students are required to attend critiques, submit assignments on time, and present a final prototype and proof of online documentation, with photos, on either a personal website or an online platform such as hackaday.io, hackster.io, etc. This is a largely self-directed course designed to give students the structure and feedback needed to transform their ideas into a physical prototype, thereby expanding their hardware maker portfolio.

Open to junior and senior Computer Science and Informatics majors. MANDATORY PASS/FAIL. INSTRUCTOR CONSENT REQUIRED. SOME PRIOR EXPERIENCE WITH HARDWARE HACKING, PROTOTYPING, OR CIRCUIT DESIGN IS RECOMMENDED BUT NOT REQUIRED. STUDENTS ARE ENCOURAGED TO AVAIL THEMSELVES OF THE WORKSHOPS AND RESOURCES AVAILABLE IN THE PHYSICAL COMPUTING MAKERSPACE, AND LEARN NEW SKILLS AS NEEDED ON THEIR OWN ACCORD. CAN BE TAKEN CONCURRENTLY WITH COMPSCI 190A MAKERSPACE LAB: FABRICATION TOOLS AND METHODS. INTERESTED JUNIOR/SENIOR CS/INFORM MAJORS SHOULD CONTACT INSTRUCTOR FOR PERMISSION TO ENROLL: tmburns@umass.edu