Independent Study

Independent Study#

An independent study is a structured opportunity to pursue focused, self-directed work on a research or development topic under faculty supervision (and get credits for it).

See also NC State CSC’s page on Research Credits.

About#

An independent study is a structured opportunity to pursue focused, self-directed work on a research or development topic under faculty supervision. If you are a graduate student in Computer Science at NC State, and your interests align with mine, this can serve as a low-overhead, high-impact way to collaborate.

  • For PhD students, I recommend completing an independent study with me before formally selecting me as your advisor. This allows us to test alignment in working style, communication, and research direction.
  • For Master’s students, I view this as a preferred precursor to a Master’s thesis. It ensures that the thesis topic is viable and that your skillset aligns with the proposed scope and methods.

Notes:

  • CSC 630 (Masters): Maximum of 3 credits may count toward graduation; submiting a summary to DGP required for non-thesis students.
  • CSC830 (PhD Students): Intended for exploring potential research directions; repeated use with the same faculty across semesters is discouraged. CSC890 is preferred for follow-up.

Scope & Expectations#

Your project should fall within my research areas:

  • Open Source Security and Trust
  • Software Supply Chain Security
  • Human-Centered Security and Privacy

Expected outcomes may include:

  • A working prototype,
  • A dataset and preliminary analysis,
  • A short research write-up,
  • Documentation or tooling contributions to an ongoing project.

Structure:

  • Meetings: Weekly
  • Deliverables: Initial project outline, short progress reports, final artifact (code, report, etc.).

Getting Started#

Email me a short proposal (1–2 paragraphs) that includes: Your academic background, Motivation and topic of interest, What you hope to produce or learn, Credit hours you’re requesting. If the topic is a good fit and scope is reasonable, I’ll confirm and help you proceed with registration.

Basic example for a proposal document, the sections and individual points don’t have to be filled out in the same way, but they should be filled out in some way.

Proposal Example

Independent Study Proposal#

  • Student Name:
  • Student ID:
  • Term:
  • Supervisor: Dr. Dominik Wermke

Background#

  • The proposed independent study builds on …
  • (This is a continuation of my previous work on …)
  • (This is a follow-up to my CSC X class project …)

Independent Study Overview#

This independent study aims to …

Plan#

The project will be executed in the following phases:

  1. Requirement Analysis
  2. Data Collection
  3. Data Analysis
  4. Implementation

Goal#

  • Collecting X to determine Y

Expected Outcome#

  • A report summarizing the findings
  • (A working prototype of X)
  • (A dataset of Y)

Registration Process#

You cannot self-enroll. Follow the university’s process for research credit courses:

Email the Graduate Office with:

  • Your full name and student ID
  • Course number (CSC630 for MS, CSC830 for PhD), plus section if known
  • My name as supervising faculty
  • Requested number of credits (1–3)
  • (For CSC630 only) one-page project summary (see proposal example above).

CC me and the DGP on the email. I will reply to confirm approval.

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