This year’s capstone course will run May-June, 2025 (~8 weeks).
The soft deadline for UBC Capstone proposals is Nov 1st. And the hard deadline is Nov 29th. Proposals sent in by Nov 1st will receive feedback (that will hopefully increase their chances of being selected).
| Event | Deadline/Period |
|---|---|
| Call for Capstone proposals opens | September 1, 2024 |
| Suggested initial submission of proposal | November 1, 2024 |
| Proposal deadline | November 29, 2024 |
| Confirmation email and next steps sent to partner | December 6, 2024 |
| Partners submit video presentations | December 16th - January 13th, 2025 |
| Capstone fair | February 7th, 2025 |
| Students rate the projects | February 17th, 2025 |
| Partners confirm legal templates with their legal departments | March 1st, 2025 |
| Partners demonstrate proof of data | March 1st, 2025 |
| Students are assigned to projects | March 15th, 2025 |
| Partners and students submit signed legal documents | April 15th, 2025 |
| Kickoff meetings | April, 2025 |
| Kickoff/Coding Challenge | April 28th-30th, 2025 |
| Project | May 1st - June 25th, 2025 |
| Year-End Celebration | June 25th, 2025 |
Proposal revision process
Members of an organization interested in participating as a capstone partner should submit a project proposal.
Proposals received before November 1st will be reviewed by the MDS-CL teams and feedback/suggestions for revisions will be provided to the partner, who can then revise portions of their proposal before submitting a proposal video to students. This revision process aims to maximize the chance of a proposal being selected by students. Proposals received after November 1st will not be provided with feedback.
Partners submit video presentations
Capstone partners should submit video presentations (approx. 5 minutes) to provide information about their projects. We are not expecting production-quality videos and we do not want you to spend too much time on this. The main purpose here is to help our students better understand your project(s) before attending the capstone fair so that they are ready to ask you meaningful questions.
Capstone fair
Capstone partners must attend the Capstone Fair to meet with the students and answer any questions they may have. The Capstone Fair takes place at the UBC Point Grey campus in Vancouver. For remote capstone partners, we will organize a virtual fair. Detailed information will be emailed to each capstone partner.
Students rate the projects
After the capstone fair, the students assign a final rating to the projects.
Partners are notified of our decisions
Based on student interest, the MDS-CL leadership team decides which projects will move forward. Student groups are assigned to the projects at the same time.
Partners demonstrate proof of data
Before a project may begin, the partner must provide MDS-CL with a demonstration or written (email) declaration that the data has been collected and prepared (in the form specified in the proposal) and will be ready in its entirety to be shared with the students by May 1st.
Partners submit signed legal documents
Partners may view our NDA and IP agreements here https://ubc-mdscl.github.io/capstone/guide-to-mutual-nda-ip/. There may be no edits to any of the capstone documents. These documents are provided to give the partner clarity on how they are interacting with a student group. This is not a paid consulting situation and may not be treated as a product development contract.
Kickoff meetings
The students will arrange a date and time with their capstone partner, teaching fellow mentor, and career advisor to have an initial meeting to discuss the project. It is common that students sign any required legal documents at this meeting, which means the students should be sent the documents for review at least 7 days in advance.
Project
The project itself. At the end, partners can expect the students to present at the partner organizations. Partners will also be invited to an end-of-program celebration at UBC.
Kick-Off/Coding Challenge
The Capstone project typically starts with a multi-day kick-off and coding challenge at the UBC main Point Grey campus. Day 1 of the kick-off focuses on professional skills, Day 2 focuses on technical skills and hosts a coding challenge, and Day 3 is when students dive into their project data.
Capstone partners are strongly encouraged to attend the afternoon of the 3rd day of the kick-off. In the past, students have found this very valuable, as they were able to ask questions about their dataset and clarify other data science issues with the partner.