ESNS

This is the fourth course in the ESNS Minor. Students enrolled have completed the Junior-level coursework, and are now prepared to develop detailed business plans for new products or companies, research proposals, or other technology business plans. The course is designed around self-study - while there is a regular weekly meeting students are expected to schedule their own time and to make appropriate progress on their projects.

Each student will be assigned a regular meeting time. These meetings are mandatory; however, students may also meet with the instructor at any other time as well. It is expected that as the project progresses meetings will occur with greater frequency. Students are encouraged to take part in all of the ESNS 310 activities as well, including presentations by invited speakers and attendance at student midterm and final presentations. Remember - many of the ScienceWorks speakers and board members are job sources!

Each student must submit a status memo to the instructor on Monday of each week. The memo (which must be in business memorandum format) must contain a statement of the progress made to date, progress since the last meeting, and planned activities in the subsequent week.

Each student must submit a detailed plan for the project, including a work breakdown structure and schedule, one week after the first scheduled meeting. The plan must be completely detailed, listing all tasks, expected results, reports, and deliverables. This schedule must be maintained throughout the semester, and be updated as needed.
As described below, adherence to the schedule is a component of the grade in this course.

Each student will give two presentations. The first is a poster session on your project for the Junior-level ESNS students, although it will also be open to the public.

The second talk is a formal presentation to the ESNS Advisory Board meeting on December 6th. The presentations will contain the following content:

• A description of the project
• The background to the project
• Work completed to date
• Plans for the project through the end of the school year.

Presentation dry-runs will be conducted prior to the formal meeting. Attendance at the dry-run session is mandatory.

You will be graded on both the quality of your work and your ability to meet the planned schedule for your project. Each weekly meeting will include a review of your planned work relative to work actually completed. Failure to meet your schedule will result in a minimum one-full letter-reduction in your grade.