Senior projects can take many different forms; see these project proposals for the coming academic year. Below are some current and recent projects:

2022-23

Final presentations 2023: A, B

2021-22

2020-21

2019-2020

Older Projects

Here are some selected projects from the more distant past.

• Extending Rhiemann Mapping for Sage (2011; advisors: Adams, Mike Bolt) - Ethan Van Andel wrote and optimized a rhiemann Python module that is now a standard part of the Sage software system. This project was done for honors; the final report is available in PDF format and in the CS Department office.

• Melodic Search Engine (2011; advisor: Plantinga) - Nat Burns built a melodic search engine for hymnary.org that enables users to play a few notes on a virtual keyboard and find matching melodies from hymnary.org's massive database. The search engine uses a sophisticated approximate matching algorithm and is the only such resource we know of.

• iPhone app for Wycliffe (2011; advisor: Plantinga) - Brad Greco built an iPhone app that Wycliffe will use for distributing literature and multimedia in countries around the world.

• Document Expansion (2007; advisor: Vander Linden) - Nathan Beach built a search tool for his ChristNotes website (http://www.christnotes.org/) that addressed term mismatch problems in information retrieval using document expansion. This project was done for honors. Here’s the final report: Beach2007.pdf.

• VanAndel Gene Bank (2006; advisors: Bailey, Kyle Furge) - Justin Kent built a web-based bio-information system in collaboration with researchers at the Van Andel Institute. Here's the final report: Kent2006.doc

• CAYVAN (2006; advisor: Laverell) - Jason Roelofs worked on an Engineering senior project team to build a media streaming system for the Hekman library. Here's his final report: Roelofs2006.doc and the Engineering team he worked with: Stream Come True.

• Galapagos (2006; advisor: Frens) - Andy Meneely built a genetic algorithms framework for use in research and education. You can see his system here: http://galapagosga.sourceforge.net. This project involved both software development and experimental design.

• Konfidi (2005; advisor: Vander Linden) - David Brondsema and Andrew Schamp built a framework of trust based on a network of authenticated people. You can find the results of their work here: http://www.konfidi.org. This project was done for honors (by one of the partners) and resulting in a research publication (for details, see MTW-2006).

• Eliot Eshelman and Dave Meyer, 2004. Eliot and Dave built a system for computer-animated puppetry including hardware puppets, hardware for digitizing puppet motions, and software for rendering puppet animations based on these motions.
• Matt Hanchett, "Bibles and Commentaries Browser", 2003. Matt designed an implemented a new web-based user interface for browsing Bibles and commentaries or other resources in parallel columns.

• Bibles and Commentaries Browser (2003; advisor: Plantinga) - Matt Hanchett designed an implemented a new web-based user interface for browsing Bibles and commentaries or other resources in parallel columns.

• Zuse: High Level Language Localizer (2003; advisor: Adams) - Wes Morgan wrote a "meta" languate/compiler that would allow a programmer to type a program in his or her native language, and the system would translate that program into the corresponding standard (English) code, and then compile that code. Or it could take a program in a standard language and translate it into one's native language. The system was modular, so that any of several natural languages could be used, and any of several programming languages. The final report is available in the CS Department office.

• Wes Morgan's "Zuse: High Level Language Localizer" (2003). This was a "meta" languate/compiler that would allow a programmer to type a program in his or her native language, and the system would translate that program into the corresponding standard (English) code, and then compile that code. Or it could take a program in a standard language and translate it into one's native language. The system was modular, so that any of several natural languages could be used, and any of several programming languages.

• Matt Post's "Online Voting: A Distributed Interactive Approach to Ballot Storage" (2002). This was a system to do eVoting securely, using encryption, paper trails, etc. If memory serves us right, I believe this grew out of Matt's work for CIT on the software to do Synod's voting system. Or was that Kevin Van Schepen? Maybe Kevin did the hardware and Matt did the software?

• Image Based Rendering (2002; advisor: Plantinga) - David Koop implemented a system for rendering a video sequence of motion "inside" the space represented in a 2-D image when the depths of points in the image are known.

• Online Voting: A Distributed Interactive Approach to Ballot Storage (2002; advisor: Adams) - Matt Post designed and prototyped a system to do eVoting securely, using encryption, paper trails, and so on. The final report is available in the CS Department office.

• David Koop, "Image Based Rendering," 2002. David implemented a system for rendering a video sequence of motion "inside" the space represented in a 2-D image when the depths of points in the image are known.

• Jason Bode, "Delight: page image lighting correction algorithm for OCR," 2001. Jason designed and implemented an algorithm for correcting lighting variations that occur in digital images of pages of books, to improve OCR results.

• Delight: page image lighting correction algorithm for OCR (2001; advisor: Plantinga) - Jason Bode designed and implemented an algorithm for correcting lighting variations that occur in digital images of pages of books, to improve OCR results.

• Slick: An Experiment in Self-Modifying Code (2000; advisor: Adams) - Elliot Nelson designed and built a translator for a programming language with C-like syntax that let programs modify their own statements at run-time. The goal was to have a language to facilitate machine learning by allowing a program to change its logic on the fly. The final report is available in the CS Department office.

• Brian Tol, "Bible Gateway Companion," 2000.

• Elliot Nelson's "Slick: An Experiment in Self-Modifying Code" (2000). This was a language/interpreter with C-like syntax that let you write a program that could modify its own statements at run-time. The goal was to have a language to facilitate machine learning by allowing a program to change itself on the fly.