AAE 49700 Rules and Procedures

AAE 49700 Research for Credit - Rules and Procedures

Planning your AAE 49700 Experience

An AAE 49700 experience is intended (1) for you to learn new skills that you might not otherwise acquire in traditional courses, and, (2) to give you an opportunity to contribute to research, which is the creation of new, useful knowledge. Your professor must support you in both these aspects. That means that they (often together with a graduate student) must train and mentor you, and not expect you to just pick things up on your own. And it means that they must have a specific way for you to contribute to research.

Taking on a 49700 requires sustained and direct commitment from a professor but also requires commitment from you. Your professor, and graduate student mentor(s) where applicable, are investing time in your learning and growth. You must show up for lab work hours and meetings. You must be responsive to requests and questions via email, Teams, etc. You must deliver what you said you would. When you realize you will be late, you must communicate that and work with your mentor(s) on a contingency plan. You must ask for help when you’re stuck; don’t just hope you’ll magically figure it out. If things go wrong, don’t just disappear. Try talking to your mentors first, and if that doesn’t work or you have some reason you don’t want to talk to them about the issue, reach out to your academic advisor.

You will need to fill out an AAE497 Course Description Form (CDF) with your tasks and deliverables. This form may seem like irritating bureaucracy, but it’s actually a great example of how things are done at real companies. Most proposals for work involve some kind of statement of what you will do, and what you will deliver. Thinking carefully about these two aspects helps ensure that you have a meaningful experience of which you can be proud. Ultimately, the AAE497 form is a formal agreement between you and a professor: both parties sign it and both parties are responsible for abiding with it. Please see the how-to guide in step 2 for filling out your CDF appropriately.

Interested students should follow this process:

  1. Register for AAE 49700 by the SECOND Friday of the semester.
  2. Complete the Course Description Form with all the required information and signatures. Use the 'How-To Guide for AAE497 Course Description Form'.
  3. Submit the Course Description Form via email to aaeugradresearch@purdue.edu by the THIRD Friday of the semester. However, if it is your final semester, you must complete all the steps by the end of the first week so that we can make sure all approvals are in place and that you are on track to meet all the graduation requirements. 
     Note: Failure to submit a correctly completed form will result in your form not being sent for approval and not being able to count as AAE credit. 
  4. Submit your deliverables. 

Important Notes:

AAE 49700, ME 49800/49900, and VIP27920-47922 that are offered by AAE Faculty and Courtesy Faculty may count as specialization/selective credit, or technical elective credit. Research offered by non-AAE Faculty or Courtesy Faculty may only count as technical elective credit.

You may apply for up to 6 total approved credits of research via individual study or VIP towards specialization/selective credit on your plan of study. You may be able to count additional individual study or VIP credit towards technical elective credit.

The amount of credit you are requesting must be reflected in the hours you will be doing research.

*Please note that 1 credit hour is the equivalent of ~3 hours of work per week.

Step 1: Registration

Requirements

  • You must have a faculty sponsor. Only an AAE faculty member or courtesy faculty member can award credit for an AAE 49700 project.
  • If you are doing research with faculty outside AAE, and wish to receive course credit for it, you must register for the appropriate course in that department.
  • You and your sponsoring faculty member should discuss and agree on the intent and focus of the course and your individual expectations.

Process

Use the scheduling assistant to register for a course with a variable title. For instructions, watch the video below. This step must be completed by the second Friday of the semester.

Workflow after registering

  1. Your faculty supervisor must first approve the request, then an academic advisor and department academic designee will review and approve it or return it to you or your faculty supervisor if changes are needed. Purdue University's Registrar’s Office is the final approver.
  2. Once the Registrar’s Office has approved and it posts to your schedule (2–3 business days), you must confirm that everything posted as expected, because changes can be made during the approval process.
  3. For instructions on how to verify the request, watch the video, "How to confirm the creation of a variable title course request," and confirm everything posted as expected.
  4. Once the course has been posted and looks correct, fill out the Course Description Form to add the course to the plan of study, as explained next.

Step 2: Completing the Course Description Form

  1. Download the AAE49700 Course Description Form. NOTE: This form is a fillable PDF and should be completed electronically.
  2. Download the How-To Guide for AAE497 Course Description Form. Your form must clearly and unambiguously indicate the tasks you will be performing and the expected deliverables.
  3. Complete the form according to the How-To guide. If the form is not filled out to completion, or with enough detail, it may delay approval, or your request may be denied.
  4. Get the required signatures and submit the form via email by the third Friday of the semester (Step 3). Forms sent after this date will not be reviewed!

Team Projects

  • Each team member must still submit their own Course Description Form. 
  • The team should agree on a basic description. Make sure the faculty supervisor has reviewed this description. 
  • The form must explain how each student's role is suited to the study area where that student wishes to apply the credit. For example, if you want it to be a Structures major elective, be sure that the Structures component of the project is explained.

Step 3: Submitting the form

Submit the form to aaeugradresearch@purdue.edu by the THIRD Friday of the semester. 

Step 4: Submitting your deliverables

  • You must submit a copy of your graded deliverables to aaeugradresearch@purdue.edu by the Friday of Quiet Week. We cannot process your research until we receive this information.
  • Do not submit code or technical drawings, or any documents containing restricted material. Make sure to review and discuss the deliverables you plan to submit with your professor and obtain their approval to submit.