AAE 49700 Rules and Procedures

This course is intended to allow undergraduate students to engage in independent study and individual or small group research projects under the direction of the faculty. Projects may be initiated by students or by faculty. You must choose between credit or payment. 

Interested students should follow this process:

  1. Register for AAE 49700 by the FIRST Friday of the semester.
  2. Complete the Course Description Form with all the required information and signatures. 
  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.
  4. Submitting your deliverables. This step is only necessary if you are completing research outside of AAE such as ME, MSE, etc.

Important Notes:

AAE 49700: May count as specialization/selective credit or technical elective credit. You must submit your AAE 49700 form for review by the end of Week 1 (graduating seniors) or the end of Week 3 (all other students).

VIP 27920–47922: Offered by AAE Faculty and Courtesy Faculty may count as a specialization/selective credit, or technical elective. Offered by non-AAE faculty may only count as technical elective credit.

ME 49800/ME 49900: May count as technical elective credit.

MSE 49800: May count as technical elective credit.

Other non-AAE individual study/research: May 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.

If you are doing research outside AAE and want to use it for an AAE Selective or Specialization, you must submit your deliverables at the end of the semester for final approval. Please see Step 4 on how to submit.

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 first 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).

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: Submit the form

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

Step 4: Submitting your deliverables for research outside of AAE

  • At the end of the semester please submit your deliverables (e.g., presentation slides or report) to aaeugradresearch@purdue.edu so that your credit can be processed and appropriately applied to your plan of study.
  • 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.