SF250X / SF259X VT25 Degree Project in Scientific Computing, Second Cycle

Master's Thesis at NA

This CANVAS-page is for master's thesis project.

  • SF250X: Students studying the Computational mathematics (COMA) track of the master's programme applied and computational mathematics
  • SF259X: Students studying the second year at KTH of the master's programme in Computer Simulations for Science and Engineering (COSSE)

Goal

The goal of the master's project is to give the student experience in carrying through herself/himself a large project in scientific computing and to give deeper knowledge and understanding of the subject. 

Prerequisites

SF250X: All courses in year 1-3 from your bachelor, or courses required for issuance of a bachelor's degree and at least 60 credits of advanced level courses must be completed. The courses on advanced level must include two mandatory or conditionally elective courses in the track as well as a course in the theory of science and research methodology. Moreover, additional courses may be required before starting the work depending on the subject of the assigned project.

Contents

The master's project is a 30 ECTS credit course, i.e. approximately five months of full time work. The project is individual. No group projects are allowed. The project includes:

  • A literature search, where adequate text books, articles and reports are studied.
  • Investigation of a problem in Scientific Computing, to be presented in a thesis, a scientific report.
  • Taking part in some seminar activities in Scientific Computing at KTH, in particular at the NA department.
  • Oral presentation of the thesis.
  • Opposition, i.e. to give constructive criticism of another person's master's thesis.

Examination

The course is examined by an independently written thesis, an oral presentation and an opposition of another thesis.  The quality of the report contents, the report form, the presentation, the opposition and the work process all contribute to the final grade. For more details, see course syllabus. All these aspects are taken into account in the grade.

SF250X: Grade  P/F scale.

SF259X: Grade  A/F scale.

 

Practical information

Before the course

Before starting the course you need a project that is approved by an examiner. Below is a checklist of what you need to do. NB! If you are a computer science student in the CDATE program you also, additionally, need to get the project approved by your program director. Please contact him/her at a reasonably early stage in the process.

  • Verify that you are eligible to do the master thesis.
    Check that you fulfill the prerequisites above. If you are uncertain, you should talk to your student councellor or program director.

  • Find a project.
    Start by searching for a project. You may look for proposals in the KTH's Degree Project PortalLinks to an external site.. You may contact a company or a research group directly and ask for proposals. Note that Scientific Computing is an interdisciplinary subject. Many research groups at KTH use extensive computations in their daily work. You may also propose your own project. You may also search for old projects Links to an external site. in the field and contact previous supervisors or students if there are projects in those areas. 

    The project should be an academic study, where the main part consists of a thorough investigation and analysis of a problem related to applied mathematics, computations, typically scientific computing. Although projects are typically set in an applied field such as physics, fluid dynamics, data sciences or electromagnetics, there should be a substantial computational mathematics part. Only a small part of the work may be routine work and then as support for the analysis. If programming is involved its purpose should be to verify methods and theories that have been developed in the project.

    If you are uncertain if a project idea satisfies the above criteria, you may want to contact a supervisor or the track responsible (for TTMAM COMA) / director of the programme (for COSSE).
    Thesis projects abroad: If your project will take place abroad, please read the instructions from the school: https://www.kth.se/en/student/studier/utlandsstudier/examensarbete/examensarbete-utomlands-1.2140
  • Write a preliminary project plan.
    Write a short description of your project where you briefly explain the background, the application and the main mathematical/numerical problems involved. Outline your ideas on how to tackle the problem and a time schedule for the work. List some references (books/articles) that you think can be used as a starting point for the work. The project plan should be written by the student, possibly with feedback/help from a supervisor.

  • Find a supervisor.
    External projects as well as projects done in the department, need to have a supervisor and examiner (often being the same person). External projects need, in addition to your supervisor in company/university, a supervisor in the NA-group or division.

    NEW! In order to obtain a supervisor at NA please fill out this online form: https://www.kth.se/form/na-thesis-supervisor-matchmaking. Only fill this out after you have a project. Eventually you will receive a confirmation by email about who will be your supervisor. Please also fill it out if you have agreed with a supervisor in the department.
    The supervisor(s) and/or examiner should approve the plan before you can continue.

  • Start up meeting for external projects.
    If you do your project at a company you should set up a meeting (e.g. on Zoom) with your external supervisors, your NA supervisor and the examiner where the goals and organization of the project can be briefly discussed. The company also needs to sign a contract Download contract with KTH before the project can be approved.

  • Final approval and registration to the course.
    Send the following documents to the  supervisors:
    • Filled out master thesis application form Download master thesis application form.
      Fill out as much as you can yourself,  also the second part. No signature is needed for "Underskrift studierektor".
    • Project description.
    • Contract signed by the company and yourself (if applicable).
    • Students studying CDATE need to confirm relevance to the programme. Send a project description and plan to the PA for CDATE and ask for permission.The NA supervisor (or NA examiner) sends signs the master thesis form and sends the above documents to gruadm.

If the examiner accepts your project, you will be enrolled in and registered to the course. Note that all this must be done before you start working on your project.

Course registration issues:    If you have submitted the thesis application form to your supervisor, but after 10 days is still not registered to the course, please ask the NA-supervisor / examiner if he/she submitted the form. If he/she submitted the form, you may want to ask gruadm@math.kth.se if they have received it and when they may be able to register you.

Then carefully read through the information on this page. Observe in particular the grading criteria and the part about the thesis work below.

Thesis work

Organize the thesis work together with your supervisor(s) and make suitable arrangements so that you will be supervised continuously during the project. Make sure to have regular contact with your supervisor(s). Before the main work starts you should find literature and read through the basic background material necessary to carry out your project. This should lead up to a final project plan, with a project specification and a time schedule for the work.

In addition to the actual thesis project and the writing: 

  • Taking part in a research seminar.
    The seminar can be in the NA group or another research group, but it should deal with problems of Scientific Computing. Ask the seminar organizer to email your supervisor who can approve this task. Please take a selfie while the seminar takes place or is it about to start. Upload in the corresponding CANVAS assignment. You should attend in person (not digital), unless agreed otherwise with the supervisor. NA group seminars are found here:
  • Be the opponent of another Master's candidate.
    This is usually done at the same time as the presentation of your project. (See below for more info.)

Report

The report should include

  • General problem specification
  • Background putting the work in context,
  • Description of the mathematical model(s) of the problem
  • Mathematical/numerical methods used
  • Results

Discuss the structure of the report with your supervisor. It is advisable to start the writing early and have your supervisor give (general) comments also on preliminary versions.

Practicalities:

Presentation 

The main rounds of presentations are held in the beginning of June. To be able to present at that time, the thesis must be completely finished, submitted and approved by your supervisor before the end of May. After the summer there will be a second round of presentations.

The presentation should be around 30 minutes plus and additional 15 minutes for opposition and questions by the audience. 

Before the presentation you should submit some information necessary for the final reporting of your thesis and its registration in DiVA. This is done using the following form

https://www.kth.se/form/diva-registration-mathematics

Opposition

 

As part of your thesis requirements, you will be assigned to act as an opponent for another master's thesis. We will tell you who who will be your opponent, no need to search yourself. You will receive the thesis at least one week before the scheduled opposition. Your role as an opponent is crucial for providing constructive feedback and engaging in scholarly discussion.

Your tasks as an opponent include:

  • Before the opposition:
    • Critically review the assigned thesis, focusing on the problem statement, choice of methods, and discussion of results.
    • Note any errors, unclear sections, or areas that pique your interest.
    • Write a short opposition report on the thesis, following these instructions. You may use the provided LaTeX/Overleaf template Links to an external site. to structure your report.
  • At the thesis seminar:
    • Directly after the author's presentation: Provide an oral assessment and ask questions regarding the thesis report and presentation to stimulate discussion and further clarification.  (approximately 10 minutes).
  • After the thesis seminar:
    • Send your opposition report to the author and supervisors (yours and the supervisor of the other student) by email to help improve their work.

The opposition is an essential part of the thesis process, as it allows you to critically engage with another student's work. The goal is that it enhances your skills to read and analytically evaluate results.

Finishing the course

After the presentation, review any feedback and consider integrating it into your final report. Confirm with examiner / supervisor if there are substantial changes. Complete the publication information for your thesis using this link.

Send the finalized report to your examiner and/or supervisor by email. Include in your email:

  • Your name +  your personnummer
  • Final title of your thesis (in swedish and english, or just in english)
  • Date of the presentation 
  • Date of opposition
  • Final report in PDF-format

He / she will submit it to the administration for registration in ladok.

 

 

Note that you will not receive your examination document without having fulfilled these formal requirements.

Now, you are done.