Write a proposal for your final project.  It doesn't have to be
extremely detailed but it should include something along the lines of
the following information:

1.  Title of the project.

2.  Background Material.

This section should describe the underlying scientific and/or
mathematical problem which motivates the proposed computations.  This
should be accessible to a nonexpert and may include a high level
description of the mathematical model if appropriate.

3.  Project Description.  

This should describe what you propose to do in order to advance the
understanding of the problem at hand.  Presumably, there is some large
computation at the heart of your problem above.  In this section,
describe the computation and include your preliminary ideas on how
this computation may parallelize.

4.  References.

This may be URLs or other references.

Remember that this is a preliminary proposal. It doesn't have to be
more than one or two pages (more is OK if necessary, but don't try to
write it all out yet!) You will need to schedule a time (10-15
minutes) to discuss this with me after I read your proposal.  If you
have no idea what to do, make an appointment to see me soon and we can
discuss some ideas.

Please turn this preliminary proposal in to me by Monday October 11, 2010.