The purpose of this memo is to record the relationship between UC Berkeley's Experimental Computing Facility (XCF) and the UC Berkeley Computer Science Division (CS).The XCF is a primarily student organization recognized by the Computer Science division. The XCF provides computing resources and an appropriate environment to individuals who undertake programming (or other computer science related) projects of moderate size as well as consulting to the users of the CS computing facilities. In addition, the XCF serves as a contact point between undergraduates and the CS faculty and staff to coordinate undergraduate efforts in these projects.
To facilitate general communication and cooperation between the XCF and CS, the XCF director works with a CS faculty advisor. The XCF director is an elected member of the organization, while the advisor is preferably the CNR Committee chair.
While members may join the XCF via the original proposal process, the XCF extends membership to those who choose to work on projects for the faculty or staff of the CS division. Faculty may take advantage of the XCFs participation by mailing project descriptions to the XCF, who will then make them available on their information server. The XCF will act as a "clearinghouse" for student projects, in some cases matching projects with suitably prepared students. Once a student undertakes a project, the faculty sponsor reviews the student's progress on a semesterly basis and decides whether to continue sponsorship. The student may also enroll in the "Supervised Independent Study" course (CS199). Grades for CS199 should be based on satisfactory progress on the project.