Some students have to write a paper or take an exam for their final. And then there are some students that have to uncover a terroristic plot against the United States for their final project.

The students in Isaac Brewer's IST 331 (Organization and Design of Information Systems) class were given a 45-page packet of 115 intelligence reports called "All Fall Down." After reading the reports, the groups had to do two things.

First, they had to determine the terrorist plot. Second, they had to figure out how their analysis software could be altered so more than one group could work together to crack the terrorists' plans.

They presented their findings last night to their fellow students and members of the intelligence information community.

This is the first project of its kind at Penn State, and Brewer said because it was successful, it will most likely continue to be used in other IST classes.

The intelligence scenario, written by Frank Hughes, was part fiction and part fact.

Some of the people in the scenario were actual wanted terrorists; others had already been arrested or killed. Brewer got permission from the Joint Military Intelligence College to use it for the class.

The packets of intelligence were divided into reports from the FBI, CIA and National Security Agency (NSA.) The class was divided into groups, and each person in the group became a FBI, CIA or NSA agent.

The group had a single laptop on which to enter data so as to simulate the hurdles these intelligence agencies faced in attempting to work together on a single project.

The software for the project -- Analyst's Notebook -- is used by multiple intelligence agencies.

The software, usually valued at about $3,600, was donated for free.

The students had to struggle with this software and come up with ideas for how Analyst's Notebook could be used with by more than one group.

The students started learning how to be experts in intelligence and in the software program in the middle of the semester.

"It seems overwhelming at first," Daniel Donnelly (junior-information, sciences and technology) said, "but you pick it up really quickly."

The students agreed that the project was better than having to write a final paper.

"It's really catchy," Donnelly said. "A lot more rewarding. It was about terrorism, but more about problem solving."

Matthew Minissale (senior-information, science and technology) was a member of Donnelly's team and said this kind of application could be used for business, political science and any kind of problem solving major.

"This was something anyone could do," Minissale said.

One of the possible scenarios that the students came up with involved transporting biological weapons across the world on cruise ships.

Another concerned launching an attack in heavily populated cities in America.

Two unidentified FBI agents also came to the presentation to see the students' work, but they couldn't comment to the press.