REU-Site: A Summer Information TEchnology Research Experience for Undergraduates (SITe-REU)

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The Department of Computer Science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst is hosting a Summer Information Technology Research Experience for Undergraduates (SITe-REU) under the direction of Professor W. Richards (Rick) Adrion. We are recruiting students in community college pathways, i.e., students planning to transfer or who have transferred to 4-year programs. Minorities and women are proportionally better represented in IT associates degree programs than they are in bachelors programs. These students often are the first in their families to attend college, may lack family and community mentoring and role models, frequently are focused on job opportunities, and seldom think about graduate programs or research careers. Reaching out to this diverse student population to attract, retain and nurture them in upper division and graduate programs is the primary goal of our REU Site. We are partnering with three NSF BPC, two LSAMP, and one EGEP alliances and others to cast a wide net and bring a diverse set of students into positive research experiences. Each spring we will select 10 rising juniors or seniors to participate in a 10-week summer research experience. We identified research projects for the students that emphasize fundamental computer science that is core to addressing a broad set of IT challenges. Projects include: Robotics (sensor fusion for manipulation, emergency detection of immanent collision); Bioinformatics and Biocomputing (memory, circadian, or tumor modeling, protein folding, gene regulation); Wireless Networks (the DieselNET location system, database, and diagnostics, the TurtleNET wildlife tracking net); Learning Systems (pedagogical agents for intelligent tutors, jMANIC, Ubiquitous/Auto Presenter); Software engineering (medical error modeling, dispute resolution systems); Security/Privacy (medical Devices, RFIDs); and Data Mining (models for social nets).