REU Site: Applied Computing Research in Wireless Sensing of Marine Data

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This CISE REU Site award provides funding to Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, a Hispanic Serving Institution on the Texas Gulf Coast, to offer research experience in applied computing to 24 undergraduate students of primarily Hispanic descent. The students will participate in deriving solutions for technological challenges faced by researchers in the collection, storage, and analysis of data from marine and aquatic environments of the coastal region. The primary objective of the program is to provide participants unique research experiences in a stimulating environment that will involve designing, developing, adapting, and testing wireless sensor networks for data gathering operations from marine and aquatic environments. Activities include training sessions and social events designed to enhance group cohesiveness and to hone technical writing, communication, and leadership skills. Primary research activities will occur in the areas of design of marine sensor networks, reliability and security of marine sensor networks, and integration of marine sensor data from a variety of domains on the Gulf of Mexico. The participants will write and present research papers on their work in local, regional, and national symposiums. The intellectual merit comes from student participation in a unique marine-based research program that seeks solutions for survivable, secured, and reliable design of sensor networks for marine environment; energy-efficient sensor data gathering for marine applications; and integration of marine sensor data from a variety of domains on the Gulf of Mexico. The students participate in projects that have the potential to impact the field and to make a contribution to the university's efforts to become a global leader in research on the Gulf of Mexico and its resources. The broader impacts of the proposed program will extend beyond the project in a number of ways. These experiences should instill in the students a passion for research in applied computing for environmental applications and should motivate them for further learning and discovery in the computing disciplines. The project has the potential to increase retention rates of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors. The project should also broaden inter-institutional collaboration, particularly among Hispanic serving institutions nationwide and will advance science and technical knowledge on sustainable marine resource utilization and preservation globally.