REU Site: Engineers for Exploration

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The Engineers for Exploration (E4E) Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site engages undergraduate students from a broad range of disciplines in computer systems research motivated by real world challenges in exploration and scientific discovery. The site provides an intimate mentored research environment at the University of California San Diego and a structured collaboration with scientists, explorers, and engineers at our partner organizations. Past and present projects include collaborations with the San Diego Zoo Global, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Mexican Comision Nacional de Areas Naturales Protegidas, Belize Foundation for Research and Environmental Education, US Department of Agriculture, National Geographic Society, Hubbs SeaWorld Research Institute, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the California Wolf Center. The participants create technology for conservation, cultural heritage, and exploration and are deployed around the world by site participants, scientists, and explorers for research expeditions in Belize, Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Mexico, and Mongolia. The site targets participants from diverse backgrounds who do not have the opportunity to participate in this type of research. The participants work in a multi-tiered mentoring program interacting with faculty, scientists, postdoctoral scholars, and graduate students. When coupled with the community building activities, this makes a positive and memorable experience, encouraging participants to pursue further research training. During the ten week summer program, Engineers for Exploration (E4E) site participants work closely with scientists, explorers, and engineers to develop technology that generally focuses on remote sensing with elements in robotics, computer vision, data analytics, machine learning, and visualization. For example, previous participants designed, prototyped and deployed systems to create large scale visualizations of the Maya archaeological site El Zotz in Guatemala, track endangered iguana hatchlings across different Caribbean Islands, and document ecological characteristics of mangroves in Baja California, Mexico. The primary goal of this REU site is to expose the undergraduate participants to real-world, hands-on research projects. The participants work full-time during the summer to build technology that will ultimately be deployed in the field by scientists, researchers, and explorers. The development of this technology brings together the techniques and skills from the participants' undergraduate classes with real-world problems, and thus provides a sound connection between theory and practice. The hope is that exposure to cutting-edge, applied research will motivate them to consider graduate school and become the next generation of researchers. To accomplish this overall goal, the REU site has four specific objectives: 1) Involve participants in intellectually stimulating, multidisciplinary projects, 2) Provide real-world projects with mentorship from scientists and explorers, 3) Recruit and attract a diverse population of top quality students from a variety of backgrounds in engineering, and 4) Develop mentorship, leadership, and teamwork skills amongst the post-doctoral scholars, graduate students, and REU participants.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.