REU Site: Research Experience for Undergraduates in Immersive 3D Visualization

本科生研究体验(REU)网站奖为一个新网站提供资金，使纽约城市大学亨特学院(CUNY)每年有10名本科生能够进行身临其境的3D可视化研究项目。其预期影响是利用身临其境的3D技术的创造潜力，吸引和扩大妇女和未被充分代表的少数群体在STEM和计算机领域的参与。为了实现这一目标，REU的这个网站将：(I)每年夏天让10名学生直接学习身临其境的3D可视化，并与其他分领域合作开展指导研究项目；(Ii)提供这些研究领域常见工具和技术的培训；(Iii)激励参与的学生将STEM视为一条职业道路，并在研究生水平上从事STEM职业；以及(Iv)具体针对妇女和代表性不足的群体的参与。研究人员将确定具有沉浸式可视化需求的研究合作者，并将每个学生分配到REU团队。每个REU团队将由一名研究导师和一名REU学生组成。导师团队不仅包括来自CS的成员，还包括来自电影和媒体、新闻和生物科学等不同背景的成员。这笔资金支持亨特学院和纽约市立大学继续为弱势群体提供高等教育的使命。在世界各地的实验室和企业中，沉浸式可视化和虚拟/增强/混合现实(VR/AR/MR)在讲故事、数据发现和分析过程中发挥着关键作用。在身临其境的环境中表示数据可以共享对数据的理解，并支持多学科研究人员之间的协作。因此，这个REU网站的智力价值是通过支持一个旨在调查可视化和研究性讲故事过程中人类互动的研究议程来促进知识的发展。这个REU网站将实施一项研究计划，旨在增加STEM职业生涯中的学生数量和多样性。学生将获得进行创意VR/AR/MR项目的实践经验。学生将参与数据驱动研究领域的指导性研究项目，包括科学可视化和视觉分析。一些计划中的研究项目包括：用于帮助学习障碍学生的VR、作为细胞谱系可塑性调节器的MicroRNA(核糖核酸)、身临其境的远程远程呈现、室内机器人导航以及3D对象识别、对微生物群进行声学，以及用于提高STEM(科学、技术、工程和数学)学生的人际交往能力的VR。这些跨学科和协作研究项目将为国家人才库做出贡献，这些学生在沉浸式可视化研究中拥有备受欢迎的可转让技能。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site award funds a new site to enable ten undergraduate students each year to undertake Immersive 3D Visualization research projects at Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY). The intended impact is to use the creative potential of Immersive 3D technology to attract and broaden participation of women and underrepresented minorities in STEM and computing fields. To achieve this, this REU site will: (i) involve 10 students per summer directly in Immersive 3D visualization with mentored research projects conducted in collaboration with other subfields, (ii) provide training in tools and technologies that are common in these research areas, (iii) inspire participating students to consider STEM as a career path and pursue STEM careers at the graduate level, and (iv) specifically target participation of women and underrepresented groups. The investigator will identify research collaborators with immersive visualization needs and assign each student to a REU team. Each REU team will consist of a research mentor and a REU student. The mentoring team includes members not just from CS but also from diverse backgrounds including film and media, journalism and biological sciences. This funding supports Hunter College and CUNY in its mission to continue to provide higher education to a largely disadvantaged population. In labs and businesses around the world, immersive visualization and virtual/augmented/mixed reality (VR/AR/MR) is playing a key role in the storytelling, data discovery and analysis process. Representing data in immersive environments allows shared understanding of the data and enables collaboration among multi-disciplinary researchers. Therefore, the intellectual merit of this REU site is to advance knowledge by supporting a research agenda that aims to investigate human interaction during the visualization and research storytelling process. This REU site will implement a research program designed to increase the number and diversity of students in STEM careers. Students will gain hands-on experience doing creative VR/AR/MR projects. Students will participate in mentored research projects in data driven research areas, including scientific visualization and visual analytics. Some of the planned research projects include: VR for aiding students with learning disabilities, MicroRNA (Ribonucleic Acid) as a regulator for cell lineage plasticity, immersive remote telepresence, indoor robot navigation along with 3D object identification, sonifying the microbiome, and VR for improving inter-personal skills in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) students. These inter-disciplinary and collaborative research projects will contribute to the national talent pool of students with highly sought transferable skills in immersive visualization research.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.