REU SITE: Mapping Freedom in Civil War & Reconstruction-era Mississippi

本科生研究体验(REU)网站的研究和教育将侧重于使用地图技术，包括地理信息系统，以更好地了解历史变革时期的社会转型。学生研究人员将与计算机科学和数字人文学科的教师导师合作，绘制南北战争期间密西西比州解放的细粒度过程，并通过重建时期可视化自由人获得公民身份的途径。这个项目的灵感来自三个因素：(1)需要更多来自经济贫困背景的人学习计算机科学和数字人文学科；(2)有证据表明，如果贫困学生的第一次互动是与他们认为具有社会意义的材料进行互动，那么他们更有可能进入并留在科学和工程领域；以及(3)在数字人文学科和类似的学术领域需要复杂但用户友好的地图技术。对大多数学生来说，历史上对解放的关注有点熟悉，但在19世纪60年代和70年代，近50万被奴役的密西西比州人是如何演变的，他们基本上不知道。这个项目将帮助REU的学生更深入地了解历史随着时间的推移而发生的变化，并展示如何应用类似的基于计算机的方法来分析和可视化复杂的历史时期。这个项目将把来自不同背景的人文专业的学生聚集在一起，特别是那些在科学、工程和数字人文学科中代表性较低的学生，使他们能够为合作研究做出重大贡献，并学习作为个人和这个REU社区的一部分有效地工作。他们将包括非裔美国人、女性、第一代大学生、其他少数民族和退伍军人。该体验将增加学生对计算机科学和数字人文主题和研究的熟悉和舒适，包括常用的方法、软件和分析工具。为了加强他们对研究的积极参与，学生将接受每个领域基础知识的培训，包括系统地理和地理信息系统。一个基本的目标是提高学生攻读研究生课程的兴趣，并为他们提供必要的经验和培训，以提高他们成功的可能性。此外，这项工作将通过学生介绍他们在学术环境中的研究以及在REU项目之外的使用，展示可获得但复杂的测绘技术在STEM和非STEM领域的研究潜力。该项目由本科生网站的研究经验、已建立的激励竞争性研究计划(EPSCoR)和以人为中心的计算共同资助。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。

The research and education in this Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) site will focus on the use of mapping technology, including geographic information systems, to understand better the transformation of society during periods of historical change. Student researchers will work with faculty mentors in computer science and digital humanities to map the granular process of emancipation in Mississippi during the Civil War and through the period of Reconstruction to visualize freed-people's paths to citizenship. This project was inspired by three factors: (1) the need for more individuals from economically underprivileged backgrounds in computer science and digital humanities; (2) evidence that underprivileged students are more likely to enter and stay in science and engineering fields if their first interaction is with material they recognize and find socially significant; and, (3) the need for sophisticated, but user-friendly mapping technology in digital humanities and comparable fields of scholarship. The historical focus on emancipation is somewhat familiar to most students, but how that process evolved for the nearly half-million enslaved Mississippians in the 1860s and 1870s is largely unknown to them. This project will help REU students develop a deeper understanding of historical change over time, and demonstrate how similar computer-based methods can be applied to analyze and visualize complex periods of history.This project will bring together humanities students from diverse backgrounds, especially those underrepresented in science, engineering, and digital humanities, to enable them to make significant contributions to collaborative research and to learn to work effectively as an individual and part of this REU community. They will include African Americans, women, first-generation college students, other minorities, and military veterans. The experience will increase students' familiarity and comfort with computer science and digital humanities topics and research, including commonly used methods, software, and analytical tools. To enhance their active participation in research, students will receive training in the fundamentals of each field, including systematic geography and geographic information systems. A fundamental goal is to increase student interest in pursuing graduate studies toward a career in research and provide them with the experience and training needed to improve the likelihood of their success. In addition, this work will demonstrate the research potential of accessible yet sophisticated mapping technology for STEM and non-STEM fields through the students' presentation of their research in academic settings and its use outside the REU program. This project is jointly funded by Research Experiences for Undergraduates Sites, the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), and Human-Centered Computing.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.