REU Sites: EURECA: Extensible Undergraduate Research Experience in Communication Applications

BacgroundThis项目的目的是为德克萨斯州奥斯汀大学的广大服务不足的本科生提供最先进的网络和通信研究设施。来自七所不同大学的工程和计算机科学专业的学生将积极参与EURECA的奋进，这些大学包括德克萨斯大学系统阿灵顿、奥斯汀、布朗斯维尔、达拉斯、埃尔帕索、泛美和圣安东尼奥。该计划的目的是确保少数民族和弱势群体的显著参与。少数民族在UT系统中占本科生人口的40%以上，仅UT奥斯汀就毕业于全国第二大少数民族。此外，UT布朗斯维尔，埃尔帕索，泛美和圣安东尼奥是少数民族机构。七所大学之间建立了特殊的伙伴关系，以确保该计划在宣传和广告，选择有价值的候选人以及最后在后续过程中取得成功。最重要的是，我们与UT系统的其他成员的合作伙伴关系提供了UT Austins教师拥有的知识和设施，从资源有限和/或没有研究生课程的机构服务不足的学生。无线网络和通信组（WNCG）拥有13位教授和超过5个实验室网络工程实验室，MIMO通信实验室，无线网络和RF传播实验室，嵌入式信号处理实验室，图像和视频工程实验室和新的光通信实验室构成了这个项目的基础。所有WNCG的教职员工都是EURECA团队的一部分，并将监督本科生研究作为EURECA的一部分，而WNCG的工作人员将为这项奋进提供全面的后勤和行政支持。EURECA团队还包括教育研究专家，以促进和改善这种研究互动，来自行业的研究人员和所有其他参与大学的每所大学的一名教员。本科生研究项目的目的是为参与者提供各种选择，WNCG的教师小组带头进行每一项努力。参与者将被敦促与所有UT Austins EURECA成员互动，以确定他们在研究中的真正使命，随后将被分配给一位导师，指导他们在奥斯汀的逗留。每个研究项目的一个关键组成部分是其可扩展性，为学生提供了建立在他们的导师和PI提供给他们的知识的能力，以产生独立的结果，并在返回他们的母机构后维持这一努力。在UT系统和形成新的伙伴关系教师之间的预先存在的关系将被证明是一个宝贵的资源，确保这样一个可扩展的研究经验。此外，PI将提供双周讲座，以提高参与者的写作和口头陈述技巧，并组织一个小型研讨会，以达到夏季计划的高潮。EURECA团队的目标是在本科生中产生持续的研究兴趣，使他们成为未来工业和学术界的领导者。因此，这个项目是精心设计的，以满足这一目标。智力MeritUT奥斯汀是全国首屈一指的研究机构之一，组成EURECA团队的教师都有丰富的经验，无论是执行和进行研究。这个团队中的许多教师也有相当丰富的经验，与来自不同机构的本科生一起工作。EURECA奋进的研究项目是作为一个有重点的计划创建的，以引导学生从被动的学习状态到成为一个积极的自我维持的研究者的状态。除了对德克萨斯州的少数民族和贫困社区以及整个国家的影响外，EURECA的研究任务还提高了周围社区的生活。项目，如一个提供无线接入到当地社区的贫困地区被证明是一个宝贵的和令人满意的经验，本科生，同时激励青年在社区，特别是妇女和其他代表性不足的群体，对工程高等教育。

BacgroundThis project has been created with the aim of delivering the state-of-the-art research facilities in networking and communications the University of Texas at Austin to the vast underserved undergraduate population in the State of Texas. Students from seven distinct universities with programs in Engineering and Computer Science that form part the University of Texas System Arlington, Austin, Brownsville, Dallas, El Paso, Pan American and San Antonio will be actively recruited to participate in the EURECA endeavor. The program has been designed to ensure a significant participation of minorities and of disadvantaged communities in it. Minorities form more than 40% of the undergraduate population in the UT System, with UT Austin alone graduating the second largest number of minorities in the entire nation. In addition, UT Brownsville, El Paso, Pan American and San Antonio are minority institutions. Special partnerships have been formed between the seven universities to ensure the success of this program in reaching out and advertising, selecting worthy candidates and finally, in the follow-up process. Most importantly, our partnerships with other members of the UT System offer the knowledge and facilities possessed by UT Austins faculty to underserved students from institutions with limited resources and/or without graduate programs. The Wireless Networking and Communications Group (WNCG) with thirteen professors and over five labs Network Engineering Lab, MIMO Communications Lab, Wireless Networking and RF Propagation Lab, Embedded Signal Processing Lab, Image and Video Engineering Lab and the new Optical Communications Lab forms the foundation for this project. All of the WNCG faculty members are part of the EURECA team, and will supervise undergraduate research as part of EURECA, while the WNCG staff will provide full logistical and administrative support for the endeavor. The EURECA team also includes educational research specialists to facilitate and improve this research interaction, a researcher from industry and one faculty member per University for all the other participating Universities. The undergraduate research projects have been designed to provide participants with a gamut of options, with subgroups of faculty from WNCG spearheading each effort. Participants will be urged to interact with all of UT Austins EURECA members to identify their true calling in research, and will subsequently be assigned to a mentor that will guide them through their stay in Austin. A key component of every research project is its extensibility providing students with the capacity to build on knowledge provided to them by their mentor and the PI to generate independent results, and to sustain this effort after returning to their parent institutions. The pre-existing relationships between faculty in the UT System and the new partnerships formed will prove to be an invaluable resource that secures such an extensible research experience. In addition, the PI will deliver bi-weekly lectures to enhance the participants writing and oral presentation skills, and organize a mini-symposium to culminate the summer program. The EURECA teams objective is to generate sustained research interest among undergraduates so that they become tomorrows leaders in industry and academia. This project has thus been meticulously designed to meet this goal.Intellectual MeritUT Austin is one of the premier research institutions in the nation, and the faculty members constituting the EURECA team have extensive experience both performing and conducting research. Many faculty members in this team also have considerable experience working with undergraduates from across institutions. The research projects in the EURECA endeavor have been created as a focused plan to guide the student from a passive learning state to the state of being an active self-sustaining researcher. Broader Impact Beyond impacting on the minority and underprivileged communities in Texas, and hence that of the entire nation, EURECAs research tasks also enhance the lives of the surrounding community. Projects such as one providing wireless access to impoverished sections of the local community proves to be an invaluable and satisfying experience to the undergraduate student, while inspiring youth in the community, specially women and other underrepresented groups, towards higher education in engineering.