REU Sites: Research Experiences for Underrepresented Undergraduates in Smart Environments

PIs：Behrooz Shirazi和Diane Cook Institution：华盛顿州大学这个REU Site计划(REU-SE)的目标是扩大对未被充分代表的群体的本科生研究，特别是来自太平洋西北地区的拉美裔美国人。太平洋西北地区最近见证了其拉美裔人口的快速增长，达到华盛顿州中南部人口的37%。该州官员谴责了四年制大学中拉美裔美国人入学人数偏低的情况，并表示情况正接近危机水平。REU-SE项目的目标是吸引目标拉美裔学生群体进入工程职业和研究生教育。这个REU项目的研究主题是智能环境。这是一个令人兴奋的研究领域，来自各种工程领域，并在家庭自动化、健康监测和能源节约中得到应用。由于学生们将住在同时也是考点的公寓里，他们将完全沉浸在这个项目中，并有足够的机会与项目中的其他教师、研究生和REU学生互动。我们扩大本科生参与工程研究的方法是基于这样的主张，即通过让学生在他们的学士学位学习早期参与有趣的应用研究，我们将在目标学生群体中灌输在CS/CE/EE领域的强烈的信心、成就感和归属感。除了从事研究外，REU的参与者还将接受文献搜索、技术阅读和写作以及陈述技能方面的培训。参与者将由PI、教师导师和研究生导师进行密切指导。他们还将被邀请回到该计划，作为未来REU参与者的导师。虽然REU-SE项目的重点是吸引和留住未被充分代表的拉美裔学生进入计算机和电气工程领域，但这里提出的模式广泛适用于其他学生群体和其他学科。此外，该计划将对增加攻读学士学位以外的高级学位的学生数量产生积极影响。由于REU-SE强大的计划招聘努力和强大的指导成分，我们预计“口碑”效应将在目标人群中传播有关该计划好处的知识，从而在未来许多年扩大对CS/CE/EE研究计划的参与。

Title: Research Experiences for Underrepresented Undergraduates in Smart EnvironmentsPIs: Behrooz Shirazi and Diane Cook Institution: Washington State UniversityThe goal of this REU site program (REU-SE) is to broaden undergraduate research in underrepresented groups, particularly Hispanics from the Pacific Northwest region.The Pacific Northwest has recently witnessed a rapid growth in its Hispanic population, reaching 37% of the population in South Central Washington State. State officials have decried the low enrollment of Hispanics in four-year colleges and say the situation is nearing crisis levels. The REU-SE program's aim is to attract the targeted Hispanic student groups to engineering careers and graduate education. The research theme of this REU program is smart environments. This is an exciting area of research that draws from a variety of engineering fields and finds application in home automation, health monitoring, and energy conservation. Because the students will be living in apartments that also serve as test sites, they will be fully immersed in the project and given abundant opportunity to interact with other faculty, graduate students, and REU students in the program. Our approach to broadening participation of undergraduate students in engineering research is based on the proposition that by engaging students in interesting applied research early in their baccalaureate studies, we will instill a strong sense of confidence, achievement, and belonging in the fields of CS/CE/EE in the targeted student groups. In addition to getting engaged in research, the REU participants will be trained in literature searching, technical reading and writing, and presentation skills. The participants will be closely mentored by the PIs, the faculty mentors, and the graduate student mentors. They will also be invited back to the program to serve as mentors for future REU participants. While the focus of the REU-SE program is on attracting and retaining underrepresented Hispanic students to the computing and electrical engineering fields, the model proposed here is broadly applicable to other student groups and other disciplines. In addition, the program will have a positive impact on increasing the number of students who will pursue their advanced degrees, beyond baccalaureate. Because of a strong planned recruitment effort and a strong mentoring component in REU-SE, we expect the "word of mouth" effect to spread the knowledge of the benefits of the program among the targeted populations, resulting in broadening participation in CS/CE/EE research programs for many years to come.