REU Site: Computing Research for Undergraduates: Visualization, Virtual Environments, Gaming, and Networking

University Of North Carolina At Charlotte, Charlotte NC

Investigators

Abstract

Summary The project objectives are to broaden participation in computing doctoral programs by providing a year-round research experience that will immerse undergraduates into the activities and culture of a research lab. The activities include a summer research experience and an academic year experience introducing students to computing research methodologies and a broad array of computing research disciplines. Students will receive support from peer and faculty mentors. Students will take a GRE prep course and will be shown how to apply to and succeed in graduate school. The targeted student participants are women and underrepresented minority students who are rising juniors, predominantly from non-doctoral institutions. The intended impact is that a high number of REU students will apply to computing doctoral programs. NTELLECTURAL MERIT Project merit resides in the contributions to computing research that will be produced by the undergraduate students participating in the REU Site. Additionally, the program evaluation will inform efforts to recruit undergraduate students to doctoral programs by demonstrating the success and challenges of this REU Site structure for motivating students to apply to doctoral programs in computing. BROADER IMPACT The PIs anticipate increased numbers of students from underrepresented populations in computing who successfully participate in research and who apply to and are accepted into graduate programs in computing.