REU Site: Research in Interactive Virtual Experiences

University Of Southern California, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

The Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Site in Interactive Virtual Experiences seeks to engage 10 undergraduate students each summer at the University of Southern California's Institute for Creative Technologies, a unique multidisciplinary research community that combines leading academic researchers in computer science, psychology, education, cinematic arts, and medicine. Students will be embedded in collaborative research teams working on the institute's core theme of interactive virtual experiences, with specific projects in natural language dialogue, virtual humans, narrative, mixed reality, medical virtual reality, vision and graphics, and learning sciences. These research activities will be combined with weekly interactive seminars for training in best research practices, mentorship support, and peer feedback. The REU site teaches techniques and technologies developed by the researchers and students in natural language, vision, and graphics that will drive the creation of compelling synthetic environments and characters. These technologies have immediate relevance to a broad range of application domains including training, education, entertainment, rehabilitation, and medicine. The project will emphasize selection of participants from populations that are underrepresented in computing, will engage undergraduate students in interdisciplinary research, and will expose the students to opportunities in science and engineering graduate programs. This effort has the potential to prepare undergraduates to perform independent research, thereby broadening participation and increasing enrollment and retention in computing doctoral programs. 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.