Dr. Miguel A. Labrador Department of Computer Science & Engineering labrador@csef

11

Research Experiences for Undergraduatesat the

College of Engineeringand

Computer Science and Engineering

Dr. Miguel A. Labrador

Department of Computer Science & Engineering

[email protected]

http://www.csee.usf.edu/~labrador

2Copyright© Dr. Miguel A. Labrador


REU-CoE-CSE – 2

Research Experience for Undergraduatesat the

College of Engineeringand

Computer Science and Engineering



REU-CoE-CSE – 3

Agenda

• Introduction and Motivation• Initiatives and Programs• CoE REU Program

– Examples of REU projects

– Stats of the REU Program as of Summer 03

– Recruitment

– How does it work?

– Funding

• NSF REU Site in CSE• Other NSF REU Sites• Q&A



REU-CoE-CSE – 4

Introduction and Motivation

• Several important statistics included in the National Science Foundation (NSF) in its 2002 indicators report– Enrollment in Science and Engineering (S&E) declined from 441K

students in 1983 to 361K in 1999

– Fewer than 50% students completed their degrees within 5 years

– Approximately 20% of students dropped out of college

– Graduation rate of underrepresented minority students is lower than that of other groups

• E.g. Hispanics only account for 6, 4 and 3 percent of the bachelor’s, Master’s and doctoral degrees and only 2.9% of faculty

• Fastest growing population

– Low enrollment in graduate programs

• One of the recommended reforms to address these problems is undergraduate research



REU-CoE-CSE – 5

Initiatives and Programs

• NSF created the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program to involve undergraduate students in state-of-the-art research projects in Science and Engineering (S&E)– NSF REU Sites

• USF is strongly committed to undergraduate research– New Office of Undergraduate Research in the Honors College– Undergraduate research grants

• Travel and research grants up to $500 (See http://www.ur.usf.edu)

– USF Journal of Undergraduate Research– USF and CoE REU Symposia

• The CoE pioneered the idea and created the CoE REU program in spring 2002– More than 100 REU students College-wide every semester



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The CoE REU Program

• The program started in Spring 02• By end of Summer 03

– More than 120 students participated

– More than 20 students joined graduate school

• Many more participating students declared they would seek an advanced degree once they complete their Bachelors Degrees

• Undergraduates built equipment, gathered data, wrote software • Several undergraduate supported publications are in the works!



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Recruiting

• Each engineering department has an Undergraduate Research Coordinator, who– Discusses research interests with students

– Puts them in touch with potential faculty advisors

• The Coordinators are:– Grisselle Centeno (Industrial Engineering)

– Ashok Kumar (Mechanical Engineering)

– Miguel Labrador (Computer Science and Engineering)

– Gray Mullins (Civil Engineering)

– Rudy Schlaf (Electrical Engineering)

– John Wolan (Chemical Engineering)

• Website http://www.eng.usf.edu/~schlaf/REU/



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How Does It Work?

• Step 1: Student identifies area of research and faculty members– The REU Coordinator can help you

• Step 2: Student discuss with potential faculty if projects are available– Faculty also “interview” you to make sure you qualify

• Step 3: Faculty decides to hire you– Some faculty may ask you to work for a two month probationary period

• Step 4: Fill in application form (on the REU website).• Step 5: Submit to REU Coordinator along with matching account

number• Step 6: REU Coordinator signs student up depending on:

– Availability of funds (not a problem this year…)– Whether deliverables have been met (only for continuing students)



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How Does It Work?

• Deliverables, due after each semester (will be posted on the website):– Scientific Report (paper style)

– Three PowerPoint slides summarizing your work

– One digital photograph showing you “in action”

– Purpose: Allows other students to see what their colleagues do, creates a track record that can be used for further fund raising



REU-CoE-CSE – 10

Funding

• Each REU-Student receives a stipend of $4 per hour, 10 hours max. per week through the CoE-REU program– REU Fellowship

• The stipends are matched by the faculty advisors resulting in $8 hourly pay



REU-CoE-CSE – 11

Examples in Computer Science and Engineering

• Saar Carmel (Dr. Kandel)– CompactSet: a technique for creating optimal test case sets

• Cindy L. Bethel (Dr. Goldgof and Dr. Hall)– Techniques for Improving Patient Enrollment in Clinical Trials

• Sasha Dos Santos (Dr. Perez)– Development of a GIS Framework for the Environmental

Protection Commission of Hillsborough County (EPC)• Adebola Osuntogun, Preskha Sudhakar, and Christine

Bexley (Dr. Sarkar)– Research Resource for Advancing Human Identification from

Gait• Dmitry Klyadin (Dr. Labrador)

– A hands-on course on computer networks• Sean Barbeau, Edgar Banguero, and Ahmad Mageed

(Dr. Perez and Dr. Labrador)– Traveling Smart: Increasing Transit Ridership by Automatic

Collection (TRAC) of Individual Travel Behavior Data and Personalized Feedback



REU-CoE-CSE – 12

The REU Site in CSE

• 10-week summer program (full-time, 40 hrs/week)– From May 31 to August 5, 2005

• Group of at least 11 students– UPRM, Florida, USF and Latin American countries

• Work on a research project/area of interest• Workshops on research methodology, literature review, writing

and presentation skills• Poster competition• Field trips, visits to local companies, brown bag seminars and

speakers• Social activities• Stipend of approximately $3200 plus housing, meals and travel

support– Not entirely for USF students



REU-CoE-CSE – 13

2005 Projects

• Comparing Fuzzy Clustering and Finite Gaussian Mixture Model in Brain Magnetic Resonance Images (MRI)

– Jose Casillas

• Data Classification and Bit Reduction Compression Method

– Daniel Garcia

• Navigation Controllers for Mobile Robots

– Luis Echevarria

• Optimizing TCP for Short Connections

– Nikada Egland

• Travel Advisory Expert System– Diana Arteaga

Reduction and Time

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25 28 31 34 37 40 43 46 49 52 55

Features

Tim

e (s

eco

nd

s)

0 bits

3 bits

6 bits

9 bits

10 bits

12 bits

TRAC-ITPersonal Digital Travel Diary

TRACIT Server

Internet

GlobalPositioning

System Satellites

Communication Tower

Personal Digital Assistant w/Global Positioning System and

Wireless Connectivity Card

Complete System

WLAN 802.11b

Wireless Data Connectionthrough Cellular Provider

Wireless RouterOther Sources of Real Time Information



REU-CoE-CSE – 14

2005 Projects

• Virtual Patient Simulation – Edwin Torres and Carlos Aviles

• Power Minimization Using the Quine-McKluskey Method

– Ransford Hyman

• Location-based Picture Messaging– Pierre Rosado and Alfredo Perez

• Evaluation of Available Bandwidth Estimation Tools

– Billy Elias and Agnes Velez

FreeBSDDummynet

FreeBSDDummynet

Linux Server(ABET sender)

192.168.1.2/24

192.168.1.1/24

192.168.2.2/24

192.168.2.1/24 192.168.3.1/24

192.168.3.2/24Public IP

FreeBSDDummynet

192.168.0.2/24

192.168.0.1/24

Linux Client(ABET destination)

192.168.4.1/24

192.168.4.2/24

Probing packetsCross Traffic

Link A Link B Link C

FreeBSDDummynet

131.247.3.65



REU-CoE-CSE – 15

2006 Projects

• Look at the projects– http://www.csee.usf.edu/REU

• Look at the labs and faculty web pages– http://www.csee.usf.edu

• Pick the project that you like• Pick two other projects as second and third choices• Ask or even propose a project and we will try to make it work for

you



REU-CoE-CSE – 16

How to apply

• Deadline to apply March 15, 2005– Notification of acceptance by April 7

• If you want to apply to the REU program, you should – Complete and submit the application form

• Can be downloaded from http://www.csee.usf.edu/REU

– Submit a one-page personal statement of career objectives

– Submit a copy of your college transcripts

– Arrange for recommendations from two college professors (in math, science, or engineering) to be sent directly to the REU Program Coordinator by e-mail or sealed in an envelop along with your application package



REU-CoE-CSE – 17

How to apply

• Mail the application, personal statement, college transcripts and recommendations to: – Dr. Miguel A. Labrador

Summer 2005 REU ProgramDepartment of Computer Science and EngineeringUniversity of South Florida 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, ENB 118 Tampa, FL 33620

• Electronic submissions are also accepted and preferred. Please e-mail them directly in pdf format to [email protected]



REU-CoE-CSE – 18

How to apply

• In evaluating applications, we will consider the following criteria: – Academic achievement, as demonstrated by college performance – Courses in area of research

• Courses in area of research are not required but may be a considerable asset for some projects

– Previous research• Experience carrying out scientific research is not a prerequisite for admission to

the program. However, prior experience may be a considerable asset for some of projects

– Career objectives• We seek participants who will make good use of the opportunity provided by the

REU program. A primary goal of the National Science Foundation REU program is to help students make informed choices concerning scientific careers, such as the decision whether or not to pursue a graduate degree, or selection between possible sub-fields of study

– Letters of recommendation • These provide valuable information about applicants' accomplishments and

potential for independent scientific research



REU-CoE-CSE – 19

Requirements

• US citizen or permanent resident• Junior or senior status • Minorities and underrepresented groups are encouraged to apply

– Hispanics and women



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NSF REU Sites

• There are 38 REU Sites in CSE around the country• They all have similar characteristics

– Application deadline – Stipend– Duration– Requirements– Activities– Etc.

• USF REU Site is limited to two-three students• I encourage you to apply somewhere else too

– It is a VERY nice and rewarding experience– It weights on your resume– It helps A LOT if you are planning on applying to graduate school– It is A LOT better than a summer job



REU-CoE-CSE – 26

NSF REU Sites

• http://www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/reu/list_result.cfm?unitid=5049

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Dr. Miguel A. Labrador Department of Computer Science & Engineering labrador@csef