The program, BACHE-REU Scholarship in Computer Science, is designed to provide undergraduate research opportunities to full-time students attending any of the five member institutions in the Birmingham Area Consortium of Higher Education. The five institutions are Birmingham-Southern College, Miles College, Samford University, the University of Montevallo, and the University of Alabama in Birmingham.
Intellectual Merit The BACHE REU-CS program is a year-long experience in which participants are selected from BACHE institutions to take part in projects designed by faculty researchers from within the BACHE consortium. Each participating institution will have an assigned faculty coordinator who will publicize the project on his/her campus. Fourteen students will be selected by acommittee of faculty mentors based on compatible interest and skills outlined in available projects. Accepted Scholars will spend up to 10 hours per week for theacademic year and full time during the summer learning a wide variety of disciplines and approaches. The students will participate in weekly journal club meetings and monthly research-in-progress meetings. In addition, the students will present their work in an inter-institutional symposium.
Broader Impact The primary goal of this program is to give BACHE REU - CS scholars the experience and confidence to pursue graduate study in computer science. Several factors shape the design of this program. 1) While all BACHE institutions offer undergraduate computer science and/or management information system majors, only the University of Alabama in Birmingham offers graduate study in Computer Science. This program will increase the research opportunities for students attending Birmingham-Southern College, Miles, Samford, and the University of Montevallo. 2) BACHE institutions represent a wide range of student profiles: Samford and Birmingham-Southern College students are generally upper middle class or affluent, UAB has a large first-generation college student and international representation, Miles is an historically black institution, and Montevallo is a state-supported liberal arts institution. Interaction between faculty and students from such disparate institutions will be of great benefit to all concerned, and will respond to the NSF's stated goal of increasing research participation by underrepresented constituencies.
