The REUSSI-2 project funds US graduate student research internships at INRIA, the premier Computer Science research institute in France. The project is made possible by co-funding between the NSF Office of International Science and Engineering and the Directorate of Computer and Information Science and Engineering. The program will support 10 to 20 US student internships each year. Each selected student is expected to spend at least two summer months and at most six months working at INRIA. INRIA pays each student a stipend and the INRIA scientists mentor and guide the student's research during the internship. INRIA also provides students with health insurance during their internships. NSF funds cover the travel costs and costs associated with getting students to the annual summer research colloquium held during the time they are in France. A call for internship applications is published in October of each year. The call is also sent via email to US universities with graduate research programs, including universities with a high proportion of students from under-represented groups. Each applicant has to contact the INRIA site that posted the internship opportunity prior to applying in order to obtain INRIA support for the application. Furthermore, each student applicant must be nominated by his/her adviser and must state how the visit will enhance his/her graduate work. Each application must include a brief description of the proposed internship work. The description must be developed in consultation with the INRIA scientists and must include a statement asserting that the INRIA scientists commit to mentoring the student during the internship period. Submitted applications are evaluated by the REUSSI-2 PI with the help of representatives from INRIA sites that the students apply to visit. Final selections will be made by the REUSSI-2 PI in consultation with the INRIA International Relations Office. Selected students and the respective INRIA teams will be informed in mid to late-December.
The Computer Science projects currently covered by participating US institutions tackle complex problems in areas such as computer graphics, computational brain anatomy, rigorous modeling and analysis of critical software systems, computational MRI, next generation wireless networks, quantum computing, and ocean modeling. Participating students have the opportunity to develop international research links that can be further strengthened and leveraged in their research careers. These collaborations and student exchanges help to nurture a spirit of international cooperation which, through exchange of high quality ideas, can yield significant insights into some of the more challenging Computer Science research problems.
