This three-year Research Experiences for Undergraduates site in Data Analytics and Information Retrieval is hosted at the University of North Texas (UNT). The objective of this project is to provide a supportive and engaging research and learning environment for students to build research experiences in data analytics and information retrieval, develop broadly applicable research skills, enhance skills in research collaboration and communication, and explore research interests in data science. It offers a ten-week research program for ten undergraduate students each summer. During the ten-week period, each student engages in closely mentored research, under advising of a faculty mentor, in one major research topic in data analytics and information retrieval. The faculty-student interaction, as well as interaction among students, take many different forms. The project supports continual mentoring of students after the summer program.
The site leverages the expertise of the faculty mentors in data analytics, computational linguistics, and information retrieval to develop state-of-the-art integrated research projects in data analytics and information retrieval for more effectively advising students in research. The research projects cover the fundamental issues in algorithms, models, tools, and applications of both data analytics and information retrieval. The sample research projects include: 1. Data analytics of biomedical images, 2. Content based image retrieval, 3. Information retrieval of large-scale text collections, and 4. Social media information retrieval for disaster research.
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.
