This award provides funding to renew the existing successful CISE Research Experiences for Undergraduates Site at Virginia Tech University. The REU Site will provide undergraduate students with immersive, high-quality learning and interdisciplinary research experience in cognitive communications, an emerging wireless communications technology. The students will implement their projects on the Virginia Tech Cognitive Radio Network testbed (VT-CORNET). The students will participate in professional development activities that make them more aware of graduate school and professional aspects of a computing career.
The students will join a variety of funded research projects ongoing at the Wireless@VT center and work with a faculty team with outstanding experience and expertise to direct the intellectual component of each project. Cognitive communications is an emerging and exciting field that promises to transform the wireless communications industry. The focus will be on topics such as spectrum management for wireless networks, public safety interoperable radios, rural broadband access, usability and human factors principles for cognitive engines and interface design that are important and timely. Thus the project has the potential to contribute to the advancement of research and discovery in an important and timely area of computing.
The broader impacts of the project include providing a quality research experience to undergraduate students, particularly students from underrepresented groups and from institutions with limited research environments. Thus this project has the potential to produce new computer science graduate students and faculty members and to advance discovery and understanding while promoting learning.
