Proposal 9810741 Srivastava, Sadanand; Mareboyana, Monohar; Hughes, Patricia; Jackson, Lethia; Stone, Daryl CISE MII: CISE Minority Institutions Infrastructure Program-- FY 98 LEARN: Laboratory-Based Educational and Research Network Project LEARN, (modeled as an extension to the Model Institution for Excellence initiative: MIE), enhances the Computer Science infrastructure through research and educational activities. It promotes faculty development activities and supports minority faculty members as they complete there Ph.D. programs. Through project LEARN, more students participate in faculty research in areas such as: Agent-Based Systems, Spatial Data Analysis, Real-Time Operating Systems, and Pedagogical Research on Multimedia and Distance Learning applications. This award will stir the department of Computer Science from 'mainly teaching' towards 'teaching and research'. The existing MIE Summer Academy Program will be expanded to attract more minority/women students to pursue Computer Science studies at BSU. A Student-based Support Network, enhancing the student-to-student academic support system and providing a forum for tutoring, mutual support and self realization), will be established. Project LEARN makes a significant impact on the whole chain of issues which are related to minority student recruitment, mentoring, research assignments, financial support, academic performance monitoring, networking and group-based activities and placement in graduate schools. Through this effort, Bowie State University is expected to develop further its computing science research capabilities involving minority students in greater numbers, paving the way for eventual increase in underrepresented degrees in the pipeline. It is hoped that through these efforts, the nation might find a successful model that will help in building a better racially and ethnically balanced technological enterprise for the benefit of its present and future generations.
