This three year REU Site program at Oakland University will engage ten undergraduate students each year in hands-on research projects focused in the area of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The research projects will address technical challenges in biomedical engineering, nanotechnology, autonomous land and aerial vehicles, and medical image processing.
The objectives of the REU program are the following: 1) to provide students with long-term collegial relationships with research faculty and experts from industry and other research organizations; 2) to provide women and minority students as well as students from non-research/liberal arts institutions with exciting research experience; 3) to increase the students' understanding of the nature of research and scientific reasoning; 4) to motivate students to pursue careers in research and graduate studies in science and engineering related fields; 5) to provide participants from Detroit, Michigan and surrounding areas and opportunity to be involved in projects beyond the traditional Detroit automotive industry; 6) to improve the student's oral and written technical communication skills, 7)to improve the student's teamwork and collaboration skills in a multidisciplinary environment, and ) to provide the department and faculty involved with valuable experience in incorporating undergraduate students into research programs.
What are the broader impacts of the proposed activity? The PI intends to recruit 70% female and underrepresented minority students for the REU program. Students will be encouraged to pursue graduate studies in STEM related areas. The lessons learned from the program about successful retention and mentoring of students in a research environment, particularly the underrepresented; will be disseminated in appropriate conferences/journals.
is an NSF funded 10-week summer camp that ran for the first time 2010 through 2012 at Oakland University (OU) in Rochester, Michigan. IREECE is designed to immerse participating undergraduate science and engineering students in active research environments tackling problems in electrical and computer engineering, early in their academic careers. A total of 34 students from various regional and national universities participated so far. Students were divided into groups of two and assigned to one of the many ongoing research efforts at OU, based on student interest, background and abilities. These projects were part of funded research projects and student interaction with external collaborators was a crucial component of the program. Research topics were in the areas of automotive antenna design, biomedical engineering, aerial and ground robotics, and in medical image processing. Projects were carefully selected to provide an enlightening and exciting experience for participating students and allow them to contribute in a meaningful and realistic way. Throughout the program, students have contributed significantly to the ongoing projects they were assigned to and have been involved in authoring several technical publications that were presented at national conferences, some of which were presented by the students themselves. In addition, students had several professional development activities that addressed subjects and skills such as oral and written communication, team work, professional ethics, applying to graduate school, and experiment design. Close interactions with faculty mentors, industry partners, and graduate students have given the students valuable insights into the path to and the interesting life of a researcher in STEM disciplines. IREECE specifically targeted women, minorities, and students from universities that do not offer graduate programs with the goal of increasing their interest in advanced degrees and careers. As a result of active recruitment efforts for IREECE, the participants included 21% from undergraduate only schools, 56% female students, 32% minority students, and 73% freshmen/sophomore students. An assessment plan was in place that primarily consists of entry and exit surveys as well as alumni surveys to help measure the effectiveness of the program. The surveys showed a significant positive impact on the students’ interest in attending graduate school and pursing advanced STEM careers. Specifically, the alumni surveys show a clear trend towards attending graduate school, which is the primary goal of IREECE.
