This three year award at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) Department of Electrical Engineering (EE) will engage twelve students per year for a nine-week summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program in Sensors and Applications. The program will be implemented within EE to augment existing efforts to support undergraduate student involvement in research, but will include other components within the College of Engineering (COE), in particular the Nanotechnology Research and Teaching Facility (NanoFab). Some of the research projects to be included cut across departmental boundaries within COE, with Bioengineering and with the mathematics department, providing an additional component of interdisciplinary experience.
While students work on their particular research projects, they will participate in bi-weekly meetings within their research group to assess and facilitate progress. Bi-weekly general meetings with participating faculty members and their teams, REU management (including the REU assistants) and undergraduate students are designed to promote enhancements in the REU delivery phase, and are important for professional and technical development. Presentations by the REU participants will include: 1)a midterm oral presentation, to the management group and research teams, will provide updates on their project work, delineate their responsibilities, and present goals that the would like to achieve by the end of program,2) a final presentation focused on individual accomplishments as well as their role on the team and how their accomplishment fits within the larger scope of the research, and 3)a final technical report focused on the outcomes of the research and the process by which the overall research work was done.
In addition to the research, students will participate in educational workshops designed to take advantage of materials from the Environmental Health and Safety Office, Graduate School, Department of English, and University College Student Obtaining Readiness (SOAR) programs. The REU students will go on field trips that will help them see the outcome of sensor technology research in daily life. Sites are selected that will be of interest for students, and also to resonate with the general theme of this REU program. For example, the recently completed Dallas Cowboys stadium, located about one mile from the EE department, is a world of sensors. Thousands of sensors control movement of the dome and manage the air quality, light, sound, and the largest indoor LCDTV in the world. There will also be tours to one or more of the large local industries, such as Bell Helicopter, Lockheed Martin, Texas Instruments, and Ericsson.
The participants will experience the challenges and satisfaction of doing research, and will be encouraged to pursue advanced degrees in science and engineering. The program will increase the participation in research activities by women, underrepresented minorities and 9/11 GI-Bill veterans. The Principal Investigator will especially seek and encourage participation from two and four year institutions with limited research capabilities in Texas and its neighboring states. Diversity of the program strengthens research capability and increases competence across ethnic, gender and socioeconomic lines, and also helps to provide role models for talented students whose potentials may not be fully utilized.
