The REU Site program which provides for nine undergraduate students with research opportunities in the area of sensor technologies is renewed. The main program is the study of sensor-related phenomena in order to generate scientific knowledge and to apply this knowledge to sensor development. The REU Site will be part of the Center for Sensor Technologies. The Center provides the infrastructure for faculty and students to collaborate, exchange ideas, co-supervise students, and share resources. Approximately one-half of the students are selected from institutions outside the University of Pennsylvania. Students are selected by a committee according to the students' academic potential, research interest, attitude towards graduate studies and research opportunities in the mother institution. Each selected student will work under close supervision of one or two faculty members. The projects are chosen based on their educational value, the scientific merit and the prospects for continuing involvement after the summer. Project topics include optical, mechanical, microstructures and micromachining, packaging, neural network based sensors and sensor interfacing. Fundamental studies of multi-phase fluid transport in photolithographically micro-machined fluidic structures will be investigated. Sensors and VLSI processing techniques for efficient optical and acoustical pattern recognition using neural network concepts will be studied. An image sensor which is modeled after human eye is being designed.
