This project renews a highly successful and long running REU site in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington with a research focus on national priorities in healthy living, care technologies, and aging in place. As the population ages and chronic health conditions become of increasing importance in health care, the use of intelligent environment technologies to improve health, reduce the need for institutionalization, and improve quality of life is becoming increasingly important as a health facilitator and a tool to help address spiraling care costs. The goal of this site is to offer unique training opportunities to eight undergraduate students per year to become involved in on-going, multidisciplinary research in these areas and to prepare them for successful graduate careers in this field. As part of the program, REU participants will be trained in the underlying areas by a group of faculty mentors from Computer Science and Nursing and will conduct independent research projects under the greater envelope of the interdisciplinary SmartCare research effort at the University of Texas at Arlington.
This program will provide new opportunities for highly talented and qualified upper division undergraduates, with a particular emphasis on women, minority, and disabled students. The goal is to augment the students? educational experience and to attract qualified undergraduates to graduate studies and careers in health technologies. The student participants will be recruited nationally, but with an emphasis on women and minority institutions as well as non-research institutions in the southwest region.
