This project creates a new Research Experience for Undergraduates site focused on the development of new computer applications for medicine. Cohorts of undergraduate students participate in a ten-week summer research program engaging in a current medically-related research project at the host institution. Through their research the students should improve the quality of healthcare delivery by devising, developing, adapting, or inventing computer-based solutions to modern medical problems.
The intellectual merit of this project lies in strong research basis and the expertise of the collaborative partners participating in the project. The project team includes faculty with significant expertise in engineering and engineering ethics as well as medical doctors to oversee the medical aspects of the projects. The students in the project have the opportunity to work with teams to develop solutions to problems that are relevant and critical in an emerging interdisciplinary field that combines computer science and medicine.
The broader impacts of the project include providing a quality research experience to undergraduate students, particularly students from underrepresented groups. The project provides community college students an opportunity to engage in research and actively pursue a full range of professional opportunities. Thus, the project has the potential to produce new computer science undergraduate and graduate students as well as future faculty members. The project team of computer science faculty, engineering ethics faculty, and physicians provides each student cohort a broad exposure to the technical, medical, ethical, and social issues related to their problems. Thus the project represents a quality educational and professional experience, which is innovative and challenging to the students.
