The project objectives are to broaden participation in computing doctoral programs by providing a summer research experience that will immerse undergraduates into the activities and culture of a research lab. Participating labs include the Charlotte Visualization Center, the Future Computing Lab, the Games+Learning Lab and the Networking Research Lab. Students will focus on computing research, within these labs, that empower people to solve problems of personal interest or that are important to society at large (socially relevant computing). The activities include a summer research experience introducing students to computing research methodologies and a broad array of computing research disciplines. Students will receive support from peer and faculty mentors. Students will take a GRE prep course and will be shown how to apply to and succeed in graduate school. The targeted student participants are women and under-represented minority students who are rising juniors, predominantly from non-doctoral institutions. The intended impact is that a high number of REU students will apply to computing doctoral programs.
INTELLECTUAL MERIT The intellectual merit will primarily be the contributions to computing research that will be produced by the undergraduate students participating in the REU Site. The topics addressed are relatively new in CS. Additionally, the program evaluation will inform efforts to recruit undergraduate students to doctoral programs by demonstrating the success and challenges of this REU Site structure for motivating students to apply to doctoral programs in computing.
BROADER IMPACT The broader impact of the project will be evidenced by the increased numbers of students from under-represented populations in computing who successfully participate in research and who apply to and are accepted into graduate programs in computing.
The objective of the UNC Charlotte CISE REU Site is to implement effective practices to engage a diverse group of undergraduate students in computing research. Undergraduate students actively pursue research that applies human-computer interaction (HCI) concepts to advance the state of the art in a particular field, including pervasive computing, computer vision, data visualization, social networks, and serious games. Each research project has a socially relevant theme, providing students with the opportunity to apply and extend their computing knowledge to address problems that have a real-world impact. The site emphasizes participation of promising students from underrepresented groups in computing and from institutions that have limited research programs. To help students become rapidly immersed in the culture of research and to prepare them for meaningful research experiences, the site cultivates an authentic community of practice that values the contributions of REU students as researchers, and provides REU participants with explicit, just-in-time training in research skills at a weekly workshops. There are four core labs that support summer REU students each year: Games + Learning Lab, Visualization Lab, Future Computing Lab, and the Wireless Networking & Sensing Lab. Students conduct specific research in these areas each summer. Each lab hosts summer camp tours and demonstrations throughout the summer. REU students participate in leading these activities that were designed to introduce and excite elementary, middle school and high school students in computing. Between 2009-2012, the UNC Charlotte CISE REU Site has had a total of 41 students (39 unique, and 2 repeated), 5 graduate students, and 12 faculty operating in 4 labs during the summers. An additional 31 students participated across these four summer programs through other funding sources, such as the Computing Research Association-Women, the Coalition to Diversity Computing Distributed Mentor Programs, and AI in Education. Reaching Women and Under-represented Minority Undergraduate Students Of the 39 individuals, 16 (42%) were from non-doctoral granting institutions, and nearly half (46%) were female. We exceeded our target goal of total participants being half women or under-represented minorities; 56% of the 39 individuals were female or under-represented minorities. The majority of participants, 77%, were from outside of UNC Charlotte. Retention in Computing There were a total of 39 unique individuals participating in the REU program, 28 are currently enrolled students. Among the 28 current students, 16 are continuing pursuit of undergraduate degrees, 7 are pursuing masters degrees, and 5 are pursuing doctoral degrees. Two of the 16 students pursuing bachelor degrees have applied to masters programs. Ten students have graduated: 9 with bachelor degrees and 1 with a masters degree. All ten are employed in the computing field. In the four year span, our retention rates for employment in computing are 100% of the 10 graduates to date, and 32% of our graduates pursue graduate degrees. Research Dissemination The 4 cohorts have produced 9 publications, 2 products, and 3 paper submissions. The tool that Corey Poff developed as part of his Summer 2012 experience has been used by collaborators at the University of Arizona in analyzing more than 1 million frames of ant videos for research purposes. The Beadloom Game was submitted (2011) to the Engineering Pathways as a resource for educators in math and computing to teach middle school math principles and computational thinking. Research Highlight In the summer of 2011, undergraduate Emily Hudson examined the differences in movement and enjoyment between an exergame titled Astrojumper using third-person technology versus the same system using first-person technology. Her study was designed to determine which technology better engaged users, particularly children with autism. Impact This research found that playing an immersive exergame in first person, as opposed to the usual third-person vantage point, was more appealing to players (i.e. participants), including players with autism. Significance of this outcome The outcome of this work is significant for two reasons. First, the exergame Astrojumpter leverages children’s fascination with technology and outer space to increase their engagement in physical activity, addressing a recognized national need for improved health and reduction of childhood obesity. Second, children with autism often experience irregular movement patterns and/or stereotypical behaviors that can be reduced through exercise, and Astrojumper was demonstrated as an appealing exercise vehicle for children, including those with autism, to engage in fun exercise.
