1 2017 REUSSA Program OverviewDr Anne H.H. Ngu Department of Computer Science Texas State University

2 REUSSA is funded under NSF CISE directorate.According to NSF, "...the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program supports active research participation by undergraduate students in any of the areas of research funded by the National Science Foundation”. REU projects involve students in meaningful ways in ongoing research programs (e.g. REU supplements) or in research projects specifically designed for the REU site (e.g REUIR, REU-IOT, REU-MPCS, Declarative Programing REUsite). REUSSA is funded under NSF CISE directorate. I was invited to a Pan-REU workshop recently where I met program directors from many other disciplines beside computer science. (Math, Chemistry, Physiscs, Biology). Some sites involves taking students to another countries for a few weeks to collect samples and then come back to USA to do analysis. REU Program Overview

3 Aim to expand the pool of computing researchersWhy REU? Innovation in IT is key to keep US economy competitive. REU is funded to create a pipeline of scientists to achieve that goal. Aim to expand the pool of computing researchers 70% of REU students ended up in graduate programs Provide experiential learning for students REU is a key form of investment by NSF to promote the progress of science Every summer, there are around 600 undergraduate students participating in Computer Science REU Site programs. WJS, 5/10/2013, “.. U.S. economy is slated to create 120,000 computing jobs per year in the next decade and we only produces around 40,000 per year..” There are three times as many jobs as we have people qualified to fill them Five candidates declined our offers. REU Program Overview

4 Main REUSSA Theme The Research Experiences in Software Systems and Analysis(SSA) is funded by NSF CISE. The primary objective of this program is to motivate undergraduate students to pursue research careers and instill in them the spirit of innovation via intensive summer research project in Software Systems and Analysis. Software affects nearly every aspect of our lives. As software is increasingly pervasive nowadays, software-related problems have also become much more prevalent. This site will study the engineering of the new trends in software systems. Software is getting ever closer to our daily lives. We have software calendar to organize our lives, software system to store all our family and friend’s phone number. OCI has now been re-organized and is called ACI (Advanced Computing Infrastructure) . Emphasize the direct transformation these projects will have on society. Applications can be created without low-level hardware specific codes. Applications can be developed that can adapt to changing environment REU Program Overview

5 The main REUSSA ProjectsSoftware Platforms for IoT Systems (Dr. Ngu) Testing and Analyses of Mobile Software Systems (Dr. Yang) Adaptive Optimization on Extreme-scale Heterogeneous Architectures (Dr. Qasem) Design and Verification of Cyber-Physical Systems (Dr. Podorozhny) Large-scale Gene Network Analysis (Dr. Zare) Human Physiological Data Analysis (Dr. Metsis) Data mining over large and dynamic stream of data I am interested in creating a software framework for managing data generated by IoTf from collection of data to prediction and inference of knowledge or insight behind the collected data. Can we predict the whether a person is drunk or not drunk at a pub by collecting and analysing the data collected from sensor watch? Can we predict quality of healthy living (exercises verses sedtory life by analysing data from smartwatch? Can we predict certain behaviors based on the data collected by IoT? For example, if microwave is on at certain time of the day, can we predict who is using it? How to create automated test cases for mobile or embedded systems that maximize the coverage of system behavior and uncover critical errors. Machine learning driven performance optimization Studying gene expression data for predicting the prognosis of certain cancer/diseases Collecting and analyzing human physiological data for personalized healthcare to fitness. Data can be of multiple modality Create a home nanny robot to assist elderly people. (Use multple sources of data to improve navigation and reasoning over tasks). REU Program Overview

6 Main Benefits of REU program for studentsStudents get compensated ($500 per week + housing + $120 meal allowances) to learn about research by doing research. Students will be given the opportunities to work on research problems with practical applications. Students will work in groups in a scholarly community (mentors and peers) who can serve as role models and become part of students' virtual support group. Students will participate in a series of field trips and workshops to bridge their transition to graduate programs. REU Program Overview

7 Main Benefits of REU program for students(Cont.)Students will be closely mentored on research process and presentation skills that culminated in a public poster presentation at Texas State at the end of each summer. Students will be involved in writing research papers which might cumulate in refereed technical conference or workshop publications. By the end of this program, students can update their resume with REU research experiences which are unique look good to potential employers I just completed my a follow up with all my last summer REU students and they all are involved in another summer internship. One of them is involved in ioT argiculture. One of them is involved in Research Assistant position at Mayo clinic. 50% of faculty graduated after 1993 has done an REU program. There is a high correlation of students participating in REU students and students who enrolled in graduate programs. Any statistics …. on graduate salary??? NSF program director said that by 2018, we will be only producing one third of computer science major for the need of the workforce. REU Program Overview

8 Resources Each of you is given a desk and a computer.All of you will be housed in one big lab (309J) in this building. Texas State library resources are available for you to check out any books and journals. The 7th floor of the library is a good place for quiet reading if you need it. If you need any stationary, contact Shannon or Cheryl at the department office (second floor in this building). You can use the fridge and the kitchen on the second floor. There is also a microwave oven and a fridge in the resource room near the 309J lab. You will be given a key to your offices. REU Program Overview

9 Relevant databases are:Literature search Go to databases Go to Computer Science Relevant databases are: ACM Digital Library IEEE/IET Electronic Library CiteSeer Springer eBook Collection- Computer Science SpringerLink Wiley Online Library Others: Google scholar DBPL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpPlrtP3z5U&feature=youtu.be A whole hour session with a librarian at 4;15 pm on June 1st. REU Program Overview

10 Should not be the only resourcehttp://scholar.google.com Google Scholar Should not be the only resourcehttp://scholar.google.com Simple interface Use a double quote for exact phrase Uncheck patent If you search at campus, you can directly download the article owned by publishers such as ACM, IEEE It can tell you the number of times the article is cited From the Related article link, you can follow up other relevant works From the Cited by link, it shows history of development in that topic Ask your mentors for good venues to search for in your research topics. REU Program Overview

11 Maintaining ReferencesDecide on a place to store the documents (Google Drive, Dropbox) Decide on a place to maintain document metadata (ENDNOTE or BibTex) Extract metadata of reference materials for use in citations (Google Scholar can dump the metadata in BibTex format) Maintain annotations for reference materials (write down your summary/reflection, so that you do not have to re-read them) and share that with others if needed. Shows my annotations REU Program Overview

12 Schedule Refer to the websitesREUSSA: There is a welcome party in a nearby park on June 2. There are a total of three field trips. There are two Entrepreneurship forums by Dr. Gary Beall and by Dr. Zong There are professional development workshops on July 11th and July 18th There are scheduled student project presentations on June 13th, July 6 and July 20 at 11 am. Finalize with your mentor for an informal group meeting every week at a mutually agreed time (it is critical to establish a regular communication channel with your mentors and meet with them at least once a week). Poster presentation on July 31. The research process is to help you understand how to define your research problem, how to make a research plan and gtaher relevant materisal. Your do not need to meet in person with your mentors. But make sure you do meet once a week even if you do not make any progress. It is good to bouce off ideas with mentors and even other students or faculty. Have a plan before meeting with your mentors. REU Program Overview

13 You attend every meeting and field trips. Our Expectation You work in the lab in the Computer Science Department everyday for eight hours. We encourage group work and collaborative learning. If 9-5pm is not a good schedule for you, we require all students be available at least between 11am-3:00pm. You attend every meeting and field trips. You attend all social events. You make progress in your assigned task (keep a log book). At each meeting with your mentor, make a note of what is being discussed, what problems have come up, and what decisions have been jointly made and what is the expected deliverable for the next meeting. We emphasize on focused deliverable and group learning. Two heads better than one heads verses too many cooks spoil the soup…Literatures shown that collaborative learning or collective intelligent lead to better engagment. It brings more diverse thinkings to your project. During each meeting, you should discuss current devlopments, plan of actions. We have the right to reduce your weekly pay if you did not come to the lab and we did not receive an excuse for that. One professor from Oregon State University shared that she now has so may REU students who are placed in various research labs or just started their assistant professor positions. Crowd sourcing project… REU Program Overview

14 Our Expectation (Cont.)You give a short presentation of your work at scheduled presentation. This allows you to present your work and evaluate the work of others. Learning how to give constructive feedback is a valuable part of research experiences. You give a final poster presentation of your work at the end of the program (July 31). You completed a technical report at the end of you stay. You participate in all the evaluations of this REU site Beyond the REU: you let us track your future research activity and career plan after you left this program by joining our Facebook group (REUIR 2011) or response to our inquiry timely (this is critical) REU Program Overview

15 What counts as success in this program?Producing a research paper co-authored with your mentor. Becoming an independent researcher, developing conceptual understanding of what is required to become a CS researcher. Developing a working prototype. Acquiring skills in reviewing computer science literature or skills that is relevant to future course work. Acquiring skills to conduct experimental/user studies for CS projects. Develop, gather, or analyze data related to computer science projects. Produce deliverables: status reports, poster or oral presentation. Knowing the ethical standards of computer science research. Develop an interest to pursue graduate school Develop a change of attitudes towards computer science major. Establish a long term relationship with a supporting network of mentors and other REU students The network will provide personal support and encouragement for a long time. Your develop a good relationship with your mentors so that they will write recommendation letters for your future career. REU Program Overview

16 What does it take to succeed?Be determined, have endurance Have patience Be open minded (willing to take criticism) Be interested in learning new things and taking on challenges Be a good learner and a hard worker Have a good time management skill I am not taking attendance and I do not require students in in the lab frpm 9 am – 5 pm. But if you come in at 12 noon, went for lunch, and then leave at 5 pm, that is not putting in 8 sloid hours a day. REU Program Overview

17 General questions regarding Texas StateAsk local students (Amada, Christopher, Gabriel) Visit the library (1: 00 pm today) Parking office Health center Gym Dinning services Book stores REU Program Overview

18 Tell something about yourself using the letters of your first name:Ice Breaker Game Tell something about yourself using the letters of your first name: ANNE A is for living for 15 years in Australia N is for the fact that I did not get my PhD from North America N is for finally visited New Zealand in Jan 2016. E is for Education, which is a social issue that I care for dearly Tell in one sentence why you are interested in this REU Tell a fact about you that can surprise people Tell one thing that will keep you up at night I am from Malaysia and I am one of thirteen sibilings (suprising fact) Running this program since 2011. I am happy that our PH.D. program get approved. But I am worried about getting the program up and running smoothly from recruitment to class scheduling to class preparation I did my PhD in University of Western Australia I am the first female CS graduate in my department poverty A surprising fact: I am from a family of 13 children. I have four brother and 8 sisters. I am number 10 in the family. DEMO REUIR Site. Ask student to login and update their website. Take a picture for them if they do not have one. Energy global warming/climate change disease Healthcare debate in USA REU Program Overview