Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Program

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. Our REU site is focused on cognitive communications. This is the second year of a three year program. This year we are hosting 15 students, 5 of which are Virginia Tech undergraduates, and the rest are from across the United States and Puerto Rico. Three of the REU students are supported by a gift from Northrop Grumman given to the ECE Department. Each student is assigned a mentor who will supervise their research. Dr. Tamal Bose is the Principal Investigator on the project and Dr. Tonya Smith-Jackson is the Co-Principal Investigator. Other mentors are Dr. Carl Dietrich, Dr. Kay Thamvichai, and Dr. Tim Newman.

The students are assigned to teams. After discussions with the faculty, each student team will select an innovative problem-focused project, conduct a literature search and trade analysis, read assigned research papers, and write a detailed prospectus for their proposed research project. Each student team will work directly with the faculty members who are supervising his/her project to code the research questions and hypotheses to test in simulation and/or experimental platforms and to demonstrate the workability of the specific ideas. After the research project is complete, they will present their results in a conference setting. Various social activities are arranged so REU participants and faculty members can establish camaraderie. So far, the students have met students from other REU programs at Virginia Tech at a pizza party. The students and mentors also went on a hike to the Cascades recreation area, where we could highlight the region’s natural beauty.

The REU participants are expected to contribute and advance their chosen research with the help of their relevant teams of faculty mentors and to gain appreciation for and an interest in graduate school and a future research career. The final results from the summer research activities will be a project in cognitive communications and a research paper, to be submitted as part of a larger work to a research journal or conference for publication.

 

Virginia Tech’s REU Program on Cognitive Communications has another Successful Year

The NSF REU Site at Virginia Tech (VT) welcomed 15 undergraduate students to participate in the ongoing research activities of faculty members in the field of Cognitive Communications during an exciting 10-week summer session. The REU participants received formal instruction on Cognitive Communications and investigated various problems related to software defined radios, cognitive radios, wireless networks, wireless communication circuits, and human factors engineering in communications. This research was performed under the day-to-day supervision of six VT mentors. This integrated educational and research experience was enhanced by weekly formal research group meetings. The students also participated in weekly focus group meetings to find out what they did and didn’t like about the program. This input will help us to better design the program next year; 2011 is the last of this 3-year award.

The REU participants are expected to contribute and advance their chosen research with the help of their mentors. This research has been incorporated into several papers that may be submitted to journals and conferences. Along with all of the study, the students were able to meet and network at several social occasions. Students from all of the campus REU programs met for a pizza party and an ice cream party. Our group, along with their mentors, enjoyed a hike to the Cascades falls. We were happy to show off the natural beauty of Blacksburg and the surrounding area.