Undergraduate Research Opportunities in CS

Undergraduate Research Opportunities in CS

The Department of Computer Science provides unique research opportunities to its students due to its strength in cutting-edge fundamental and applied CS research, and its small size and commitment to undergraduate involvement. We encourage all interesting undergraduates to get involved in research early in their education (for experience, credit, or even pay in some cases) whether they intended to pursue a career in industry or continue on to graduate school.

Recent Projects Involving Undergraduates

A number of recent and on-going projects have included significant contributions from undergraduate researchers, for example:

  • Crowd-Powered Assistive Technology (ROC HCI: Human-Computer Interaction Group):  This project aims to create tools to help improve the daily lives of people with disabilities by leveraging the efforts of large dynamic groups of remote people (the crowd). This work lies at the intersection of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Assistive Technology (AT). Systems created during the course of this work are capable of producing reliable real-time captions of speech for deaf and hard of hearing users, providing answers to visual questions for the blind and vision impaired users, and many more. This work has had significant and continuing participation by undergraduates, including as co-authors on award-winning academic publications at top academic venues (UIST 2013, CHI 2013). [Primary Advisors: Dr. Jeffrey Bigham, Dr. Henry Kautz, Walter S. Lasecki]
  • Interactive Crowdsourcing Systemsy (ROC HCI: Human-Computer Interaction Group):  This projected focuses on creating intelligent user interfaces by using crowdsourcing and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to interact with users in real-time. Systems created during the course of this work include natural language controlled robots, conversational assistants, and collective control of single-player video games. This work has had significant and continuing participation by undergraduates, including as co-authors on award-winning academic publications at top academic venues (e.g., UIST 2011, UIST 2013).  [Primary Advisors: Dr. Jeffrey BighamDr. Henry KautzWalter S. Lasecki]

Getting Started in CS Research as an Undergraduate

          To get started, visit the UR Undergraduate Research Opportunities Page to view current positions and active project. If your interests are outside of the projects listed, you can also contact a professor in your area of interest, talk to your undergraduate advisor, or speak with our undergraduate program co-director George Ferguson or your undergraduate advisor.