REU Site: Computing for Health and Well-being

This Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site on “Computing for Health and Well-being” is hosted by the Department of Computer Science at the University of Iowa. The site is motivated by the considerable strain on the U.S. healthcare system due to both short-term challenges, such as those posed by the COVID19 outbreak, and long-term trends, such as an aging US population.

To tackle these and other health and well-being problems, we must train the next generation of computer scientists to work alongside health professionals as part of interdisciplinary, problem-focused teams. Toward this goal, this project has designed a ten-week program that will inspire students to pursue careers in computer science and related fields through early exposure to high-quality and hands-on research experiences as part of diverse, engaging, and cutting-edge research projects.

The primary goal is to provide research experiences to students from institutions that do not have the research infrastructure or interdisciplinary research opportunities available. This project aims to attract students from underrepresented groups (female and minorities) with an emphasis on first-generation students. Our efforts will contribute to preparing a workforce of young scientists who will help maintain America's competitive advantage in science and technology.

The REU participants will (1) learn about interdisciplinary research, (2) apply computational thinking to real-world problems, (3) become familiar with the culture and research methods of different disciplines, and (4) participate in workshops on research methods, scientific communication, and career development, and (5) create their first professional network and build self-confidence in their abilities. Each student will be placed into their mentor’s research group to work on cutting-edge interdisciplinary problems such as disease modeling, personalizing hearing aids, or engaging neurodiverse children through gameplay.

Exposure to diverse research projects under the umbrella of computing for health and well-being will further participants’ understanding of their specific project and broaden their appreciation of different research methods. Students will learn through reinforcing interactions with other REU participants, graduate students, domain experts, and mentors.

The experiences of tackling socially relevant problems and participating in professional development will provide REU participants with an intellectually challenging and engaging experience, preparing them for their future computer science careers. Working alongside graduate students will provide the participants with insights into graduate student life and encourage participants to consider graduate school.

The mentoring received by early-career faculty and graduate students will also significantly impact their future careers, helping to train the next generation of researchers to tackle computational challenges in health and well-being.

This project is jointly funded by Computer and Information Science and Engineering’s Information and Intelligent Systems division and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.