The funding, provided by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Defense, will finance the University’s annual nine-week Research Experience for Undergraduates: Role Model in Sciences (REU-RMS), which is sponsored by the foundation and administered by HSU’s Department of Computing Science.
Commencing this summer, 10 HSU and non-HSU undergraduates will pursue interdisciplinary design projects related to modeling in Mathematics, Applied Technology, Computer Science and Geographic Information Systems.
Humboldt State’s REU initiative was first funded in January, 2005 by the National Science Foundation with $247,500 spanning a three-year period. To date, 22 students have been recruited (www.humboldt.edu/~reu-rms).
"Our REU program is interdisciplinary with an overarching theme related to the science of design" said Dr. Guy-Alain Amoussou, project Principal Investigator and Associate Professor of Computing Science. “Our mission is to contribute to the training of future generations of skilled designers, using computational thinking and tools. Through this latest grant, we’ll continue to provide undergraduate members of groups traditionally underrepresented in computer science and related fields with a practical and inspiring summer study experience. This will reinforce and supplement their regular course work, build their creativity, design, leadership and teamwork skills and motivate them to go on to pursue graduate degrees."
Dr. Amoussou noted that REU sites are funded nationwide in a variety of academic disciplines (http://www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/reu/reu_search.cfm), adding, “Our campus can attract more REU funding from the National Science Foundation in many academic areas in which HSU is strong. I would be delighted to assist other faculty to attract such funding."
He can be reached at 707/826-3380.