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Interested in paid summer research? Check out the opportunities at Hope College and DePauw University.Hope College is hosting a Computer Science NSF REU summer undergraduate research program in the summer of 2009. We have support for at least five undergraduate researchers who are not Hope students. Please encourage your students to consider this opportunity to be involved with computer science research. We have a special initiative to encourage the participation of students from underrepresented groups. Application materials and other information are available on our Web site at http://www.cs.hope.edu/reu

DePauw University is hosting a research experience for undergraduate students (REU) during the summer of 2009. This program is intended for students at colleges and universities that do not have graduate programs in computer science. This allows students to do research work who might otherwise not have the opportunity. If you teach at such an institution, please encourage your students to consider our program. Details about the program can be found at our website: http://www.depauw.edu/univ/reu/index.html

The workshop will be held during the Celebration of National Engineers week and Introduce a Girl to Engineering day, on February 21-23, 2008, at the Googleplex in Mountain View, California. As part of Google’s encouragement for women to excel in computing and technology, rewards deserving female students in computer science, and inspires them to become active participants and leaders in creating technology.

Workshop applicants were female computer science students currently enrolled in a Bachelor’s, Master’s or PhD program at a university in the United States. Students were expected to demonstrate academic excellence and leadership in the computing field, maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 3.3 on a 4.0 scale or 4.3 on a 5.0 scale or equivalent in their current program. Applicants also needed to write essays supposing that they were given technical and financial resources to complete a project that would use technology to impact the lives of women and girls. They were to describe what they’d do and what resources they’d need, as well as how they’d implement their project. They were asked to think big and comment on how their project would impact women globally and/or in the U.S.

Do you have your summer plans yet? No? Well, for those of you interested in exploring computing research a bit more, the National Science Foundation funds a number of Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REUs) at institutions throughout the country (and few international locations as well!). This opportunity will provide travel funds, 8 weeks of room and board, plus a stipend while you work on mentored research with other undergrads under the supervision of faculty at the host institution. Interested in AI? Pen-based computing? Networks? Virtual Reality? How about spending the summer at Virginia Tech, Washington State, Rhode Island, or Miami?
For more information about the REU program, see their information page located on the NSF’s web site. Be sure to plan ahead though, you’ll need letters of recommendation from TCNJ computing faculty, and need to submit an application to each site you wish to apply to.
If you would like to speak to someone about the REU program, please see Dr. DePasquale for more information about past students who have participated!

The College of New Jersey is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a $600,000, three-year competitive grant from the National Science Foundation. The grant will support a pilot program intended to increase the participation of members of underrepresented groups in the computing sciences by exposing middle school-aged students to interactive journalism.The three co-Principal Investigators of the grant are Ursula Wolz, associate professor of computer science, Kim Pearson, associate professor of English, and Monisha Pulimood, assistant professor of computer science. Mary Switzer, gender equity specialist at TCNJ, will be program manager.

With evidence mounting that the duties of 21st century journalists and computing professionals will begin to overlap, this project will not only educate students of these responsibilities, but attract them into the computing pipeline and give them the opportunity to explore possible career choices otherwise unknown to them.
In this project, a cohort of rising 8th graders from Fisher Middle School in Ewing will participate in a weeklong summer Interactive Journalism Institute at TCNJ in 2008 and 2009. During the institute, teachers from Fisher will partner with TCNJ undergraduates as mentors. They will receive training prior to the Fisher students. TCNJ students with backgrounds in computer science, journalism and media will help design the program and supporting technology through a summer research opportunity. These students will lead TCNJ volunteers to support the Fisher teachers extend the project as an afterschool program during the following school year.

The summer Institute curriculum will impart basic computer science, reporting and writing skills. This session will focus particularly on database design and access. It will exploit the potential of a new programming language Scratch that supports young people as they create their own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art on the Web (http://scratch.mit.edu). The 8th grade students will learn and practice basic reporting and programming skills, and produce a small prototype news publication.
Summer learning will be reinforced and cultivated during the school year through workshops and enrichment activities, mentored by their own teachers with volunteer students from TCNJ?s civic engagement program. The Fisher Middle School students will continue to produce the news publication as well as receive visits from professionals working in the field.