Work in progress - mentoring undergraduate students preparing for graduate study in engineering-a CREATE case study

This paper discusses the Collaborative Research Experiences in Advanced Technology and Engineering (CREATE) undergraduate research program and observations made during the first phase of this case study. CREATE is a program that targets undergraduate students from non-research based universities who are interested in pursuing graduate study in engineering. CREATE is a short-term project that takes place during the summer semester. Since it is a short-term project and the students have little experience with engineering research, the authors posit that a research environment that conforms to the studentpsilas incoming skill-set is needed so that the time needed for the student to learn the experimental environment can be reduced. A solution to this need is the introduction of a rapid research and development environment using software plugin architectures.