Enhancing undergraduate computer science education through a university-wide summer research program

Recruiting undergraduates for research projects and managing these projects to ensure success presents numerous challenges; however, undergraduate student involvement in research provides many opportunities for students to strengthen their studies in computer science. One unique and successful program that involves undergraduates in research is Miami University´s Undergraduate Summer Scholars (USS) program. This competitive program provides 100 awards every summer to selected student/faculty pairs to pursue original research projects. The student recipient works full time (40 hours per week) for a 10-week period with the faculty mentor and receives a stipend of $2600 and 12 credit hours for elective course work Faculty in the Computer Science and Systems Analysis Department (CSA) are using the USS program both to enhance learning opportunities for quality undergraduate students and to help advance their research agendas. Students in the program learn what it means to do research, how to propose research questions, how to approach solving problems, how to evaluate solutions, and how to present their work and results. Several CSA students have reported getting a job offer or graduate position related to their USS research as a result of participating in the program.