Increasing Undergraduate Involvement in Computer Science Research
Department of Computer Science
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721, U.S.A.
Current undergraduate Computer Science curricula are generally built around a set of traditional lecture-oriented courses where the student is a passive recipient of knowledge. While easy to implement, such a model has the drawback of presenting the field as a static corpus of facts and techniques. It does little to challenge and engage the brightest of students, or prepare them to participate directly and actively in a highly dynamic and rapidly evolving field. Nor does it give them a sense of engagement, belonging, and ownership in this body of knowledge. This paper describes our experiences with addressing this situation via a model that aims to get undergraduates exposed to, interested in, and involved with research early in their academic careers. We use a set of closely related research-oriented courses, starting with research seminars suitable for freshmen and sophomores, and leading up to advanced projects for juniors and seniors. These courses have the effect of engaging talented undergraduates in research early in their college careers. This approach has led to a dramatic increase in the amount of undergraduate involvement in academic Computer Science research in our department in the last few years, and resulted in numerous research publications and awards.