S.K. Gupta Receives NSF Grant for Undergraduate Research

Associate Professor Satyandra K. Gupta is the Principal Investigator for a five-year, $688,702 research grant from the National Science Foundation for the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program.

This award funds a five-year Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Site at the University of Maryland for fifteen students each summer for twelve weeks for research opportunities at the University's Institute for Systems Research. Students at colleges, universities, and community colleges will be recruited nationwide through a process involving efforts to reach students who would otherwise not have access to a research experience. The program incorporates activities that will involve participants in the following research directions of the institute: global communications systems, sensor-actuator networks, next-generation product realization systems, societal infrastructure systems, and cross-disciplinary systems education. Through the program students will be able to (1) establish a basis for systems thinking by conducting research and thus understand systems engineering as a discipline; (2) acquire broader and deeper understanding of both the research process and the practice of engineering and how new knowledge is created and communicated; (3) develop multicultural understanding and team competence and become aware of the societal implications of research; and (5) successfully seek admission in a four-year program and/or graduate school.

In addition to Dr. Gupta, co-PIs are Professor Dana S. Nau (CS/ISR), Professor Gary W. Rubloff (MNE/ISR, and Professor P.S. Krishnaprasad (ECE/ISR). The program is directed by ISR Educational Programs Coordinator Lee Harper.

Published April 15, 2003