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Getting Involved in Undergraduate Research Katherine Sittig-Boyd Data Analyst Former DREU and CREU participant WHO AM I? Who am I? Professional database wrangler and data analyst Graduated from Simmons


  1. Getting Involved in Undergraduate Research Katherine Sittig-Boyd Data Analyst Former DREU and CREU participant

  2. WHO AM I? • Who am I? Professional ¡database ¡wrangler ¡and ¡data ¡analyst ¡ Graduated ¡from ¡Simmons ¡College ¡in ¡May ¡2016 ¡ Currently ¡living ¡in ¡Boston ¡ • How I got involved in undergraduate research My ¡mentor, ¡Nane@e ¡Veilleux ¡ WanDng ¡to ¡go ¡beyond ¡coursework ¡ ¡

  3. TOPICS ¡ • Past research experience and how I got involved • How to seek out undergraduate research opportunities • Beyond undergrad: research in the real world

  4. PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

  5. CREU EXPERIENCE 2013-14: Gesture Analysis Team: Sarah Elmore, Hillary Fundin, Laura Haenchen, Katherine Sittig-Boyd; Mentor: Nanette Veilleux • Human gestures are difficult to quantify and analyze • Implemented a gesture categorization system • Developed an experiment to identify which gesture categories are used in accordance with verbal communication tasks Presented at Grace Hopper 2014 poster session!

  6. CREU EXPERIENCE 2014-15: Conversational Context Team: Jillianna Farietta, Patcharaporn Israsena, Maria Romero, Katherine Sittig-Boyd; Mentor: Nanette Veilleux • Investigated pitch contours in verbal communication settings • Speech recognition, speech synthesis • 67% of our prompts produced the intended result

  7. CREU EXPERIENCE 2015-16: Clinical Narratives Team: Rebecca Haralson, Katherine Sittig-Boyd, Stephanie Worobey; Mentor: Amber Stubbs • Used real medical records for a text/data mining project • Investigated discrepancies in clinical narratives For ¡instance, ¡only ¡67% ¡of ¡the ¡narraDves ¡menDon ¡that ¡the ¡paDent ¡ in ¡quesDon ¡is ¡diabeDc ¡ • Discrepancies between program-based predictions and actual gender; 24 records made no mention of gender • 320 records did not mention age; 36 had age disagreements Presented at 2016 Tapia Celebration!

  8. DREU EXPERIENCE 2015 School: University of Southern California Mentor: Maja Matari ć • Got to combine language AND robotics • Created a speech detection node for the Robot Operating System (ROS) at the University of Southern California • Identified who was speaking in a multi-party interaction Featured as a short paper at IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN '16). Authors: Elaine Short, Katherine Sittig-Boyd and Maja J. Matari ć .

  9. CHALLENGES AND SUCCESSES • Data sets - gathering, designing, analyzing Also ¡challenging: ¡Working ¡with ¡data ¡sets ¡that ¡weren’t ¡my ¡own! ¡ • Translating real-world phenomena into computational ideas Speech, ¡gesture, ¡group ¡conversaDon ¡dynamics, ¡human ¡language ¡ • Working with robotics, which was not available at my college • Contributing to the quantification of gesture and speech

  10. WHY PARTICIPATE IN UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH?

  11. GRADUATE SCHOOL • Graduate programs love to see that you have research experience • “Trial run” before a longer commitment • Gain a sense of what YOU like to study

  12. INDUSTRY/DEVELOPMENT JOBS • Creative, flexible approach to unsolved problems • Data analysis skills, new programming techniques • Comfort with uncertainty

  13. PERSONAL REASONS • Getting to know professors beyond the classroom • Gauging interest in various research fields • Skill set building • Contributions to computer science - NOT problem sets! • Chance at conference attendance, publication

  14. HOW DO I GET INVOLVED?

  15. CREU - ASK YOUR PROFESSORS • Ask around: who is studying what? • Find peers who are also interested in the topic Important: ¡interdisciplinary ¡projects ¡are ¡legiDmate! ¡ ¡ ComputaDonal ¡_________________ ¡can ¡be ¡a ¡great ¡way ¡ to ¡start ¡brainstorming ¡projects ¡ Deadlines: usually the spring. Check cra-w.org/creu for more details! ¡

  16. DREU - WHAT DO YOU WANT TO RESEARCH? • Are you particularly interested in genomics? High- performance computing? Population dynamics? • DREU is a great way to explore beyond your own undergraduate institution • Personal statement should focus on research interest Applications are open and can be found at cra-w.org/dreu For mentor and student applications ¡

  17. cra-w.org/DREU

  18. BEYOND CRA-W • NSF-funded REUs • All over the U.S., HUGE variety in topics • I have also participated in an NSF REU ...and ¡ended ¡up ¡with ¡a ¡year-­‑long ¡paid ¡internship, ¡which ¡I ¡ was ¡able ¡to ¡conDnue ¡remotely ¡while ¡in ¡college! ¡ Deadlines usually in February, March https://www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/reu/reu_search.jsp ¡

  19. CONQUER – Computer Science Undergraduate Research • Conquer is an online resource provided by CRA-E for students and faculty interested or currently participating in undergraduate research. – Resources – Research Opportunities – Exercises Go to: conquer.cra.org Check out: cra.org/crae

  20. Resources ¡ ¡ Visit ¡ CRA-­‑W.org ¡ for ¡more ¡resources ¡for ¡all ¡levels ¡of ¡your ¡career ¡ ¡ Join ¡our ¡CRA-­‑W ¡mailing ¡list, ¡ CRA-­‑W ¡Updates , ¡by ¡going ¡to ¡bit.ly/1McQCDd ¡ ¡ Follow ¡@CRAWomen ¡to ¡find ¡out ¡about ¡upcoming ¡events ¡or ¡programs ¡ ¡ Don’t ¡forget ¡to ¡take ¡the ¡feedback ¡survey! ¡ ¡

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