KICK OFF YOUR CREU PROGRAM TO A GREAT START! A Webinar for CREU Mentors 2016-2017 Presenters Soha Hassoun, Tufts University, CREU Co-Director Nanette Veilleux, Simmons, Past & Current Mentor Bonita Sharif, Youngstown State, Past & Current Mentor The CREU program is sponsored and coordinated by CRA-W/CDC and IAAMCS
Webinar Goals and Format • Explain program overview and share best practices • Format – Soha will highlight program expectations – Bonita and Nanette will share their best practices – Live Q&A session
CRA-W/CDC CREU & iAAMCS Programs CRA-W/CDC CREU : Collaborative Research Experiences for Undergraduates • – http://cra.org/cra-w/creu/ iAAMCS : Institute for African-American Mentoring in Computing Sciences • – http://www.iaamcs.org/ Joined forces in spring 2016 to provide research mentoring opportunities • Several program co-directors representing CRA-W (CRA Committee on the • Status of Women in Computing Research), from the Coalition to Diversify Computing (CDC), and from Institute for African-American Mentoring in Computing Sciences (iAAMCS)
Program Goals • Ultimate goal : increase the number of women and underrepresented groups entering graduate studies in CS • Program Structure enables successful student engagement in research: – Mentor provides guidance and structure – Research stipend frees students from other work – Regular reporting helps students stay on track
Program Expectations During School Year • Students are expected to be actively engaged in research experiences including: – Working on a well-scoped and well-defined research problem – Using scientific methods to generate and/or test a hypothesis – Collaborating with colleagues – Collecting data or conducting experiments – Analyzing data with statistics or other tools – Explaining results – Writing or co-authoring a research paper or report – Presenting a research paper or report – Publishing a research paper or report
Program Expectations After Project Completion • Students will have: – Comprehension of “What is Research” – Gained confidence in their technical abilities – Experience working in teams – Demonstrated ability to contribute to research – Improved their academic profile to gain access to graduate school – Ready to consider graduate school
Program Required Reporting • Detailed information is clearly outlined: – http://cra.org/cra-w/creu/#financial-support • Reporting – Student weekly blogs • Demonstrate that students are making progress – Student Reports • Each student will be expected to submit a Mid-year Report • Each CREU team will be expected to submit a Final Report – Mentor reports (3 progress reports & 1 final report) • Update from mentor on state of project – Reporting for 2015-2016 is here: • http://cra.org/cra-w/creu-2015-2016-participants/
How can we help you? WE WANT YOU AND YOUR STUDENTS TO SUCCEED! • Program co-directors and CRA-W staff (Melissa Borts) will answer questions and help as needed • Piazza can provide an interactive format to share information and progress. New this year! We appreciate your active participation • Flag any issues to us as they arise. • Let’s hear about Best Practices!
BEST PRACTICES TO CONSIDER: FACULTY
Good design makes good projects Design – Step 1 Refocus from Spring • Re-read the proposal. • With students, identify the end goal. • Think about ways to achieve the goal. • Define milestones (and deliverables). • Iterate.
Good design makes good projects Design-Step 2 - Foundation • Encourage students to do searches or literature reviews. • Return to plan with new information or best practices.
Good design makes good projects Design-Step 3 Work plan Help students •build a work plan from milestones •determine how to parse out the work (roles) •Decide what kind of implementation is appropriate (e.g. Agile MVP? Incremental?) Don’t micro-manage!
Maintain regular contact with students Regular and Routine Practical points • Weekly scheduled meetings Remind students about • Mid-point and semester reports • Monitor Blogs • Conference deadlines Help with • Keep the proposal handy: re-focus • conference submissions, regularly. • scholarship applications • travel • Encourage good team processes: roles, report backs, logs
Best Practices to Consider: Faculty Good design makes good projects Maintain regular contact with students • Re-read the proposal • Weekly scheduled meetings • Help students think ahead about • Monitor Blogs and encourage the goals of their project students if they fall behind • Identify milestones along the way • Keep the proposal handy: the project title and description are • Spend time on literature reviews frequently requested! • Help students build a work plan • Encourage good team processes: and deliverables roles, report backs, logs • Help students determine how to • Remind students about parse out the work conference deadlines and help • Don’t micro-manage! with submissions, scholarship applications and travel
BEST PRACTICES TO CONSIDER: STUDENTS
Time Management Students are advised to… • block out time to work on the project during each week – 10-15 hours per week • have weekly scheduled meetings with their faculty mentors as well as with each other if necessary • notify your mentors if you are stuck and have exhausted all your options for help – do this sooner rather than later
Project Planning and Execution Students are advised to… • know what the main goals of the project are – re-read the proposal again • maintain and adhere to a weekly work plan and deliverables – make use of project management software as things tend to get lost in emails – make use of shared drives or version control for documents • keep a current weekly blog/website – use date ranges in addition to/instead of week numbers – post pictures • submit timely reports as required by the CREU program
Examples of Work Plan/ToDo Items • Review paper by Jane Smith at ICSM 2013 and present at weekly meeting • Write up the pros and cons of using Method A vs. Method B in experimental study. • Conduct experimental study with 20 students. • Analyze data collected from the study • Submit poster to TAPIA or GHC
Basecamp project management An example of a Basecamp project showing Todo list items
Good blog entries
A more detailed blog entry
Disseminate Students are advised to… • present their work at the university level (if possible) – chance to practice before a conference presentation • submit and present your work at the official CREU meeting spot (TAPIA or GHC) • apply for travel scholarships and student volunteer programs at conferences
Best Practices to Consider: Students Project Planning and Execution Time Management • Re-read the proposal • Block out time each week to work on the project • Work with mentors to identify main • Weekly scheduled meetings with goals of the project mentors / other team members • Build a work plan and set of • Notify mentors about problems deliverables weekly early • Keep your blog posts current and post pictures Disseminate • Use shared drives and project management software to keep • Submit and present results of everyone on track project at university level and conference venues including • Submit timely reports as CREU meeting spots. requested by CREU. • Apply for travel scholarships • Apply for student volunteer positions at conferences
Resources Visit conquer.cra.org for resources for your REU experience Encourage your students to join the CRA-W mailing list, CRA-W Updates , by going to bit.ly/1McQCDd Follow @CRAWomen to find out about upcoming events or programs
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