Hi everyone,

Please check out the opportunities below to participate in undergraduate research focused on broadening participation in CS from underrepresented groups.

If you have any questions, please contact Kayla DesPortes at ksdesportes@gmail.com.

Sincerely,

Jennifer

Jennifer Whitlow

Director of Computing Enrollment

GT College of Computing

jwhitlow@cc.gatech.edu

From: Kayla DesPortes [mailto:ksdesportes@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2014 1:19 PM
To: Jennifer Whitlow
Subject: Undergraduate Research Positions Available

Hello! 

My name is Kayla and I am a Human Centered Computing PhD student working in the Culture and Technology Lab. My main focus is broadening participation in CS and Electrical Engineering to include students who come from a lower socio-economic background. This semester I am working on two projects, both of which could benefit from an undergraduate researcher. See the descriptions of both below. If you are interested in working on either please email me at ksdesportes@gmail.com and we can set up a meeting to talk about the opportunities. Hopefully I'll hear from you soon! 

Thanks! 

~Kayla 

Move Lab 

This semester we are coupling with Eyedrum, a contemporary arts center in Atlanta, to develop an interactive technology enhanced dance performance. We are working with high school students from a low-income background, coupled with engineers, choreographers and undergraduates to create a performance. The workshop will be a one week session in the winter holidays of the high school students, and then performances will take place in Jan/Feb of next year. We will be prepping the research materials, and prototyping designs throughout the semester. Much of the prototyping work will involve microcontrollers, so if you have a background in computer science or electrical engineering that would be awesome. 

Mentorship for Entrepreneurship 

We will be working with the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Atlanta to do workshops studying mentorship in an informal educational environment. We are looking at the The studies will consist of workshops with teams of students and mentors who will be paired together to form a small business. Their end goal is to build their business model around a microcontroller creation. This will involve learning about microcontrollers and their peripherals, learning about design, learning about teamwork and collaboration, and learning about running a business. The research will investigate different mentor relationships within different groups. We will be prepping the research, designing the curriculum and materials (both from the business side and the microcontroller side), and running the workshops. A background in computer science, electrical engineering or business would be great.