Undergraduate Student Research With Low Faculty Cost

Undergraduates are unlikely to even consider graduate research in Computer Science if they do not know what Computer Science research is. Many programs aimed at introducing undergraduate to research are structured like graduate research programs, with a small number of undergraduates working with a faculty advisor. Further, females, under-represented minorities, and first generation students may be too intimidated or the idea of research may be too amorphous, so that they miss out on these programs. As a consequence, we lose out on opportunities for greater diversity in CS research. We have started a pilot program in our department where a larger number of students (close to two dozen) work with a single faculty member as part of a research group focused on Machine Learning and related areas. The goal of this program is not to convince students to pursue a research career but rather to enable them to make a more informed decision about what role they would like research to play in their future. In order to evaluate our approach, we elicited student experience via two anonymized exit surveys. Students report that they develop a better understanding of what research in Computer Science is. Their interest in research was increased as was their reported confidence in their ability to do research, although not all students wanted to further pursue computer science research opportunities. Given the reported experience of female students, this program can offer a starting point for greater diversity in CS research.