Undergraduate Research

Getting Involved

When you take courses in computer science or statistics, or another field, you learn about established knowledge, theories, practices, and techniques. But where do these ideas come from, and how do they become established? The answer is that, by and large, they come into being by scholars conducting academic research.

Who are these scholars? They are your professors — and they are your peers, too! You can be involved in research, and your professors would be thrilled to learn that you are interested.

Why should you get involved in research?

  • If you are thinking about graduate school, having research experience is a tremendous boost to your applications; having a published paper is an even greater boost.
  • Learning about cutting-edge theories and techniques, and pushing the boundaries of knowledge, will make you a stronger, more accomplished intellectual.
  • Research is rewarding and even fun (and challenging). You are doing things nobody has done before.
  • Even if you are not interested in graduate school, research experience helps build your résumé, and exposes you to learning that might not happen in the classroom.

When should you get involved in research?

Even first-year students can get involved in research, but many areas will require more foundational knowledge, such as data structures, operating systems, databases, or algorithms. If you are a first or second-year student and think you want to engage in research, first see which areas in CSC 110 interested you the most. Then, look at what research the faculty are engaged in via the faculty research page. Finally, try to take any foundational courses as early as possible (for instance, if you want to do Machine Learning research with Dr. Brown or Dr. Alvarez, you’ll want to have taken CSC 461, so you probably don’t want to wait until your last semester to do so).

Research can happen during the school year, or during the summer (or both). Sometimes, there are paid research assistant positions available during the semester. The best way to find out about this is to establish a research relationship with a faculty member, possibly by your junior year; the summer between junior and senior year can be an excellent time to engage in full-time research, but many students do so even earlier.

How can you get involved in research?

A great way to find out about research opportunities is to attend the department’s Research Lightning Talks (typically in October), as well as the Department Colloquium Series (typically held on Fridays). This will help you discover what you find interesting and exciting, as well as what isn’t quite your thing.

Research at URI

There are several programs available for undergraduates to engage in research. The Arts & Sciences Fellows program, (URI)2 (Undergraduate Research Initiative at URI) and faculty-supervised research as a CSC/STA/DSP 491 (independent study) or 499 (capstone project) are all possibilities.

There are two exercises you should conduct before contacting faculty about research. We suggest you don’t just email a faculty member to ask “do you have a project for me?” without first doing some diligence. Some faculty may have existing research projects that need further staffing, but others may not have the capacity to supervise more students. Some faculty might be willing to support an idea that you present to them, but others might not have time to move outside their existing research programs.

Explore the faculty research pages. Take notes on what areas seem exciting to you, and who is doing that research. It’s great if you identify faculty members you’ve taken classes with, but this isn’t always essential.

  1. Look at publications. Go to faculty’s individual research websites (most of them have their own pages that don’t look like URI pages; they are linked from the department research page as well as from the People page), or to Google Scholar. Download and read some of their recent, relevant papers. It’s OK if you don’t understand everything right away; that will take time and experience, and these papers were typically written for experienced practitioners. Ask yourself if you’d like to learn more about these subjects.
  2. Then, email the faculty you’re interested in working with. Don’t feel bad if they don’t have room in their research groups for more students, but generally, faculty are eager to engage with students who are genuinely interested in research. It’s a great sign to the faculty member if you are already familiar with their research.

Research outside URI

There are also REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) programs available nationwide, funded by the National Science Foundation. These are specifically designated for undergraduate participation; opportunities are listed at the NSF (National Science Foundation) website.

You should explore the site and find interesting topics, paying attention to:

  • location (most of these are on-site, not virtual, but do provide housing — are you willing to spend a summer away from home?)
  • size (some of these are huge projects where you might have a minor role; others are smaller projects where your role might be more significant)
  • how established (some large, formal projects might have you interacting primarily with graduate students, but this isn’t a negative thing — those are people who spend all day thinking about the problems they are studying)
  • research area (particularly if not available at URI) — you might get to explore areas that we don’t currently address well at URI.