Assistive technologies for People with Disabilities
Eight research assistantships are currently available for qualified undergraduate sophomore, junior and senior computer science and engineering students to participate in research in the field of assistive technologies for people with disabilities. The program will be conducted at an NSF supported REU Site* in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington (CSE@UTA). In this project, the CSE Department, in partnership with several other departments at UTA, will offer an Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program focusing on assistive technologies (AT) for people with disabilities (PWD). The proposed theme encompasses innovative and novel topics that can help PWD meet barriers of different kinds - attitudinal, architectural, and technological - in accessing employment, navigating public spaces, freely communicating, and living independently. During this summer, each student will be working in a multi-disciplinary setting and exposed to innovative and novel inter-disciplinary projects through research and prototyping. The REU participants will work on computer programming, algorithms, sensors, data analytics, machine learning, computer vision, sensors, sign language, facial recognition, emotion and behavior analysis, smart care, augmented reality, data analytics, robots, human-machine interaction. SmartCare, aimed at designing software and hardware systems to enhance care, support and encourage healthy living, facilitate remote health monitoring and diagnosis, improve the quality of life for persons with disabilities or chronic conditions, and facilitate aging-in-place.
This REU program consists of a 10-week Summer session, from June 10 to August 16, 2019. The student participants will have the opportunity to utilize the summer program to gain course credit by enrolling in a 3-credit hour seminar course during the 2019 Summer session at UTA. Non-UTA students will be required to enroll at UTA as summer students and are encouraged, if they desire to do so, to arrange, through their home institutions, for transfer of these credit hours towards their degree programs. During this program, the students are expected to participate in both individual and team research activities, report on their progress, and attend weekly group meetings.
Each recruited student will receive a stipend of $5,000 and an additional subsistence allowance of up to $1600 to cover housing and other subsistence costs. Students from a University other than UTA will also receive a travel supplement of up to $600 to compensate for additional travel expenses. Upon acceptance the REU program will supply each student with the necessary documentation to enroll and, if so desired, to register for the summer course and assistance will be available to help in the search for accommodations. Students who drop out of the program, or whose assistantships are terminated due to unsatisfactory performance, will not receive the remainder of their stipend from the point of termination of their research assistantship.
Only computer science or computer engineering majors (or those in a closely related field) who are going to be a junior, or senior during the 2019-2020 academic year are eligible to participate in the program. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or Permanent Residents. A minimum GPA of 3.0 is required. Talented students, whose GPA is less than (but close to) 3.0 will also be considered. These students are asked to provide a detailed statement explaining the reasons for their current GPA. Interested applicants need to submit a completed application (including a copy of their current transcript issued by the university - an unofficial copy is sufficient for the application - and at least two letters of recommendation - preferably by the applicant's academic professors and advisors). The applicants will be ranked based on their GPA, academic and extra-curricular accomplishments, experience, courses taken, and recommendation letters. If necessary for the decision, the top twenty finalists will be interviewed, and twelve students will be selected. Women, minorities, or members of any protected class are strongly encouraged to apply.
Applications can be submitted electronically on-line or by email, or using conventional mail. In both cases, a priority application deadline of March 15, 2019, and a final deadline applies for the receipt of complete applications. Applications will be accepted until the final application deadline. However, offers to highly qualified candidates will be made starting after the priority deadline and continued until all positions are filled.
For electronic
submissions recommendation letters should be sent directly by the
reference writer to iahmad@cse.uta.edu
. All other materials should be sent in one e-mail to the same
address (iahmad@cse.uta.edu).
For
paper applications, please
submit your complete application
package (including reference letters) to:
Prof. Ishfaq
Ahmad
University of Texas at Arlington
Department of Computer
Science and Engineering
Box 19015
Arlington, TX 76019-0015
Phone: 817-272-2345
Fax: 817-272-3784
Email:
iahmad@cse.uta.edu