Undergraduate Research Experiences in Computer Science

Jon Herlocker, Assistant Professor, Oregon State University, <herlock@cs.orst.edu>

Are you considering a career in computing research? Trying to decide if graduate school is right for you? If so, then one of your best options to participate in an undergraduate research experience that will give you a taste of computing research and good experience before you have to make decision of graduate school versus industry.

Before I start listing all the places you can check for this information, let me give you some general advice. These research internships can vary greatly depending on the project manager and research group involved. Examine them closely and ask a lot of questions before accepting one. Questions you should ask are:

Find out before accepting exactly what will your responsibilities be, if you can. You might want to specifically ask if you will be expected to do non-computing administrative or secretarial work, such as filing or answering phones. If you can, get them to tell you exactly what project you will be working on and what you will be expected to do as part of that project. Many bad internship experiences have occurred because an undergrad showed up in a research group that was not prepared for them, and they spent the summer in a strange place with nothing to do. Note that in some cases, you may not be able to get this information. Some organizations hire pools of undergrads first, then figure out where to put them later. Realize that there is risk associated with such situations.
Determine if you will be the only undergraduate working on the project or not. It's really nice to have somebody else around in the same situation as you. You can bounce ideas off each other, hang out together, or even band together if problems arise.
Find out who your mentor will be. Ask how frequently you will have the opportunity to meet with or talk to your mentor. Make sure that the mentor will actually be around for the majority of the time. Try and talk to this mentor beforehand. Another pitfall that is common is that a student will be assigned a mentor, but then the mentor will be on vacation or traveling for most of the summer.

The ACM, the professional agency for computer science has some good pages related to internships.

If you have suggestions about other advice to add to the above list, or the below list of opportunities, please let me know.

Potential Sources of Undergraduate Research Opportunities

National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) The NSF is the primary government funding agency for basic scientific research in the United States. They have long recognized that when undergraduates are involved in research, everybody benefits. They have two programs: REU sites and REU supplements. Students must be US citizens or permanent residents.

An REU site is a summer program where 10+ undergraduates are brought in each summer to work on research related projects. REU sites are excellent opportunities, because they are almost always exceptionally planned and you work together with a bunch of other undergraduates. There are only a few REU sites every year, but they are well publicized on the above NSF web site. Deadlines vary - please see the web sites of the individual REU sites. I highly recommend the REU sites.

REU supplements allow individual research faculty to include one or two undergraduates on a specific research project that is already funded by the NSF. These opportunities are not advertised in any central location - you only get them by contacting a professor who has an NSF grant. Some faculty with NSF awards frequently hire undergrads, and may have the REU money available, others may have never hired undergrads, and you may have to convince them to request the REU money from the NSF. I've seen many successful individual REUs. Be sure to ask the questions above.
Xerox PARC. Applications taken Dec-Feb. The research program is generally looking for students with a bachelors, but would probably consider an exceptional undergrad. Xerox PARC is one of the premier computing research labs in the country. While internships here are exceptionally competitive, receiving one can dramatically change your career. I've known several graduate students who have interned at Xerox and have been very happy with their experience.
NASA Ames/Research Institute for Advanced Computer Science Summer Student Research Program. Feb. 28th deadline. Ames in Mountain View, CA is the designated NASA Center of Excellence for Information Technology. You probably have a much metter chance of getting a computer science research job through here than if you applied through a more general NASA internship program. I have no experience with this program - I'd be interested in hearing any positive or negative experiences.
US Department of Energy Office of Science Education. A tremendous amount of research related to computing happens at the US Department of Energy Laboratories. There are many labs located around the country. They have a program called the Energy Research Undergraduate Laboratory Fellowships (ERULF). Applications are accepted between Dec. 1st and Feb. 8th for summer positions. I have no experience with this program - I'd be interested in hearing any positive or negative experiences.
NASA Undergraduate Student Research Program. January deadline. US Citizens or permanent resident. Junior/seniors GPA 3.0+. Research opportunities at 10 different NASA sites around the country. I have no experience with this program - I'd be interested in hearing any positive or negative experiences.
Office of Naval Research. January deadline. US Citizens or permanent resident. Junior/seniors. Must be enrolled at an eligible university, which are listed on the site. I have no experience with this program - I'd be interested in hearing any positive or negative experiences.
The above is just a sampling, there are many other opportunities available. Other sites with good lists of internship opportunities. Beware, many of them may have nothing to do with research. Read closely and ask many questions.
- The ACM has one of the best pages of summer internships available.
- Yale as a good page on undergraduate internships available.
- Xavier also has a good page.
This is in no way a complete list of opportunities. Use your favorite search engine to look for text such as "undergraduate research internships" or a similar query. This is particularly useful if you know the name of a company, university, or lab that you would like to work for.