With a desire to gain hands-on field experience over the summer, three #VState computer science students, Sean Passmore, Amanda Seasholtz, and Marco Colasito, applied for undergraduate research programs sponsored by the National Science Foundation. After being accepted, Sean, Amanda, and Marco traveled to three different states to pursue separate research projects.
We caught up with them to learn about their experience.
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Marco’s Experience
Q: Where did your internship take place?
A: The internship took place in Fargo, North Dakota.
Q: What project(s) were you working on specifically?
A: I worked on a compound biometric system that utilized voice recognition and lip-motion recognition, or the movement of the mouth. I chose to do something with biometrics because it was something I was interested in, and I was sure that it would definitely be a good challenge.
Q: What was something interesting or exciting you discovered or learned while working on your research project(s)?
A: Before even starting the project, I thought biometric security required sophisticated hardware to be able to run such a program. As I researched and tried things out for myself, a basic biometric system can be implemented using everyday equipment, like my laptop and an HD camcorder. This really made me realize that pretty much anyone can take on projects like this without the need for expensive equipment.
Q: How did this opportunity enhance your experience as a VSU student?
A: This program greatly changed my perception of research and how to approach it in the future. There is also the scholarship that came with participating in the program. I mean, who can say no to $5,000? So, this takes a lot of weight off my shoulders for sure; I highly recommend participating in at least one REU program before graduating.
Q: How did VSU play a role in your success at your internship?
A: Thankfully, my time in VSU’s computer science program gave me enough knowledge to not panic while developing my project during the REU, so I’m glad I was able to apply what I have learned outside of the traditional classroom environment.
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Amanda’s Experience
Q: Where did your internship take place?
A: Columbia, South Carolina
Q: What was something interesting or exciting you discovered or learned during this experience?
A: Our group of 10 was assigned a project, and it was something that was totally new to me! Through this experience, I was able to improve the time efficiency of the RMTRACK robot trajectory planning algorithm. This was done by adding a flip feature to the algorithm that allowed waiting robots to proceed. In the last week of my research, I made a breakthrough in which I was able to test different places in the code to see when the best time to “flip” would be. This proved to be very rewarding in that the original place was not the most efficient place and that breakthrough allowed me to make the RMTRACK algorithm even more efficient.
Presenting my research on my four-foot poster at the end of summer research symposium was also very rewarding. I loved telling the public how we furthered the knowledge in this area.
Q: What was your favorite aspect of this internship experience?
A: I really enjoyed the research environment. It was very rewarding! I was surrounded by supportive people who wanted me to succeed. The campus at USC was beautiful and the city provided many things to do.
The other REU students and I would get together and go explore the city. We’d check out the local restaurants, go skating, go to the movies, and go to Lake Murray together! We all bonded quickly.
Q: Now that you’ve completed the internship, what do you plan to do with the knowledge and skills you’ve gained?
A: I plan to continue my education in computer science at VSU and, upon graduation, I want to go to grad school.
Q: How did this opportunity enhance your experience as a VSU student?
A: I feel that this research experience has helped me become a more well-rounded computer scientist. In addition to the knowledge I gained, I can now apply the research experience I gained with GitLab, collaborating with others, time management, ROS (robot operating system language), and java toward my future in computer science.
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Sean’s Experience
Q: How did you all find out about the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) programs that are funded by the National Science Foundation?
A: Dr. Roy Krishendu sent out a big email. I got to talking to him about the REUs and ended up applying to quite a few.
Q: Where did your internship take place?
A: Boca Raton, Florida
Q: Were you able to choose your projects? If so, what made you choose the projects you did?
A: We were able to make a ranked list of projects we wanted to work on. I received the one that was top of my list. I like neural networks because I think they have the potential to do things humans couldn’t reasonably do. Besides some basic conceptual knowledge about the topics of neural networks, this was completely new to me.
Q: What was your favorite aspect of this internship experience?
A: The job-like environment. I gave project update presentations, and I was relatively autonomous in my day-to-day operations.
Q: How did VSU play a role in your success at your internship?
A: Without VSU, I wouldn’t have been aware of this opportunity in the first place. Had Dr. Roy not sent me an email I wouldn’t have known about it. Had Dr. Dave Gibson and Dr. Roy not helped me with my letters of recommendation and my essay submission I don’t think I could have made it in.
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Interested in studying CS? Learn more about #VState’s Department of Computer Science.
