CS@Mines
Hidden Talents Program
Help Drive Innovation
Help shape the technology of tomorrow! It’s been shown overwhelmingly that diversity in technology fields is a key driver for innovation. CS@Mines Hidden Talents provides CS research mentorship experiences for undergraduates. The goal is to encourage students to pursue graduate studies and research careers in computing, especially students from underrepresented groups.
What you will do
- Experience hands-on CS research, culminating in a research symposium where you will present your work.
- Partner with a CS@Mines graduate student mentor.
WHO SHOULD APPLY
- Undergraduate students in their sophomore or junior year majoring in any science, technology, engineering, or math fields.
- Undergraduate students from any school may apply and women from underrepresented groups are especially encouraged to apply.
Application
- Apply today for the Spring 2023 CS@Mines Hidden Talents: Google Explore CSR (Computer Science Research) program.
- Priority deadline is Thursday, December 15, 2023. Final application deadline is Sunday, January 15, 2023.
Exemplary Final Presentations
Program Details
Timeline
Continue to check this page as dates are finalized.
| Sunday, Jan 15, 2023 | Apply! Tell your friends. |
| Saturday, Jan 28, 2023 | Virtual CSR Workshop |
| Saturday, Feb 4, 2023 | In-person CSR Workshop |
| Feb 6 – Apr 21, 2023 | 10 weeks of CS/ML research for 20 UGs |
| Thursday, Apr 27, 2023 | Final Symposium |
Example Research Projects
Students can collaborate with graduate students on research project such as these:
Robotics Demonstrations for STEM Education and Outreach
The project objective is to create robotics demonstrations such as robot dancing, robot soccer, speech interaction, and tic-tac-toe playing, and use the demonstrations for outreach and STEM education to inspire and attract the future generation of roboticists.
Goal Reference
In previous work, we have developed algorithms to allow robots to understand and generate references to individual objects within their environments (e.g., “the red box”). In this project, students will investigate new ways in which robots might handle references to a robot’s own actions and goals.
Robot Panning with Real-World Constraints
Robots performing physical tasks must adhere to physical constraints: a glass full of liquid must be kept upright, drawers must slide linearly, doors must rotate at the hinge, etc. This project will incorporate physical constraints into a robot planning system, enabling robots to plan actions and trajectories for everyday tasks.
Enabling Smart Irrigation using Internet of Things
Public and private lawns make up the single largest irrigated crop in North America. On such a large scale, minor inefficiencies in irrigation control techniques can cause an immense amount of wasted water. This project will use loT devices to monitor soil moisture of various locations of lawns. The collected data will be then used to enable adaptive irrigation.
Detecting Driver Phone Use to Prevent Distracted Driving
Driver distractions caused by smartphones have been a major factor in high profile car accidents. Existing solutions either do not distinguish between the driver and the passengers, like iPhone’s Do Not Disturb While Driving feature, or require the control of the car. In this project, we plan to develop an application to determine driver phone use, utilizing sensors equipped in smartphones, mainly Bluetooth and magnetometer.
Mentors Needed
- We need CS@Mines graduate students to be mentors to undergraduate student participants.
- Please visit CS@Mines Call for Mentors page for more details.
Questions?
This work was partially funded by an unrestricted gift from Google.
