Structuring the student research experience
Proceedings of the 5th annual SIGCSE/SIGCUE ITiCSEconference on Innovation and technology in computer science education
Undergraduate research experience in computer science education
Proceedings of the 7th annual conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education
Challenges and the elements of success in undergraduate research
Working group reports from ITiCSE on Innovation and technology in computer science education
Learning strategies and undergraduate research
Proceedings of the 37th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
Increasing student retention in computer science through research programs for undergraduates
Proceedings of the 38th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
Enhancing undergraduate education: a REU model for interdisciplinary research
Proceedings of the 40th ACM technical symposium on Computer science education
Energy harvesting active networked tags (EnHANTs) for ubiquitous object networking
IEEE Wireless Communications
Demo: prototyping UWB-enabled enhants
MobiSys '11 Proceedings of the 9th international conference on Mobile systems, applications, and services
Demo: Organic solar cell-equipped energy harvesting active networked tag (EnHANT) prototypes
Proceedings of the 9th ACM Conference on Embedded Networked Sensor Systems
Collaboration across the curriculum: a disciplined approach todeveloping team skills
Proceedings of the 43rd ACM technical symposium on Computer Science Education
Taming complexity in large-scale system projects
Proceedings of the 43rd ACM technical symposium on Computer Science Education
Crazy Car Race Contest: Multicourse Design Curricula in Embedded System Design
IEEE Transactions on Education
A Project-Based Laboratory for Learning Embedded System Design With Industry Support
IEEE Transactions on Education
Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges
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The modern computing landscape increasingly requires a range of skills to successfully integrate complex systems. Project-based learning is used to help students build professional skills. However, it is typically applied to small teams and small efforts. In this paper, we describe our experience in engaging a large number of students in research projects within a multi-year interdisciplinary research effort. The projects expose the students to various disciplines in Electrical Engineering (circuit design, wireless communications, hardware prototyping), Computer Science (embedded systems, algorithm design, networking) and Applied Physics (thin-film battery design, solar cell fabrication). While a student project is usually focused on one discipline area, it requires interaction with at least two other areas. Over 4 years, 115 semester-long projects have been completed. The students were a diverse group of high school, undergraduate, and M.S. Computer Science, Computer Engineering, and Electrical Engineering students. Some of the approaches we have taken to facilitate student learning are real-world system development constraints, regular cross-group meetings, and extensive involvement of Ph.D. students in student mentorship and knowledge transfer. To assess our approaches, we conducted a survey among the participating students. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of our methods. For example, 70% of the students surveyed indicated that working on their research project improved their ability to function on multidisciplinary teams more than coursework, internships, or any other activity.