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Undergraduate
Students in the Labs
New Programs Offer Expanded Possibilities
By Marlys Amundson
"Compared to
alternatives like an internship or summer school, the opportunity
was simply too good to pass up," notes electrical engineering
undergraduate ShingWa Wong. "The [initial] learning process was
overwhelming, but everything started to come together with assistance
from graduate students on the team and as I gained programming experience."
Last summer, Wong tested different
space-time coding schemes for mobile wireless communication under
the supervision of Professor Michael P. Fitz. Wong was selected to
work in Fitz's lab as part of an eight-week program at UCLA that paired
exceptional undergraduates with faculty and graduate student mentors.
The electrical engineering department's new undergraduate research
program was initiated by Professor Ali H. Sayed, vice chairman of
undergraduate affairs.
It was one of several new programs designed to enhance the undergraduate
educational experience through hands-on research and the opportunity
to work closely with faculty and graduate students.
Two major interdisciplinary research centers in the School - the Center
for Embedded Networked Sensing and the Institute for Cell Mimetic
Space Exploration - also implemented new undergraduate research programs
this year.
Many engineering faculty members already work with individual undergraduate
students through the Student Research Program (SRP), which allows
undergraduates to participate in research early in their academic
careers under the direction of a faculty mentor.
"Like others, I have worked with several undergraduates in my lab
through SRP, and have found their contributions valuable," notes Vijay
K. Dhir, dean of the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and
Applied Science. "I was very pleased with the results of this summer's
undergraduate research programs, and look forward to other departments
and centers creating similar opportunities in the future."
Established and directed by Sayed with the support of fellow faculty
and department chairman Yahya Rahmat-Samii, the new electrical engineering
undergraduate research program is designed to expose undergraduate
students to research earlier in their academic careers and to broaden
their experiences beyond the classroom. It also gives them an opportunity
to become familiar with graduate programs at UCLA, working closely
with current PhD students in the laboratory.
Zhang Liu, who worked with Sayed, was studying power and rate control
in wireless sensor networks. Using Matlab software to simulate a sensor
network, Zhang implemented and compared algorithms developed by graduate
students on the project to determine if they will improve network
performance.
"Although I planned to go on to graduate school, I didn't really know
if it would fit my career goals. I thought this summer research experience
would help me decide my future, and now I know I will definitely go
to graduate school," says Liu. "This program really shows that the
electrical engineering department cares about its undergraduates."
Seven electrical engineering faculty participated in the inaugural
program, working with fourteen students on such projects as retrodirective
noise correlating radar, microwave electronics, MIMO OFDM for WLAN,
sensor diversity simulation, space time coding, location, power and
rate control in sensor networks, and several aspects of wireless network
research. The faculty who participated in the first year of the program
are Elliott Brown, Babak Daneshrad, Fitz, Tatsuo Itoh, Greg Pottie,
Izhak Rubin, and Sayed.
Electrical engineering undergraduate Sai-Wang (Rocco) Tam, who worked
with Itoh in his Microwave Electronics Lab, comments, "I found it
helpful to experience new approaches to problem solving. When I ran
into a problem, I consulted with the graduate students in my lab who
provided different approaches and points of view. The research program
also gave me a chance to apply techniques learned in the classroom
to a real-world project."
The program provided a way for the faculty to interact more closely
with talented undergraduate students, while providing the students
with hands-on experience on advanced projects, research at the forefront
of its field.
"We admitted less than half of the students who applied to ensure
they could closely interact with the faculty and graduate students
working on the projects," notes Sayed. "We want to provide a quality
experience for the students who are involved - that's more important
to us than developing a large program."
The first year of the program was open to juniors and seniors at UCLA,
and they have plans to open admission to students at other universities
in the future. Sayed would like to be able to develop the program
so that UCLA becomes a destination for undergraduate students in electrical
engineering who are interested in summer research experience.
"I am impressed with the proactive approach the UCLA electrical engineering
department has taken," comments Dr. Kishan Baheti, a program director
in the Division of Electrical and Communications Systems at the National
Science Foundation. "This can be a model for the nation."
The program's dynamic web site showcases a little of the electrical
engineering life at UCLA. Sayed explains that through the site they
"wanted to introduce undergraduates to the people who are conducting
the research projects." The project results, which the students were
required to present to their peers, are also available on the site
(http://www.ugres.ee.ucla.edu/index.php).
Program funding is provided in part through National Science Foundation
Research Experiences for Undergraduate Supplements. REU Supplements
are supported by the various disciplinary and educational research
programs throughout the NSF, and typically provide research experience
support for one or two undergraduate students.
Other undergraduates gained hands-on research experience, as well
as the opportunity to improve their teamwork, communication, and problem
solving skills through programs sponsored by major multidisciplinary
research centers in the School. Working with the Center for Academic
and Research Excellence (CARE), the Center for Embedded Networked
Sensing (CENS) and the Institute for Cell Mimetic Space Exploration
(CMISE) offered summer research programs for undergraduates at UCLA
and other top tier universities. Weekly professional development and
technical seminars, a GRE prep course, and a variety of social events
were also available to participants.
The CENS interns conducted advanced research in embedded systems projects,
working closely with faculty and graduate students in the labs. Iman
Ahmadi, a recent graduate of UC Berkeley, had the opportunity to survey
a number of research programs as a scholar in the UC Leadership Excellence
through Advanced Degrees program.
"I was really interested in UCLA," explains Ahmadi, "and Professor
Kaiser's robotic wireless sensor project caught my attention, [and]
I was excited about joining his research group."
Ahmadi worked with Kaiser and graduate student Richard Pon on a pan
tilt head and deployment kit for the Networked Infomechanical Systems
(NIMS) project. Researchers on this project are designing the elements
that will enable tethered, mobile nodes to sense and relay significant
data in a challenging environment.
Seven of the twelve participants were UCLA students, the others coming
from Stanford, Xavier, and UC Berkeley, and more than half of the
participants were women. Their fields included biomedical engineering,
chemical engineering, computer science, and electrical engineering,
and they ranged in class year from freshman to senior.
Lisa Shirachi also worked on the NIMS project, investigating methods
of implementing solar panels to provide energy for a battery bank
that will power the node's operation. The node includes a computer
and camera that is able to collect data from the environment and compare
and analyze the images.
"The opportunity to participate in this program offered an excellent
and rare chance for hands-on experience in the engineering field to
apply what I've learned in class," notes Shirachi. "It also seemed
to be a chance to affect the world at a level that doesn't often seem
possible at the undergraduate level."
The CENS program is designed to involve women and members of underrepresented
groups in research and encourage them to go on to graduate school.
CENS administrators worked closely with CARE and the Center for Excellence
in Engineering and Diversity to promote the program, which is restricted
to United States citizens, and had very good results.
"In our first year we received 52 applications from undergraduates
who were interested in participating," notes Dr. Sara Terheggen, education
director. "Next year, we are looking forward to increasing the pool
of applicants and involving even more undergraduates."
The Center was recently awarded a National Science Foundation Gender
Diversity in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education
grant, and will receive $900,000 over three years.
"We plan to design a model undergraduate research experience that
integrates features and components of other undergraduate research
programs proven most effective in promoting women's longer-term commitment
to science and engineering," says Terheggen.
CMISE's undergraduate program is designed to train the next generation
of scientists and engineers for careers in space exploration, and
the organizers hope that some of the summer program participants will
go on to careers at NASA.
Michael (MJ) Fields, a senior majoring in aerospace engineering with
an emphasis in spacecraft design, felt the program offered him a chance
to "try out" different fields within mechanical and aerospace engineering
before focusing on a single topic for graduate studies.
Fields worked in Professor Chih-Ming Ho's laboratory on optimization
of a micro mixing chamber for biological applications, research that
is part of a larger scale lab-on-a-chip project involving several
departments on campus. Early in the summer he was responsible for
altering the surface of the chamber so the particles being mixed could
be better observed. Once that issue was resolved, he designed and
tested approaches for optimal mixing at very low speeds using an existing
chamber design.
"I really love this experience so far!" notes Fields. "The lab environment
here is very friendly and Dr. Ho has been very gracious in making
sure that I get as much training in as many aspects of this field
as possible. Things that would not be available to a regular undergraduate
working in a lab have been available to me."
Each of the five undergraduate students was paired with a faculty
member and a graduate student for laboratory research. These projects
focused on completely new ways to characterize the environment in
space and monitor astronaut health. Several of the students worked
on developing low power, reconfigurable microfluidic devices that
can be used to monitor the spaceship environment. Others studied atomic
force microscopy to measure acoustic profiles of cells to characterize
their type and metabolic status. Three of the students interned with
faculty in engineering, one in the School of Medicine, and one in
chemistry with Professor Robin Garrell.
Notes Garrell, "In addition to the five undergraduate students in
this year's program, we were able to involve five outstanding high
school students in UCLA laboratories, and also placed additional students
with Raytheon and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Several of the undergraduates
will continue their research projects with CMISE throughout the coming
academic year."
Individual faculty are also committed to introducing students to research
earlier in their academic careers. Mechanical engineering professor
Tsu-Chin Tsao, who is receiving support for undergraduate research
from General Motors, plans to have two to three students working in
his lab each year. Last spring two students from the American Society
of Mechanical Engineers - James Sharp and Greg Glenn - began working
with Tsao through an independent study course to build a single cylinder
camless engine.
Tsao explains, "I would like to use their undergraduate research project
as a basis for subsequent graduate research on valve timing control
and developing a means to remove the crankshaft for a free piston
engine."
Both students had internships at General Motors over the summer, but
will continue their work with Tsao in the fall. The team is building
a working engine that can be instrumented and used to study engine
control issues.
"Smart motivated students get a lot accomplished and are pleasant
to work with," says Tsao. "The students working in my lab gain research
experience and help move the project forward."
Please see http://www.ugres.ee.ucla.edu/
for more information on the electrical engineering undergraduate research
program. For additional information about activities in CMISE, please
visit http://www.cmise.ucla.edu/.
For more about programs in CENS, please see http://www.cens.ucla.edu/.
Additional information on Tsao's work is available at http://www.seas.ucla.edu/%7Ettsao/index.htm.
EE program group: Scott Quintard, UCLA Photography
CENS students: photo appears courtesy of CENS
CMISE students: Azim Laiwalla, CMISE |
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![Electrical engineering research program participants (l to r) Zhang Liu, Daniel Xing, Rocco (Sai-Wang) Tam, ShingWa Wong, Jonathan Chan, Daniel N. Liu, and Meng Jing with Professor Ali Sayed. [Not pictured: Timothy Jin, Alena Kwok, Matthew Nguyen, Derek Prothro, Angelo Umali, Scott Wright, and Thomas Zhu.]](images/ugrees.jpg)
