CRA-E Spotlights Outstanding Undergraduate Researchers in the Highlights Series
By Ian Ludden and Jean Salac, CRA-E Graduate Fellows
The CRA-E Undergraduate Research Highlights series is now in its third year of featuring outstanding undergraduate researchers from universities across North America. It is one of the many CRA-E activities that supports the computing research pipeline by honoring undergraduate research and promoting graduate education and research careers in computing fields.
Each article describes the journey of a successful undergraduate researcher, from finding research opportunities to disseminating their work. The highlights series features students from the Finalists and Honorable Mentions of the CRA Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher competition, with the goal of offering guidance to the next generation of undergraduate researchers and to share how research has shaped their career aspirations. CRA-E chooses a diverse set of students for the highlights series to reflect the wide range of undergraduate institutions, research areas, and paths to research.
The first three articles for the 2020-21 academic year are:
- “Empowering Caregivers and Promoting Privacy,” featuring Zaina Aljallad and her work on healthcare data protection;
- “Designing Search Engines & Recommender Systems for Children,” portraying Ashlee Milton and her journey into studying information retrieval for children; and
- “Reimagining Human Sensation,” highlighting Chris Hill and his research on human augmentation and transhumanism.
New highlights appear monthly on the Undergraduate Research Highlights page of the CRA-E CONQUER website. Please share these stories with undergraduate students, especially those considering a research career. To be notified of new articles, subscribe here.
The CRA-E Graduate Fellows manage the research highlights from selecting and inviting students through writing and revising the articles. As current graduate students, fellows provide unique near-peer perspectives when writing the articles. They gain both professional service experience and a broader understanding of undergraduate research, preparing them to mentor undergraduates later in their careers. The two 2020 CRA-E Graduate Fellows are Ian Ludden from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Jean Salac from the University of Chicago. CRA-E is currently accepting nominations for the program. The deadline is January 27, 2021.
