REU Site: DIMACS REU in Computing Theory and Applications Impacting Society

This project is the continuation of an ongoing REU site at DIMACS (Rutgers University). Undergraduate students recruited from across the nation participate in summer research projects relating to foundations and applications of theoretical computer science. Each year, the program recruits 10 outstanding undergraduate students from diverse groups including women, underrepresented groups, and non-research institutions. A strong point of this site is the experience and expertise of the mentoring team, which has been able to produce valuable research experiences and excellent research publications in the past. Many past students have gone on to pursue successful research careers.

The site offers a wide variety of projects ranging from theoretical topics such as circuit complexity, graph matching, and error-correcting codes to more applied topics such as robot planning, active learning, security and privacy. It also offers socially relevant projects such as food webs, analyzing immune-tumor interactions, and genome folding. Many of these are leading-edge research projects that not only develop students' research skills but also give them exposure to respective research areas. The students also benefit from DIMACS industry partners in the region. The project will lead to publishable research and contribute to building the future work force.