Broadening participation in visualization

Abstract

The REU Site: Research Experience for Undergraduates in Collaborative Data Visualization Applications (VisREU) is a multi-year, interdisciplinary program that provides research experiences for undergraduates with an interest in visualization. The unique feature of the VisREU site is the paring of undergraduate students with research teams which consist of a research faculty member, graduate students (where applicable) and a visualization mentor. Research faculty provide research projects with a visualization component that allow undergraduate students an opportunity to understand the visualization process while doing quality research. Visualization mentors work with student/research mentor teams to create visualizations of research data. In 2015 the program saw an increase in the level of engagement from student participants and research mentors. For two consecutive years (2014/2015) one student from each cohort was selected to present their research results at the annual National Science Foundation (NSF) REU Symposium in Arlington, VA. This talk presents a high-level overview of highlights from the program.