AI education matters

Abstract

In this column, we recount the history of EAAI mentored undergraduate research challenges from 2014 through the present and share a vision of how such offerings may become more diverse and engage a broader range of faculty mentors and undergraduate researchers. Unlike many academic disciplines, Computer Science undergraduate majors currently are not usually required to take or even offered a research methods course. Even so, many graduate schools desire to admit graduate students with undergraduate research experience. The EAAI Symposium has historically affirmed the value of mentored undergraduate research as an important part of undergraduate AI education. It has expressed this value through the support of a number of mentored undergraduate research challenges, described below.