Brown CS offers a number of research opportunities to undergraduates at colleges and universities across the northeastern US. Often geared toward students from historically underrepresented groups in computer science, they offer an opportunity to be a full member of a research group, learn from faculty and student mentors, work on a research project of one's own, and find out how to navigate graduate school and the publication process. In many cases, no prior research experience is required, and international students attending a US institution are eligible to apply. Our current options are listed below.
Diversity in Computer Systems Research
Computer systems are the backbone of modern applications – from your operating system making the computer's hardware intelligent, to a machine learning framework like Tensorflow abstracting the details of how to turn a high-level idea into number crunching, or the massive systems that keep today's cloud data centers efficient. The science of building efficient, easy-to-use, and trustworthy computer systems is about discovering key ideas that help make people get more out of their computers. Computer systems research has contributed many key advances in recent decades, and great ideas in systems have had stunning practical impact on the industry.
But systems research, like much of CS research in general, suffers from a lack of diversity: only a handful of papers in the top systems conferences have non-male lead authors. This program seeks to improve diversity in systems research through a year-long program of research experience for undergraduate students in CS who identify as women and/or related marginalized genders. If you enjoy systems (or think you might!), this program gives you an opportunity to learn about careers in research, how people navigate graduate school and the publication process, and give you a chance to work on a systems research project of your own with faculty at Brown University. No prior research experience required!
Our goal is to expose students to what computing research can look like, to help them build self-efficacy and practical research skills, and to encourage them to pursue graduate studies in computer science. We are especially interested in applicants from colleges and universities that do not already offer extensive research opportunities.
Learn more here and apply here.
Socially-Responsible AI for Computational Creativity
Artificial intelligence is often in the news for the wrong reasons: privacy-penetrating surveillance systems, "deepfakes," racial bias in predictive policing, and more. All hope is not lost, though: when used in a socially responsible manner, AI can be used for good. For example, it can be used to augment the creative capabilities of people, a process often called computational creativity. Creating images, 3D models, writing, games: in these domains and more, AI is offering new and exiting ways for people to realize their creative visions.
Brown CS is proud to partner with Google Research to offer exploreCSR: Socially-Responsible AI for Computational Creativity, a semesterlong immersive research experience program for undergraduate students which focuses on exactly these subjects. We encourage students from historically-underrepresented groups within computer science to apply, which includes, but is not limited to, students that identify as women, underrepresented minority (URM), first-generation college, low-income, and/or LGBTQ+. No prior research experience required! Our goal is to expose students to what computing research can look like, to help them build self-efficacy and practical research skills, and to encourage them to pursue graduate studies in computer science. We are especially interested in applicants from colleges and universities that do not already offer extensive research opportunities.
Learn more here and apply here.
Artificial Intelligence for Computational Creativity
A Summer REU Site
Brown Computer Science is proud to present "Artificial Intelligence for Computational Creativity," an NSF Summer REU Site. This is a 9-week, fully-funded, summer residential program which brings students to the Brown University campus June 5 -- August 4 2023 to conduct original research with computer science faculty and graduate students. Our intellectual focus is creative applications of artificial intelligence: potential research topics include creative generative models (of visual and textual content), detecting “fake” generated content, AI for game playing, user experience design for creative AI systems, and more. Research in this field is poised to revolutionize the means of personal expression for everyone: in writing, photography, design, architecture, and more.
