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Hiring CS Graduates: What We Learned from Employers

Computer science ( CS ) majors are in high demand and account for a large part of national computer and information technology job market applicants. Employment in this sector is projected to grow 12% between 2018 and 2028, which is faster than the average of all other occupations. Published data are available on traditional non-computer science-specific hiring processes. However, the hiring process for CS majors may be different. It is critical to have up-to-date information on questions such as “what positions are in high demand for CS majors?,” “what is a typical hiring process?,” and “what do employers say they look for when hiring CS graduates?” This article discusses the analysis of a survey of 218 recruiters hiring CS graduates in the United States. We used Atlas.ti to analyze qualitative survey data and report the results on what positions are in the highest demand, the hiring process, and the resume review process. Our study revealed that a software developer was the most common job the recruiters were looking to fill. We found that the hiring process steps for CS graduates are generally aligned with traditional hiring steps, with an additional emphasis on technical and coding tests. Recruiters reported that their hiring choices were based on reviewing resume’s experience, GPA, and projects sections. The results provide insights into the hiring process, decision making, resume analysis, and some discrepancies between current undergraduate CS program outcomes and employers’ expectations.

A Systematic Literature Review of Empiricism and Norms of Reporting in Computing Education Research Literature

Context. Computing Education Research (CER) is critical to help the computing education community and policy makers support the increasing population of students who need to learn computing skills for future careers. For a community to systematically advance knowledge about a topic, the members must be able to understand published work thoroughly enough to perform replications, conduct meta-analyses, and build theories. There is a need to understand whether published research allows the CER community to systematically advance knowledge and build theories. Objectives. The goal of this study is to characterize the reporting of empiricism in Computing Education Research literature by identifying whether publications include content necessary for researchers to perform replications, meta-analyses, and theory building. We answer three research questions related to this goal: (RQ1) What percentage of papers in CER venues have some form of empirical evaluation? (RQ2) Of the papers that have empirical evaluation, what are the characteristics of the empirical evaluation? (RQ3) Of the papers that have empirical evaluation, do they follow norms (both for inclusion and for labeling of information needed for replication, meta-analysis, and, eventually, theory-building) for reporting empirical work? Methods. We conducted a systematic literature review of the 2014 and 2015 proceedings or issues of five CER venues: Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE TS), International Symposium on Computing Education Research (ICER), Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (ITiCSE), ACM Transactions on Computing Education (TOCE), and Computer Science Education (CSE). We developed and applied the CER Empiricism Assessment Rubric to the 427 papers accepted and published at these venues over 2014 and 2015. Two people evaluated each paper using the Base Rubric for characterizing the paper. An individual person applied the other rubrics to characterize the norms of reporting, as appropriate for the paper type. Any discrepancies or questions were discussed between multiple reviewers to resolve. Results. We found that over 80% of papers accepted across all five venues had some form of empirical evaluation. Quantitative evaluation methods were the most frequently reported. Papers most frequently reported results on interventions around pedagogical techniques, curriculum, community, or tools. There was a split in papers that had some type of comparison between an intervention and some other dataset or baseline. Most papers reported related work, following the expectations for doing so in the SIGCSE and CER community. However, many papers were lacking properly reported research objectives, goals, research questions, or hypotheses; description of participants; study design; data collection; and threats to validity. These results align with prior surveys of the CER literature. Conclusions. CER authors are contributing empirical results to the literature; however, not all norms for reporting are met. We encourage authors to provide clear, labeled details about their work so readers can use the study methodologies and results for replications and meta-analyses. As our community grows, our reporting of CER should mature to help establish computing education theory to support the next generation of computing learners.

Light Diacritic Restoration to Disambiguate Homographs in Modern Arabic Texts

Diacritic restoration (also known as diacritization or vowelization) is the process of inserting the correct diacritical markings into a text. Modern Arabic is typically written without diacritics, e.g., newspapers. This lack of diacritical markings often causes ambiguity, and though natives are adept at resolving, there are times they may fail. Diacritic restoration is a classical problem in computer science. Still, as most of the works tackle the full (heavy) diacritization of text, we, however, are interested in diacritizing the text using a fewer number of diacritics. Studies have shown that a fully diacritized text is visually displeasing and slows down the reading. This article proposes a system to diacritize homographs using the least number of diacritics, thus the name “light.” There is a large class of words that fall under the homograph category, and we will be dealing with the class of words that share the spelling but not the meaning. With fewer diacritics, we do not expect any effect on reading speed, while eye strain is reduced. The system contains morphological analyzer and context similarities. The morphological analyzer is used to generate all word candidates for diacritics. Then, through a statistical approach and context similarities, we resolve the homographs. Experimentally, the system shows very promising results, and our best accuracy is 85.6%.

A genre-based analysis of questions and comments in Q&A sessions after conference paper presentations in computer science

Gender diversity in computer science at a large public r1 research university: reporting on a self-study.

With the number of jobs in computer occupations on the rise, there is a greater need for computer science (CS) graduates than ever. At the same time, most CS departments across the country are only seeing 25–30% of women students in their classes, meaning that we are failing to draw interest from a large portion of the population. In this work, we explore the gender gap in CS at Rutgers University–New Brunswick, a large public R1 research university, using three data sets that span thousands of students across six academic years. Specifically, we combine these data sets to study the gender gaps in four core CS courses and explore the correlation of several factors with retention and the impact of these factors on changes to the gender gap as students proceed through the CS courses toward completing the CS major. For example, we find that a significant percentage of women students taking the introductory CS1 course for majors do not intend to major in CS, which may be a contributing factor to a large increase in the gender gap immediately after CS1. This finding implies that part of the retention task is attracting these women students to further explore the major. Results from our study include both novel findings and findings that are consistent with known challenges for increasing gender diversity in CS. In both cases, we provide extensive quantitative data in support of the findings.

Designing for Student-Directedness: How K–12 Teachers Utilize Peers to Support Projects

Student-directed projects—projects in which students have individual control over what they create and how to create it—are a promising practice for supporting the development of conceptual understanding and personal interest in K–12 computer science classrooms. In this article, we explore a central (and perhaps counterintuitive) design principle identified by a group of K–12 computer science teachers who support student-directed projects in their classrooms: in order for students to develop their own ideas and determine how to pursue them, students must have opportunities to engage with other students’ work. In this qualitative study, we investigated the instructional practices of 25 K–12 teachers using a series of in-depth, semi-structured interviews to develop understandings of how they used peer work to support student-directed projects in their classrooms. Teachers described supporting their students in navigating three stages of project development: generating ideas, pursuing ideas, and presenting ideas. For each of these three stages, teachers considered multiple factors to encourage engagement with peer work in their classrooms, including the quality and completeness of shared work and the modes of interaction with the work. We discuss how this pedagogical approach offers students new relationships to their own learning, to their peers, and to their teachers and communicates important messages to students about their own competence and agency, potentially contributing to aims within computer science for broadening participation.

Creativity in CS1: A Literature Review

Computer science is a fast-growing field in today’s digitized age, and working in this industry often requires creativity and innovative thought. An issue within computer science education, however, is that large introductory programming courses often involve little opportunity for creative thinking within coursework. The undergraduate introductory programming course (CS1) is notorious for its poor student performance and retention rates across multiple institutions. Integrating opportunities for creative thinking may help combat this issue by adding a personal touch to course content, which could allow beginner CS students to better relate to the abstract world of programming. Research on the role of creativity in computer science education (CSE) is an interesting area with a lot of room for exploration due to the complexity of the phenomenon of creativity as well as the CSE research field being fairly new compared to some other education fields where this topic has been more closely explored. To contribute to this area of research, this article provides a literature review exploring the concept of creativity as relevant to computer science education and CS1 in particular. Based on the review of the literature, we conclude creativity is an essential component to computer science, and the type of creativity that computer science requires is in fact, a teachable skill through the use of various tools and strategies. These strategies include the integration of open-ended assignments, large collaborative projects, learning by teaching, multimedia projects, small creative computational exercises, game development projects, digitally produced art, robotics, digital story-telling, music manipulation, and project-based learning. Research on each of these strategies and their effects on student experiences within CS1 is discussed in this review. Last, six main components of creativity-enhancing activities are identified based on the studies about incorporating creativity into CS1. These components are as follows: Collaboration, Relevance, Autonomy, Ownership, Hands-On Learning, and Visual Feedback. The purpose of this article is to contribute to computer science educators’ understanding of how creativity is best understood in the context of computer science education and explore practical applications of creativity theory in CS1 classrooms. This is an important collection of information for restructuring aspects of future introductory programming courses in creative, innovative ways that benefit student learning.

CATS: Customizable Abstractive Topic-based Summarization

Neural sequence-to-sequence models are the state-of-the-art approach used in abstractive summarization of textual documents, useful for producing condensed versions of source text narratives without being restricted to using only words from the original text. Despite the advances in abstractive summarization, custom generation of summaries (e.g., towards a user’s preference) remains unexplored. In this article, we present CATS, an abstractive neural summarization model that summarizes content in a sequence-to-sequence fashion while also introducing a new mechanism to control the underlying latent topic distribution of the produced summaries. We empirically illustrate the efficacy of our model in producing customized summaries and present findings that facilitate the design of such systems. We use the well-known CNN/DailyMail dataset to evaluate our model. Furthermore, we present a transfer-learning method and demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach in a low resource setting, i.e., abstractive summarization of meetings minutes, where combining the main available meetings’ transcripts datasets, AMI and International Computer Science Institute(ICSI) , results in merely a few hundred training documents.

Exploring students’ and lecturers’ views on collaboration and cooperation in computer science courses - a qualitative analysis

Factors affecting student educational choices regarding oer material in computer science, export citation format, share document.

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How to Contact Faculty for IW/Thesis Advising

Send the professor an e-mail. When you write a professor, be clear that you want a meeting regarding a senior thesis or one-on-one IW project, and briefly describe the topic or idea that you want to work on. Check the faculty listing for email addresses.

Parastoo Abtahi, Room 419

Available for single-semester IW and senior thesis advising, 2023-2024

  • Research Areas: Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Augmented Reality (AR), and Spatial Computing
  • Input techniques for on-the-go interaction (e.g., eye-gaze, microgestures, voice) with a focus on uncertainty, disambiguation, and privacy.
  • Minimal and timely multisensory output (e.g., spatial audio, haptics) that enables users to attend to their physical environment and the people around them, instead of a 2D screen.
  • Interaction with intelligent systems (e.g., IoT, robots) situated in physical spaces with a focus on updating users’ mental model despite the complexity and dynamicity of these systems.

Ryan Adams, Room 411

Research areas:

  • Machine learning driven design
  • Generative models for structured discrete objects
  • Approximate inference in probabilistic models
  • Accelerating solutions to partial differential equations
  • Innovative uses of automatic differentiation
  • Modeling and optimizing 3d printing and CNC machining

Andrew Appel, Room 209

  • Research Areas: Formal methods, programming languages, compilers, computer security.
  • Software verification (for which taking COS 326 / COS 510 is helpful preparation)
  • Game theory of poker or other games (for which COS 217 / 226 are helpful)
  • Computer game-playing programs (for which COS 217 / 226)
  •  Risk-limiting audits of elections (for which ORF 245 or other knowledge of probability is useful)

Sanjeev Arora, Room 407

  • Theoretical machine learning, deep learning and its analysis, natural language processing. My advisees would typically have taken a course in algorithms (COS423 or COS 521 or equivalent) and a course in machine learning.
  • Show that finding approximate solutions to NP-complete problems is also NP-complete (i.e., come up with NP-completeness reductions a la COS 487). 
  • Experimental Algorithms: Implementing and Evaluating Algorithms using existing software packages. 
  • Studying/designing provable algorithms for machine learning and implementions using packages like scipy and MATLAB, including applications in Natural language processing and deep learning.
  • Any topic in theoretical computer science.

David August, Room 221

  • Research Areas: Computer Architecture, Compilers, Parallelism
  • Containment-based approaches to security:  We have designed and tested a simple hardware+software containment mechanism that stops incorrect communication resulting from faults, bugs, or exploits from leaving the system.   Let's explore ways to use containment to solve real problems.  Expect to work with corporate security and technology decision-makers.
  • Parallelism: Studies show much more parallelism than is currently realized in compilers and architectures.  Let's find ways to realize this parallelism.
  • Any other interesting topic in computer architecture or compilers. 

Mark Braverman, 194 Nassau St., Room 231

Available for Spring 2024 single-semester IW, only

  • Research Areas: computational complexity, algorithms, applied probability, computability over the real numbers, game theory and mechanism design, information theory.
  • Topics in computational and communication complexity.
  • Applications of information theory in complexity theory.
  • Algorithms for problems under real-life assumptions.
  • Game theory, network effects
  • Mechanism design (could be on a problem proposed by the student)

Sebastian Caldas, 221 Nassau Street, Room 105

  • Research Areas: collaborative learning, machine learning for healthcare. Typically, I will work with students that have taken COS324.
  • Methods for collaborative and continual learning.
  • Machine learning for healthcare applications.

Bernard Chazelle, 194 Nassau St., Room 301

  • Research Areas: Natural Algorithms, Computational Geometry, Sublinear Algorithms. 
  • Natural algorithms (flocking, swarming, social networks, etc).
  • Sublinear algorithms
  • Self-improving algorithms
  • Markov data structures

Danqi Chen, Room 412

Not available for IW or thesis advising, 2023-2024

  • My advisees would be expected to have taken a course in machine learning and ideally have taken COS484 or an NLP graduate seminar.
  • Representation learning for text and knowledge bases
  • Pre-training and transfer learning
  • Question answering and reading comprehension
  • Information extraction
  • Text summarization
  • Any other interesting topics related to natural language understanding/generation

Marcel Dall'Agnol, Corwin 034

Available for single-semester and senior thesis advising, 2023-2024

  • Research Areas: Theoretical computer science. (Specifically, quantum computation, sublinear algorithms, complexity theory, interactive proofs and cryptography)

Jia Deng, Room 423

Available for Fall 2023 single-semester IW, only

  •  Research Areas: Computer Vision, Machine Learning.
  • Object recognition and action recognition
  • Deep Learning, autoML, meta-learning
  • Geometric reasoning, logical reasoning

Adji Bousso Dieng, Room 406

  • Research areas: Vertaix is a research lab at Princeton University led by Professor Adji Bousso Dieng. We work at the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and the natural sciences. The models and algorithms we develop are motivated by problems in those domains and contribute to advancing methodological research in AI. We leverage tools in statistical machine learning and deep learning in developing methods for learning with the data, of various modalities, arising from the natural sciences.

Robert Dondero, Corwin Hall, Room 038

  • Research Areas:  Software engineering; software engineering education.
  • Develop or evaluate tools to facilitate student learning in undergraduate computer science courses at Princeton, and beyond.
  • In particular, can code critiquing tools help students learn about software quality?

Zeev Dvir, 194 Nassau St., Room 250

Not available for IW or thesis advising, 2023-2024.

  • Research Areas: computational complexity, pseudo-randomness, coding theory and discrete mathematics.
  • Independent Research: I have various research problems related to Pseudorandomness, Coding theory, Complexity and Discrete mathematics - all of which require strong mathematical background. A project could also be based on writing a survey paper describing results from a few theory papers revolving around some particular subject.

Benjamin Eysenbach, Room 416

  • Research areas: reinforcement learning, machine learning. My advisees would typically have taken COS324.
  • Using RL algorithms to applications in science and engineering.
  • Emergent behavior of RL algorithms on high-fidelity robotic simulators.
  • Studying how architectures and representations can facilitate generalization.

Christiane Fellbaum, 1-S-14 Green

No longer available for single-term IW and senior thesis advising, 2023-2024

  • Research Areas: theoretical and computational linguistics, word sense disambiguation, lexical resource construction, English and multilingual WordNet(s), ontology
  • Anything having to do with natural language--come and see me with/for ideas suitable to your background and interests. Some topics students have worked on in the past:
  • Developing parsers, part-of-speech taggers, morphological analyzers for underrepresented languages (you don't have to know the language to develop such tools!)
  • Quantitative approaches to theoretical linguistics questions
  • Extensions and interfaces for WordNet (English and WN in other languages),
  • Applications of WordNet(s), including:
  • Foreign language tutoring systems,
  • Spelling correction software,
  • Word-finding/suggestion software for ordinary users and people with memory problems,
  • Machine Translation 
  • Sentiment and Opinion detection
  • Automatic reasoning and inferencing
  • Collaboration with professors in the social sciences and humanities ("Digital Humanities")

Adam Finkelstein, Room 424 

  • Research Areas: computer graphics, audio.

Robert S. Fish, Corwin Hall, Room 037

No longer available for single-semester IW and senior thesis advising, 2023-2024

  • Networking and telecommunications
  • Learning, perception, and intelligence, artificial and otherwise;
  • Human-computer interaction and computer-supported cooperative work
  • Online education, especially in Computer Science Education
  • Topics in research and development innovation methodologies including standards, open-source, and entrepreneurship
  • Distributed autonomous organizations and related blockchain technologies

Michael Freedman, Room 308 

  • Research Areas: Distributed systems, security, networking
  • Projects related to streaming data analysis, datacenter systems and networks, untrusted cloud storage and applications. Please see my group website at http://sns.cs.princeton.edu/ for current research projects.

Ruth Fong, Room 032

  • Research Areas: computer vision, machine learning, deep learning, interpretability, explainable AI, fairness and bias in AI
  • Develop a technique for understanding AI models
  • Design a AI model that is interpretable by design
  • Build a paradigm for detecting and/or correcting failure points in an AI model
  • Analyze an existing AI model and/or dataset to better understand its failure points
  • Build a computer vision system for another domain (e.g., medical imaging, satellite data, etc.)
  • Develop a software package for explainable AI
  • Adapt explainable AI research to a consumer-facing problem

Note: I am happy to advise any project if there's a sufficient overlap in interest and/or expertise; please reach out via email to chat about project ideas.

Tom Griffiths, Room 405

Research areas: computational cognitive science, computational social science, machine learning and artificial intelligence

Note: I am open to projects that apply ideas from computer science to understanding aspects of human cognition in a wide range of areas, from decision-making to cultural evolution and everything in between. For example, we have current projects analyzing chess game data and magic tricks, both of which give us clues about how human minds work. Students who have expertise or access to data related to games, magic, strategic sports like fencing, or other quantifiable domains of human behavior feel free to get in touch.

Aarti Gupta, Room 220

  • Research Areas: Formal methods, program analysis, logic decision procedures
  • Finding bugs in open source software using automatic verification tools
  • Software verification (program analysis, model checking, test generation)
  • Decision procedures for logical reasoning (SAT solvers, SMT solvers)

Elad Hazan, Room 409  

  • Research interests: machine learning methods and algorithms, efficient methods for mathematical optimization, regret minimization in games, reinforcement learning, control theory and practice
  • Machine learning, efficient methods for mathematical optimization, statistical and computational learning theory, regret minimization in games.
  • Implementation and algorithm engineering for control, reinforcement learning and robotics
  • Implementation and algorithm engineering for time series prediction

Felix Heide, Room 410

  • Research Areas: Computational Imaging, Computer Vision, Machine Learning (focus on Optimization and Approximate Inference).
  • Optical Neural Networks
  • Hardware-in-the-loop Holography
  • Zero-shot and Simulation-only Learning
  • Object recognition in extreme conditions
  • 3D Scene Representations for View Generation and Inverse Problems
  • Long-range Imaging in Scattering Media
  • Hardware-in-the-loop Illumination and Sensor Optimization
  • Inverse Lidar Design
  • Phase Retrieval Algorithms
  • Proximal Algorithms for Learning and Inference
  • Domain-Specific Language for Optics Design

Kyle Jamieson, Room 306

  • Research areas: Wireless and mobile networking; indoor radar and indoor localization; Internet of Things
  • See other topics on my independent work  ideas page  (campus IP and CS dept. login req'd)

Alan Kaplan, 221 Nassau Street, Room 105

Research Areas:

  • Random apps of kindness - mobile application/technology frameworks used to help individuals or communities; topic areas include, but are not limited to: first response, accessibility, environment, sustainability, social activism, civic computing, tele-health, remote learning, crowdsourcing, etc.
  • Tools automating programming language interoperability - Java/C++, React Native/Java, etc.
  • Software visualization tools for education
  • Connected consumer devices, applications and protocols

Brian Kernighan, Room 311

  • Research Areas: application-specific languages, document preparation, user interfaces, software tools, programming methodology
  • Application-oriented languages, scripting languages.
  • Tools; user interfaces
  • Digital humanities

Zachary Kincaid, Room 219

  • Research areas: programming languages, program analysis, program verification, automated reasoning
  • Independent Research Topics:
  • Develop a practical algorithm for an intractable problem (e.g., by developing practical search heuristics, or by reducing to, or by identifying a tractable sub-problem, ...).
  • Design a domain-specific programming language, or prototype a new feature for an existing language.
  • Any interesting project related to programming languages or logic.

Gillat Kol, Room 316

Aleksandra korolova, 309 sherrerd hall.

Available for single-term IW and senior thesis advising, 2023-2024

  • Research areas: Societal impacts of algorithms and AI; privacy; fair and privacy-preserving machine learning; algorithm auditing.

Advisees typically have taken one or more of COS 226, COS 324, COS 423, COS 424 or COS 445.

Amit Levy, Room 307

  • Research Areas: Operating Systems, Distributed Systems, Embedded Systems, Internet of Things
  • Distributed hardware testing infrastructure
  • Second factor security tokens
  • Low-power wireless network protocol implementation
  • USB device driver implementation

Kai Li, Room 321

  • Research Areas: Distributed systems; storage systems; content-based search and data analysis of large datasets.
  • Fast communication mechanisms for heterogeneous clusters.
  • Approximate nearest-neighbor search for high dimensional data.
  • Data analysis and prediction of in-patient medical data.
  • Optimized implementation of classification algorithms on manycore processors.

Xiaoyan Li, 221 Nassau Street, Room 104

  • Research areas: Information retrieval, novelty detection, question answering, AI, machine learning and data analysis.
  • Explore new statistical retrieval models for document retrieval and question answering.
  • Apply AI in various fields.
  • Apply supervised or unsupervised learning in health, education, finance, and social networks, etc.
  • Any interesting project related to AI, machine learning, and data analysis.

Wyatt Lloyd, Room 323

  • Research areas: Distributed Systems
  • Caching algorithms and implementations
  • Storage systems
  • Distributed transaction algorithms and implementations

Margaret Martonosi, Room 208

  • Quantum Computing research, particularly related to architecture and compiler issues for QC.
  • Computer architectures specialized for modern workloads (e.g., graph analytics, machine learning algorithms, mobile applications
  • Investigating security and privacy vulnerabilities in computer systems, particularly IoT devices.
  • Other topics in computer architecture or mobile / IoT systems also possible.

Jonathan Mayer, Sherrerd Hall, Room 307 

  • Research areas: Technology law and policy, with emphasis on national security, criminal procedure, consumer privacy, network management, and online speech.
  • Assessing the effects of government policies, both in the public and private sectors.
  • Collecting new data that relates to government decision making, including surveying current business practices and studying user behavior.
  • Developing new tools to improve government processes and offer policy alternatives.

Andrés Monroy-Hernández, Room 405

  • Research Areas: Human-Computer Interaction, Social Computing, Public-Interest Technology, Augmented Reality, Urban Computing
  • Research interests:developing public-interest socio-technical systems.  We are currently creating alternatives to gig work platforms that are more equitable for all stakeholders. For instance, we are investigating the socio-technical affordances necessary to support a co-op food delivery network owned and managed by workers and restaurants. We are exploring novel system designs that support self-governance, decentralized/federated models, community-centered data ownership, and portable reputation systems.  We have opportunities for students interested in human-centered computing, UI/UX design, full-stack software development, and qualitative/quantitative user research.
  • Beyond our core projects, we are open to working on research projects that explore the use of emerging technologies, such as AR, wearables, NFTs, and DAOs, for creative and out-of-the-box applications.

Christopher Moretti, Corwin Hall, Room 036

  • Research areas: Distributed systems, high-throughput computing, computer science/engineering education
  • Expansion, improvement, and evaluation of open-source distributed computing software.
  • Applications of distributed computing for "big science" (e.g. biometrics, data mining, bioinformatics)
  • Software and best practices for computer science education and study, especially Princeton's 126/217/226 sequence or MOOCs development
  • Sports analytics and/or crowd-sourced computing

Radhika Nagpal, F316 Engineering Quadrangle

  • Research areas: control, robotics and dynamical systems

Karthik Narasimhan, Room 422

  • Research areas: Natural Language Processing, Reinforcement Learning
  • Autonomous agents for text-based games ( https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/project/textworld/ )
  • Transfer learning/generalization in NLP
  • Techniques for generating natural language
  • Model-based reinforcement learning

Arvind Narayanan, 308 Sherrerd Hall 

Research Areas: fair machine learning (and AI ethics more broadly), the social impact of algorithmic systems, tech policy

Pedro Paredes, Corwin Hall, Room 041

My primary research work is in Theoretical Computer Science.

 * Research Interest: Spectral Graph theory, Pseudorandomness, Complexity theory, Coding Theory, Quantum Information Theory, Combinatorics.

The IW projects I am interested in advising can be divided into three categories:

 1. Theoretical research

I am open to advise work on research projects in any topic in one of my research areas of interest. A project could also be based on writing a survey given results from a few papers. Students should have a solid background in math (e.g., elementary combinatorics, graph theory, discrete probability, basic algebra/calculus) and theoretical computer science (226 and 240 material, like big-O/Omega/Theta, basic complexity theory, basic fundamental algorithms). Mathematical maturity is a must.

A (non exhaustive) list of topics of projects I'm interested in:   * Explicit constructions of better vertex expanders and/or unique neighbor expanders.   * Construction deterministic or random high dimensional expanders.   * Pseudorandom generators for different problems.   * Topics around the quantum PCP conjecture.   * Topics around quantum error correcting codes and locally testable codes, including constructions, encoding and decoding algorithms.

 2. Theory informed practical implementations of algorithms   Very often the great advances in theoretical research are either not tested in practice or not even feasible to be implemented in practice. Thus, I am interested in any project that consists in trying to make theoretical ideas applicable in practice. This includes coming up with new algorithms that trade some theoretical guarantees for feasible implementation yet trying to retain the soul of the original idea; implementing new algorithms in a suitable programming language; and empirically testing practical implementations and comparing them with benchmarks / theoretical expectations. A project in this area doesn't have to be in my main areas of research, any theoretical result could be suitable for such a project.

Some examples of areas of interest:   * Streaming algorithms.   * Numeric linear algebra.   * Property testing.   * Parallel / Distributed algorithms.   * Online algorithms.    3. Machine learning with a theoretical foundation

I am interested in projects in machine learning that have some mathematical/theoretical, even if most of the project is applied. This includes topics like mathematical optimization, statistical learning, fairness and privacy.

One particular area I have been recently interested in is in the area of rating systems (e.g., Chess elo) and applications of this to experts problems.

Final Note: I am also willing to advise any project with any mathematical/theoretical component, even if it's not the main one; please reach out via email to chat about project ideas.

Iasonas Petras, Corwin Hall, Room 033

  • Research Areas: Information Based Complexity, Numerical Analysis, Quantum Computation.
  • Prerequisites: Reasonable mathematical maturity. In case of a project related to Quantum Computation a certain familiarity with quantum mechanics is required (related courses: ELE 396/PHY 208).
  • Possible research topics include:

1.   Quantum algorithms and circuits:

  • i. Design or simulation quantum circuits implementing quantum algorithms.
  • ii. Design of quantum algorithms solving/approximating continuous problems (such as Eigenvalue problems for Partial Differential Equations).

2.   Information Based Complexity:

  • i. Necessary and sufficient conditions for tractability of Linear and Linear Tensor Product Problems in various settings (for example worst case or average case). 
  • ii. Necessary and sufficient conditions for tractability of Linear and Linear Tensor Product Problems under new tractability and error criteria.
  • iii. Necessary and sufficient conditions for tractability of Weighted problems.
  • iv. Necessary and sufficient conditions for tractability of Weighted Problems under new tractability and error criteria.

3. Topics in Scientific Computation:

  • i. Randomness, Pseudorandomness, MC and QMC methods and their applications (Finance, etc)

Yuri Pritykin, 245 Carl Icahn Lab

  • Research interests: Computational biology; Cancer immunology; Regulation of gene expression; Functional genomics; Single-cell technologies.
  • Potential research projects: Development, implementation, assessment and/or application of algorithms for analysis, integration, interpretation and visualization of multi-dimensional data in molecular biology, particularly single-cell and spatial genomics data.

Benjamin Raphael, Room 309  

  • Research interests: Computational biology and bioinformatics; Cancer genomics; Algorithms and machine learning approaches for analysis of large-scale datasets
  • Implementation and application of algorithms to infer evolutionary processes in cancer
  • Identifying correlations between combinations of genomic mutations in human and cancer genomes
  • Design and implementation of algorithms for genome sequencing from new DNA sequencing technologies
  • Graph clustering and network anomaly detection, particularly using diffusion processes and methods from spectral graph theory

Vikram Ramaswamy, 035 Corwin Hall

  • Research areas: Interpretability of AI systems, Fairness in AI systems, Computer vision.
  • Constructing a new method to explain a model / create an interpretable by design model
  • Analyzing a current model / dataset to understand bias within the model/dataset
  • Proposing new fairness evaluations
  • Proposing new methods to train to improve fairness
  • Developing synthetic datasets for fairness / interpretability benchmarks
  • Understanding robustness of models

Ran Raz, Room 240

  • Research Area: Computational Complexity
  • Independent Research Topics: Computational Complexity, Information Theory, Quantum Computation, Theoretical Computer Science

Szymon Rusinkiewicz, Room 406

  • Research Areas: computer graphics; computer vision; 3D scanning; 3D printing; robotics; documentation and visualization of cultural heritage artifacts
  • Research ways of incorporating rotation invariance into computer visiontasks such as feature matching and classification
  • Investigate approaches to robust 3D scan matching
  • Model and compensate for imperfections in 3D printing
  • Given a collection of small mobile robots, apply control policies learned in simulation to the real robots.

Olga Russakovsky, Room 408

  • Research Areas: computer vision, machine learning, deep learning, crowdsourcing, fairness&bias in AI
  • Design a semantic segmentation deep learning model that can operate in a zero-shot setting (i.e., recognize and segment objects not seen during training)
  • Develop a deep learning classifier that is impervious to protected attributes (such as gender or race) that may be erroneously correlated with target classes
  • Build a computer vision system for the novel task of inferring what object (or part of an object) a human is referring to when pointing to a single pixel in the image. This includes both collecting an appropriate dataset using crowdsourcing on Amazon Mechanical Turk, creating a new deep learning formulation for this task, and running extensive analysis of both the data and the model

Sebastian Seung, Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Room 153

  • Research Areas: computational neuroscience, connectomics, "deep learning" neural networks, social computing, crowdsourcing, citizen science
  • Gamification of neuroscience (EyeWire  2.0)
  • Semantic segmentation and object detection in brain images from microscopy
  • Computational analysis of brain structure and function
  • Neural network theories of brain function

Jaswinder Pal Singh, Room 324

  • Research Areas: Boundary of technology and business/applications; building and scaling technology companies with special focus at that boundary; parallel computing systems and applications: parallel and distributed applications and their implications for software and architectural design; system software and programming environments for multiprocessors.
  • Develop a startup company idea, and build a plan/prototype for it.
  • Explore tradeoffs at the boundary of technology/product and business/applications in a chosen area.
  • Study and develop methods to infer insights from data in different application areas, from science to search to finance to others. 
  • Design and implement a parallel application. Possible areas include graphics, compression, biology, among many others. Analyze performance bottlenecks using existing tools, and compare programming models/languages.
  • Design and implement a scalable distributed algorithm.

Mona Singh, Room 420

  • Research Areas: computational molecular biology, as well as its interface with machine learning and algorithms.
  • Whole and cross-genome methods for predicting protein function and protein-protein interactions.
  • Analysis and prediction of biological networks.
  • Computational methods for inferring specific aspects of protein structure from protein sequence data.
  • Any other interesting project in computational molecular biology.

Robert Tarjan, 194 Nassau St., Room 308

Available for single-semester IW and senior thesis advising, 2022-2023

  • Research Areas: Data structures; graph algorithms; combinatorial optimization; computational complexity; computational geometry; parallel algorithms.
  • Implement one or more data structures or combinatorial algorithms to provide insight into their empirical behavior.
  • Design and/or analyze various data structures and combinatorial algorithms.

Olga Troyanskaya, Room 320

  • Research Areas: Bioinformatics; analysis of large-scale biological data sets (genomics, gene expression, proteomics, biological networks); algorithms for integration of data from multiple data sources; visualization of biological data; machine learning methods in bioinformatics.
  • Implement and evaluate one or more gene expression analysis algorithm.
  • Develop algorithms for assessment of performance of genomic analysis methods.
  • Develop, implement, and evaluate visualization tools for heterogeneous biological data.

David Walker, Room 211

  • Research Areas: Programming languages, type systems, compilers, domain-specific languages, software-defined networking and security
  • Independent Research Topics:  Any other interesting project that involves humanitarian hacking, functional programming, domain-specific programming languages, type systems, compilers, software-defined networking, fault tolerance, language-based security, theorem proving, logic or logical frameworks.

Shengyi Wang, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Room 216

  • Independent Research topics: Explore Escher-style tilings using (introductory) group theory and automata theory to produce beautiful pictures.

Kevin Wayne, Corwin Hall, Room 040

  • Research Areas: design, analysis, and implementation of algorithms; data structures; combinatorial optimization; graphs and networks.
  • Design and implement computer visualizations of algorithms or data structures.
  • Develop pedagogical tools or programming assignments for the computer science curriculum at Princeton and beyond.
  • Develop assessment infrastructure and assessments for MOOCs.

Matt Weinberg, 194 Nassau St., Room 222

  • Research Areas: algorithms, algorithmic game theory, mechanism design, game theoretical problems in {Bitcoin, networking, healthcare}.
  • Theoretical questions related to COS 445 topics such as matching theory, voting theory, auction design, etc. 
  • Theoretical questions related to incentives in applications like Bitcoin, the Internet, health care, etc. In a little bit more detail: protocols for these systems are often designed assuming that users will follow them. But often, users will actually be strictly happier to deviate from the intended protocol. How should we reason about user behavior in these protocols? How should we design protocols in these settings?

Huacheng Yu, Room 310

  • data structures
  • streaming algorithms
  • design and analyze data structures / streaming algorithms
  • prove impossibility results (lower bounds)
  • implement and evaluate data structures / streaming algorithms

Ellen Zhong, Room 314

No longer available for single-term IW  and senior thesis advising, 2023-2024

Opportunities outside the department

We encourage students to look in to doing interdisciplinary computer science research and to work with professors in departments other than computer science.  However, every CS independent work project must have a strong computer science element (even if it has other scientific or artistic elements as well.)  To do a project with an adviser outside of computer science you must have permission of the department.  This can be accomplished by having a second co-adviser within the computer science department or by contacting the independent work supervisor about the project and having he or she sign the independent work proposal form.

Here is a list of professors outside the computer science department who are eager to work with computer science undergraduates.

Maria Apostolaki, Engineering Quadrangle, C330

  • Research areas: Computing & Networking, Data & Information Science, Security & Privacy

Branko Glisic, Engineering Quadrangle, Room E330

  • Documentation of historic structures
  • Cyber physical systems for structural health monitoring
  • Developing virtual and augmented reality applications for documenting structures
  • Applying machine learning techniques to generate 3D models from 2D plans of buildings
  •  Contact : Rebecca Napolitano, rkn2 (@princeton.edu)

Mihir Kshirsagar, Sherrerd Hall, Room 315

Center for Information Technology Policy.

  • Consumer protection
  • Content regulation
  • Competition law
  • Economic development
  • Surveillance and discrimination

Sharad Malik, Engineering Quadrangle, Room B224

Select a Senior Thesis Adviser for the 2020-21 Academic Year.

  • Design of reliable hardware systems
  • Verifying complex software and hardware systems

Prateek Mittal, Engineering Quadrangle, Room B236

  • Internet security and privacy 
  • Social Networks
  • Privacy technologies, anonymous communication
  • Network Science
  • Internet security and privacy: The insecurity of Internet protocols and services threatens the safety of our critical network infrastructure and billions of end users. How can we defend end users as well as our critical network infrastructure from attacks?
  • Trustworthy social systems: Online social networks (OSNs) such as Facebook, Google+, and Twitter have revolutionized the way our society communicates. How can we leverage social connections between users to design the next generation of communication systems?
  • Privacy Technologies: Privacy on the Internet is eroding rapidly, with businesses and governments mining sensitive user information. How can we protect the privacy of our online communications? The Tor project (https://www.torproject.org/) is a potential application of interest.

Ken Norman,  Psychology Dept, PNI 137

  • Research Areas: Memory, the brain and computation 
  • Lab:  Princeton Computational Memory Lab

Potential research topics

  • Methods for decoding cognitive state information from neuroimaging data (fMRI and EEG) 
  • Neural network simulations of learning and memory

Caroline Savage

Office of Sustainability, Phone:(609)258-7513, Email: cs35 (@princeton.edu)

The  Campus as Lab  program supports students using the Princeton campus as a living laboratory to solve sustainability challenges. The Office of Sustainability has created a list of campus as lab research questions, filterable by discipline and topic, on its  website .

An example from Computer Science could include using  TigerEnergy , a platform which provides real-time data on campus energy generation and consumption, to study one of the many energy systems or buildings on campus. Three CS students used TigerEnergy to create a  live energy heatmap of campus .

Other potential projects include:

  • Apply game theory to sustainability challenges
  • Develop a tool to help visualize interactions between complex campus systems, e.g. energy and water use, transportation and storm water runoff, purchasing and waste, etc.
  • How can we learn (in aggregate) about individuals’ waste, energy, transportation, and other behaviors without impinging on privacy?

Janet Vertesi, Sociology Dept, Wallace Hall, Room 122

  • Research areas: Sociology of technology; Human-computer interaction; Ubiquitous computing.
  • Possible projects: At the intersection of computer science and social science, my students have built mixed reality games, produced artistic and interactive installations, and studied mixed human-robot teams, among other projects.

David Wentzlaff, Engineering Quadrangle, Room 228

Computing, Operating Systems, Sustainable Computing.

  • Instrument Princeton's Green (HPCRC) data center
  • Investigate power utilization on an processor core implemented in an FPGA
  • Dismantle and document all of the components in modern electronics. Invent new ways to build computers that can be recycled easier.
  • Other topics in parallel computer architecture or operating systems

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Digital Commons @ USF > College of Engineering > Computer Science and Engineering > Theses and Dissertations

Computer Science and Engineering Theses and Dissertations

Theses/dissertations from 2023 2023.

Refining the Machine Learning Pipeline for US-based Public Transit Systems , Jennifer Adorno

Insect Classification and Explainability from Image Data via Deep Learning Techniques , Tanvir Hossain Bhuiyan

Brain-Inspired Spatio-Temporal Learning with Application to Robotics , Thiago André Ferreira Medeiros

Evaluating Methods for Improving DNN Robustness Against Adversarial Attacks , Laureano Griffin

Analyzing Multi-Robot Leader-Follower Formations in Obstacle-Laden Environments , Zachary J. Hinnen

Secure Lightweight Cryptographic Hardware Constructions for Deeply Embedded Systems , Jasmin Kaur

A Psychometric Analysis of Natural Language Inference Using Transformer Language Models , Antonio Laverghetta Jr.

Graph Analysis on Social Networks , Shen Lu

Deep Learning-based Automatic Stereology for High- and Low-magnification Images , Hunter Morera

Deciphering Trends and Tactics: Data-driven Techniques for Forecasting Information Spread and Detecting Coordinated Campaigns in Social Media , Kin Wai Ng Lugo

Automated Approaches to Enable Innovative Civic Applications from Citizen Generated Imagery , Hye Seon Yi

Theses/Dissertations from 2022 2022

Towards High Performing and Reliable Deep Convolutional Neural Network Models for Typically Limited Medical Imaging Datasets , Kaoutar Ben Ahmed

Task Progress Assessment and Monitoring Using Self-Supervised Learning , Sainath Reddy Bobbala

Towards More Task-Generalized and Explainable AI Through Psychometrics , Alec Braynen

A Multiple Input Multiple Output Framework for the Automatic Optical Fractionator-based Cell Counting in Z-Stacks Using Deep Learning , Palak Dave

On the Reliability of Wearable Sensors for Assessing Movement Disorder-Related Gait Quality and Imbalance: A Case Study of Multiple Sclerosis , Steven Díaz Hernández

Securing Critical Cyber Infrastructures and Functionalities via Machine Learning Empowered Strategies , Tao Hou

Social Media Time Series Forecasting and User-Level Activity Prediction with Gradient Boosting, Deep Learning, and Data Augmentation , Fred Mubang

A Study of Deep Learning Silhouette Extractors for Gait Recognition , Sneha Oladhri

Analyzing Decision-making in Robot Soccer for Attacking Behaviors , Justin Rodney

Generative Spatio-Temporal and Multimodal Analysis of Neonatal Pain , Md Sirajus Salekin

Secure Hardware Constructions for Fault Detection of Lattice-based Post-quantum Cryptosystems , Ausmita Sarker

Adaptive Multi-scale Place Cell Representations and Replay for Spatial Navigation and Learning in Autonomous Robots , Pablo Scleidorovich

Predicting the Number of Objects in a Robotic Grasp , Utkarsh Tamrakar

Humanoid Robot Motion Control for Ramps and Stairs , Tommy Truong

Preventing Variadic Function Attacks Through Argument Width Counting , Brennan Ward

Theses/Dissertations from 2021 2021

Knowledge Extraction and Inference Based on Visual Understanding of Cooking Contents , Ahmad Babaeian Babaeian Jelodar

Efficient Post-Quantum and Compact Cryptographic Constructions for the Internet of Things , Rouzbeh Behnia

Efficient Hardware Constructions for Error Detection of Post-Quantum Cryptographic Schemes , Alvaro Cintas Canto

Using Hyper-Dimensional Spanning Trees to Improve Structure Preservation During Dimensionality Reduction , Curtis Thomas Davis

Design, Deployment, and Validation of Computer Vision Techniques for Societal Scale Applications , Arup Kanti Dey

AffectiveTDA: Using Topological Data Analysis to Improve Analysis and Explainability in Affective Computing , Hamza Elhamdadi

Automatic Detection of Vehicles in Satellite Images for Economic Monitoring , Cole Hill

Analysis of Contextual Emotions Using Multimodal Data , Saurabh Hinduja

Data-driven Studies on Social Networks: Privacy and Simulation , Yasanka Sameera Horawalavithana

Automated Identification of Stages in Gonotrophic Cycle of Mosquitoes Using Computer Vision Techniques , Sherzod Kariev

Exploring the Use of Neural Transformers for Psycholinguistics , Antonio Laverghetta Jr.

Secure VLSI Hardware Design Against Intellectual Property (IP) Theft and Cryptographic Vulnerabilities , Matthew Dean Lewandowski

Turkic Interlingua: A Case Study of Machine Translation in Low-resource Languages , Jamshidbek Mirzakhalov

Automated Wound Segmentation and Dimension Measurement Using RGB-D Image , Chih-Yun Pai

Constructing Frameworks for Task-Optimized Visualizations , Ghulam Jilani Abdul Rahim Quadri

Trilateration-Based Localization in Known Environments with Object Detection , Valeria M. Salas Pacheco

Recognizing Patterns from Vital Signs Using Spectrograms , Sidharth Srivatsav Sribhashyam

Recognizing Emotion in the Wild Using Multimodal Data , Shivam Srivastava

A Modular Framework for Multi-Rotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Military Operations , Dante Tezza

Human-centered Cybersecurity Research — Anthropological Findings from Two Longitudinal Studies , Anwesh Tuladhar

Learning State-Dependent Sensor Measurement Models To Improve Robot Localization Accuracy , Troi André Williams

Human-centric Cybersecurity Research: From Trapping the Bad Guys to Helping the Good Ones , Armin Ziaie Tabari

Theses/Dissertations from 2020 2020

Classifying Emotions with EEG and Peripheral Physiological Data Using 1D Convolutional Long Short-Term Memory Neural Network , Rupal Agarwal

Keyless Anti-Jamming Communication via Randomized DSSS , Ahmad Alagil

Active Deep Learning Method to Automate Unbiased Stereology Cell Counting , Saeed Alahmari

Composition of Atomic-Obligation Security Policies , Yan Cao Albright

Action Recognition Using the Motion Taxonomy , Maxat Alibayev

Sentiment Analysis in Peer Review , Zachariah J. Beasley

Spatial Heterogeneity Utilization in CT Images for Lung Nodule Classication , Dmitrii Cherezov

Feature Selection Via Random Subsets Of Uncorrelated Features , Long Kim Dang

Unifying Security Policy Enforcement: Theory and Practice , Shamaria Engram

PsiDB: A Framework for Batched Query Processing and Optimization , Mehrad Eslami

Composition of Atomic-Obligation Security Policies , Danielle Ferguson

Algorithms To Profile Driver Behavior From Zero-permission Embedded Sensors , Bharti Goel

The Efficiency and Accuracy of YOLO for Neonate Face Detection in the Clinical Setting , Jacqueline Hausmann

Beyond the Hype: Challenges of Neural Networks as Applied to Social Networks , Anthony Hernandez

Privacy-Preserving and Functional Information Systems , Thang Hoang

Managing Off-Grid Power Use for Solar Fueled Residences with Smart Appliances, Prices-to-Devices and IoT , Donnelle L. January

Novel Bit-Sliced In-Memory Computing Based VLSI Architecture for Fast Sobel Edge Detection in IoT Edge Devices , Rajeev Joshi

Edge Computing for Deep Learning-Based Distributed Real-time Object Detection on IoT Constrained Platforms at Low Frame Rate , Lakshmikavya Kalyanam

Establishing Topological Data Analysis: A Comparison of Visualization Techniques , Tanmay J. Kotha

Machine Learning for the Internet of Things: Applications, Implementation, and Security , Vishalini Laguduva Ramnath

System Support of Concurrent Database Query Processing on a GPU , Hao Li

Deep Learning Predictive Modeling with Data Challenges (Small, Big, or Imbalanced) , Renhao Liu

Countermeasures Against Various Network Attacks Using Machine Learning Methods , Yi Li

Towards Safe Power Oversubscription and Energy Efficiency of Data Centers , Sulav Malla

Design of Support Measures for Counting Frequent Patterns in Graphs , Jinghan Meng

Automating the Classification of Mosquito Specimens Using Image Processing Techniques , Mona Minakshi

Models of Secure Software Enforcement and Development , Hernan M. Palombo

Functional Object-Oriented Network: A Knowledge Representation for Service Robotics , David Andrés Paulius Ramos

Lung Nodule Malignancy Prediction from Computed Tomography Images Using Deep Learning , Rahul Paul

Algorithms and Framework for Computing 2-body Statistics on Graphics Processing Units , Napath Pitaksirianan

Efficient Viewshed Computation Algorithms On GPUs and CPUs , Faisal F. Qarah

Relational Joins on GPUs for In-Memory Database Query Processing , Ran Rui

Micro-architectural Countermeasures for Control Flow and Misspeculation Based Software Attacks , Love Kumar Sah

Efficient Forward-Secure and Compact Signatures for the Internet of Things (IoT) , Efe Ulas Akay Seyitoglu

Detecting Symptoms of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Congestive Heart Failure via Cough and Wheezing Sounds Using Smart-Phones and Machine Learning , Anthony Windmon

Toward Culturally Relevant Emotion Detection Using Physiological Signals , Khadija Zanna

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

Beyond Labels and Captions: Contextualizing Grounded Semantics for Explainable Visual Interpretation , Sathyanarayanan Narasimhan Aakur

Empirical Analysis of a Cybersecurity Scoring System , Jaleel Ahmed

Phenomena of Social Dynamics in Online Games , Essa Alhazmi

A Machine Learning Approach to Predicting Community Engagement on Social Media During Disasters , Adel Alshehri

Interactive Fitness Domains in Competitive Coevolutionary Algorithm , ATM Golam Bari

Measuring Influence Across Social Media Platforms: Empirical Analysis Using Symbolic Transfer Entropy , Abhishek Bhattacharjee

A Communication-Centric Framework for Post-Silicon System-on-chip Integration Debug , Yuting Cao

Authentication and SQL-Injection Prevention Techniques in Web Applications , Cagri Cetin

Multimodal Emotion Recognition Using 3D Facial Landmarks, Action Units, and Physiological Data , Diego Fabiano

Robotic Motion Generation by Using Spatial-Temporal Patterns from Human Demonstrations , Yongqiang Huang

A GPU-Based Framework for Parallel Spatial Indexing and Query Processing , Zhila Nouri Lewis

A Flexible, Natural Deduction, Automated Reasoner for Quick Deployment of Non-Classical Logic , Trisha Mukhopadhyay

An Efficient Run-time CFI Check for Embedded Processors to Detect and Prevent Control Flow Based Attacks , Srivarsha Polnati

Force Feedback and Intelligent Workspace Selection for Legged Locomotion Over Uneven Terrain , John Rippetoe

Detecting Digitally Forged Faces in Online Videos , Neilesh Sambhu

Malicious Manipulation in Service-Oriented Network, Software, and Mobile Systems: Threats and Defenses , Dakun Shen

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Undergraduate Research at Purdue CS

Current Undergraduate Research Opportunities

The Department of Computer Science, as well as Purdue University as a whole, has multiple research faculty engaging in research for a variety of areas both within the field of computer science and beyond.  For an undergraduate student looking to join in research the process may seem daunting, so here are some FAQ's and resources to assist in getting started.

When do I get involved in research? 

Undergraduate students can engage in research opportunities as early as their freshman year. This will depend on the research project as well as the professor's requirements and skillsets needed. Some professors will want you to have taken a specific course before you start research, while others say it's never too early to engage in a project, especially since you'll do a lot of your learning on the job.

How do I get involved in research?

The first step is finding the type of research you would like to be involved in (see next question for a list of websites). You should talk with faculty who were or are your instructors for ideas and insights. If you are approaching faculty that you have not had for a course, be sure you write a clear and detailed email about your request to be part of their research and see if you can meet them in person to discuss further.

Your academic advisor is also a great resource. They can discuss how to develop the skills you'll need for research, help manage your expectations, assist with the paperwork you need to register once you are on a research project as well as provide other insight and resources.

Excelling in coursework leads to research opportunities

What opportunities are there to do research?

Research is available to students not only through the academic year, but can be an alternative to internships during the summer. Besides research on Purdue's campus (either through the Department of Computer Science or other departments on campus) there are resources and opportunities to do research on other campuses across the country or with other organizations.

Undergraduate Andrew Chu

Volunteering for research leads to first paper

Undergraduate research resources at Purdue:

  • Department of Computer Science Research Areas
  • Department of Computer Science Research Seminars
  • Purdue University Office of Undergraduate Research
  • Purdue University Center for Programming Principles and Software Systems (PURPL)
  • Purdue Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program (SURF)
  • Discovery Park Undergraduate Research Internship Program (DURI)

Research Opportunities off-campus:

  • National Science Foundation's Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU's)
  • Computing Research Association's Computer Science Undergraduate Research (CONQUER)

Department of Computer Science, 305 N. University Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907

Phone: (765) 494-6010 • Fax: (765) 494-0739

Copyright © 2024 Purdue University | An equal access/equal opportunity university | Copyright Complaints

Trouble with this page? Disability-related accessibility issue ? Please contact the College of Science .

Harvard SEAS logo

Undergraduate Research Opportunities

Research may be part of your coursework or as as part of individual research opportunities working with professors.

Learn about Harvard CS Faculty’s research by looking at the following Google spreadsheet on Faculty Research Interests and Office Hours . In addition to information about their research, it lists their office hours. Be sure to look at the info paragraph column to get a sense of what is the background needed to get involved with each particular research group.

Also considering taking a graduate course or advanced undergraduate course as a way to gain deeper knowledge in an area you are interested in. Many undergraduates take graduate courses, and many of these graduate courses involve reading research papers and engaging in a research project. This provides a great way to get involved in research within the context of a course, often in a small class setting.

We also recommend you check out the Computer Science colloquium to get a sense for what’s going on in the world of Computer Science Research.

Another way to get involved with research is to do a CS91r or senior thesis .

Other useful resources

Harvard College Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships Many opportunities for funding student research, including PRISE, Herchel Smith, and the Harvard College Research Program (HCRP).

SEAS-wide info on undergraduate research and FAQ

SEAS Undergrad Research Canvas Page (events and information)

Active Learning Labs

Student Employment Office: Research Opportunities

Harvard Innovation Labs

Remote Research Resources

How to get a research-based summer internship/job

REU Programs (Research Experience for Undergraduates funded by NSF):

  • http://www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/reu/reu_search.jsp

Non-REU Programs:

  • Lincoln Labs/MIT
  • DAAD RISE (Germany)
  • AT&T Research Internships
  • DOE Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships
  • DOE Scholars Program
  • Caltech Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships
  • Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships, funded by NIST
  • NCAR Computational Science
  • National Security Agency
  • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
  • Privacy Tools for Sharing Research Data Project
  • The Mind Project
  • Radcliffe Research Partnernships

Harvard College offers a variety of research funding opportunities which are administered by the Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships . In particular, we’d like to point out PRISE via the Summer Residential Research Programs and the Harvard College Research Program (HCRP) via Independent Research Funding .

The Kempner Institute for the Study of Natural and Artificial Intelligence offers two undergraduate research programs for Harvard College undergraduates: a term-time program (KURE) and a 10-week summer program (KRANIUM). Please see their website for more information.

Though uncommon, sometimes faculty members may be able to pay for students to work during the semester. Please be aware, though, that Harvard does not allow students to receive academic credit for work for which they were compensated .

Harvard offers a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program for students to spend their summer performing research. Other universities also participate in REU programs for those who would like to do research elsewhere, as discussed above.

Travel Funding for Workshops, conferences, coding bootcamps, and other courses.

Always apply for grants from the hosting organization and check with your research advisor regarding any available funding for research-related presentations. Failing those options, the CS Area does have a small budget to support undergraduate student conference travel to present their research, please check with the DUS team.

The CS Diversity Committee allows students to apply for conference funding in support of women and underrepresented minorities in Computer Science.

The Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships offers funding for conferences . The URAF conference funding program supports Harvard College undergraduate students in presenting their original, independent research (poster or paper) at an academic conference. Awards are available year-round with a rolling deadline to apply for funding. Undergraduate students from all concentrations are encouraged to apply.

If your research also falls under Life and/or Physical Sciences and your lab is difficult to get to, then you might be eligible for transportation funding to get to your lab .

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McCormick students have the opportunity to participate in the kind of pioneering research that defines Northwestern University.

Academics   /   Undergraduate Undergraduate Research

In the Department of Computer Science at Northwestern University, undergraduate students have ample, rich, and varied opportunities for conducting practical research in labs alongside graduate students and faculty members.

This means that papers are being published with undergraduate students’ names on them, students are participating in research projects that result in conference papers being accepted, and students are finding out firsthand what life as a graduate student is like.

Research Track

In fall 2023, Northwestern Computer Science (CS) is launching a new research track designed to enable second-year students majoring in computer science to learn the fundamentals of academic research through a collaborative group project.

The research track program aims to provide undergraduate students with a structured and mentored research experience through the completion of two new courses — COMP_SCI 298: Introduction to Research Track and COMP_SCI 398: Research Track Practicum — and a project demonstration.

COMP_SCI 298: Introduction to Research Track

In fall 2023, the research track cohort will enroll in COMP_SCI 298, a new one-credit course designated as an unrestrictive elective. Led by a graduate student research-track adviser, the course will provide a foundational introduction to the research process. Students will be assigned to teams of four to five members based on research interests and experience from prior coursework. Teams will kick off their projects by conducting literature review, gathering data or resources, and gaining any project-specific skills. A CS faculty member will provide guidance and project mentorship.

COMP_SCI 398: Research Track Practicum

In winter 2024, the cohort will enroll in COMP_SCI 398, a one-credit course which can be counted either as a technical elective or a project course. Teams will continue progress on their research projects under the supervision of a graduate student research track adviser and a CS faculty member. Teams will present their projects during a CS research showcase event in spring 2024.

The program application for fall 2023 enrollment is now closed.

Research Opportunities

The department maintains a list of research opportunities currently available to undergraduates. This list contains information about requirements for joining the lab and/or leading a project, as well as information on how to apply to join the lab. the list is updated periodically as research opportunities become available.

To learn more about the major research activities in the Department of Computer Science, you can also explore our various Research Areas:

  • Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
  • Computer Engineering ( in collaboration with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering )
  • Human-Computer Interaction and Information Visualization

For more information about research opportunities in the department, visit our groups and labs page and contact a professor with whom you would like to work.

Learn more about undergraduate research opportunities at McCormick

Research Pathways

Before joining a research lab you will need to build the background that is necessary for participating in the research of the lab. The most effective way to do so is through courses, which requires planning ahead what courses to take and when. The earliest you complete the series of courses that will give you a solid background for an area of research, the fastest you will be able to get involved in a research project and benefit from the research activity in the department.

To help you prepare for research, the department maintains a collection of accelerated course pathways . Each pathway targets a specific area of research and consists of one or two courses per quarter. Starting on a pathway during your freshman year will get your ready for a research project in the pathway's area during your sophomore year.

Undergraduate Thesis

Undergraduate students have the option to complete a senior thesis as a part of their undergraduate degree. The senior thesis is documentation of an attempt to contribute new knowledge to the general understanding of some problem of computer science.

Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) supplemental funding is available specifically for undergraduate researchers, and primary investigators routinely ask for this funding on National Science Foundation proposals.

In addition, undergraduate students can receive reimbursement for travel expenses to conferences when their papers are accepted.

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Contact Info

Sara Sood Associate Chair for Undergraduate Education Phone: 847-491-5708 Email Sara

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Sara Owsley Sood

“A student’s first research experience can be a daunting. With this new research track program, we hope to create a support structure and community to enable to positive first CS research experience.”

— Sara Owsley Sood, Chookaszian Family Teaching Professor and Associate Chair for Undergraduate Education

Haoqi Zhang

“Research is one of the greatest learning experiences that colleges have to offer. With this program, we want to support many more of our CS undergraduates getting involved in research early, and make it possible for many of our students to progress towards self-directing their own research projects, and eventually completing a senior thesis.”

— Haoqi Zhang, Associate Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Design, Technology, and Research (DTR) Program

Joseph Hummel

“I’m very excited to help lead an undergraduate research track in computer science, and open a pathway for all students who might be interested in undergraduate research.”

— Joseph Hummel, Professor of Instruction

Undergraduate Research Opportunities

Get involved.

Duke undergraduates have numerous opportunities to gain hands-on project and research experience in Computer Science.  A wide range of research projects guided by Duke's world-class faculty engage undergraduates, who often become co-authors on papers in major academic conferences. Undergraduates can pursue independent study courses guided by faculty, participate in the summer research and/or the  Identity in Computing Research  programs, and graduate with a distinction in research.

To stay tapped in and receive info about the latest Computer Science opportunities and events, add yourself to our Duke mailing list [email protected] ! Go to: https://lists.duke.edu/sympa  and enter "compsci" in the search box to find the CS Undergraduate listserv.

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If you meet the requirements, including completion of a substantial project, you may qualify to graduate with distinction.

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This event celebrates student inquiry in computer science. Students present posters on projects from mentored research, class projects, and independent work.

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CS+ Program Summer Research »

Not sure what to do this summer? Enjoy computer science and want to explore in more depth? Check out some projects Computer Science faculty are working on and are seeking help for!

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  • Getting into Research as an Undergraduate:   Information and guidance from Computing Research Association (CRA)
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computer science undergraduate research papers

13 Research Papers Accepted to ICML 2021

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Papers from CS researchers have been accepted to the 38th International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML 2021). 

Associate Professor Daniel Hsu was one of the publication chairs of the conference and Assistant Professor Elham Azizi helped organize the 2021 ICML Workshop on Computational Biology . The workshop highlighted how machine learning approaches can be tailored to making both translational and basic scientific discoveries with biological data.

Below are the abstracts and links to the accepted papers.

A Proxy Variable View of Shared Confounding Yixin Wang Columbia University , David Blei Columbia University

Causal inference from observational data can be biased by unobserved confounders. Confounders—the variables that affect both the treatments and the outcome—induce spurious non-causal correlations between the two. Without additional conditions, unobserved confounders generally make causal quantities hard to identify. In this paper, we focus on the setting where there are many treatments with shared confounding, and we study under what conditions is causal identification possible. The key observation is that we can view subsets of treatments as proxies of the unobserved confounder and identify the intervention distributions of the rest. Moreover, while existing identification formulas for proxy variables involve solving integral equations, we show that one can circumvent the need for such solutions by directly modeling the data. Finally, we extend these results to an expanded class of causal graphs, those with other confounders and selection variables.

Unsupervised Representation Learning via Neural Activation Coding Yookoon Park Columbia University , Sangho Lee Seoul National University , Gunhee Kim Seoul National University , David Blei Columbia University

We present neural activation coding (NAC) as a novel approach for learning deep representations from unlabeled data for downstream applications. We argue that the deep encoder should maximize its nonlinear expressivity on the data for downstream predictors to take full advantage of its representation power. To this end, NAC maximizes the mutual information between activation patterns of the encoder and the data over a noisy communication channel. We show that learning for a noise-robust activation code increases the number of distinct linear regions of ReLU encoders, hence the maximum nonlinear expressivity. More interestingly, NAC learns both continuous and discrete representations of data, which we respectively evaluate on two downstream tasks: (i) linear classification on CIFAR-10 and ImageNet-1K and (ii) nearest neighbor retrieval on CIFAR-10 and FLICKR-25K. Empirical results show that NAC attains better or comparable performance on both tasks over recent baselines including SimCLR and DistillHash. In addition, NAC pretraining provides significant benefits to the training of deep generative models. Our code is available at https://github.com/yookoon/nac.

The Logical Options Framework Brandon Araki MIT , Xiao Li MIT , Kiran Vodrahalli Columbia University , Jonathan DeCastro Toyota Research Institute , Micah Fry MIT Lincoln Laboratory , Daniela Rus MIT CSAIL

Learning composable policies for environments with complex rules and tasks is a challenging problem. We introduce a hierarchical reinforcement learning framework called the Logical Options Framework (LOF) that learns policies that are satisfying, optimal, and composable. LOF efficiently learns policies that satisfy tasks by representing the task as an automaton and integrating it into learning and planning. We provide and prove conditions under which LOF will learn satisfying, optimal policies. And lastly, we show how LOF’s learned policies can be composed to satisfy unseen tasks with only 10-50 retraining steps on our benchmarks. We evaluate LOF on four tasks in discrete and continuous domains, including a 3D pick-and-place environment.

Estimating Identifiable Causal Effects on Markov Equivalence Class through Double Machine Learning Yonghan Jung Columbia University , Jin Tian Columbia University , Elias Bareinboim Columbia University

General methods have been developed for estimating causal effects from observational data under causal assumptions encoded in the form of a causal graph. Most of this literature assumes that the underlying causal graph is completely specified. However, only observational data is available in most practical settings, which means that one can learn at most a Markov equivalence class (MEC) of the underlying causal graph. In this paper, we study the problem of causal estimation from a MEC represented by a partial ancestral graph (PAG), which is learnable from observational data. We develop a general estimator for any identifiable causal effects in a PAG. The result fills a gap for an end-to-end solution to causal inference from observational data to effects estimation. Specifically, we develop a complete identification algorithm that derives an influence function for any identifiable causal effects from PAGs. We then construct a double/debiased machine learning (DML) estimator that is robust to model misspecification and biases in nuisance function estimation, permitting the use of modern machine learning techniques. Simulation results corroborate with the theory.

Environment Inference for Invariant Learning  Elliot Creager University of Toronto , Joern Jacobsen Apple Inc. , Richard Zemel Columbia University

Learning models that gracefully handle distribution shifts is central to research on domain generalization, robust optimization, and fairness. A promising formulation is domain-invariant learning, which identifies the key issue of learning which features are domain-specific versus domain-invariant. An important assumption in this area is that the training examples are partitioned into  domains'' or environments”. Our focus is on the more common setting where such partitions are not provided. We propose EIIL, a general framework for domain-invariant learning that incorporates Environment Inference to directly infer partitions that are maximally informative for downstream Invariant Learning. We show that EIIL outperforms invariant learning methods on the CMNIST benchmark without using environment labels, and significantly outperforms ERM on worst-group performance in the Waterbirds dataset. Finally, we establish connections between EIIL and algorithmic fairness, which enables EIIL to improve accuracy and calibration in a fair prediction problem.

SketchEmbedNet: Learning Novel Concepts by Imitating Drawings Alex Wang University of Toronto , Mengye Ren University of Toronto , Richard Zemel Columbia University

Sketch drawings capture the salient information of visual concepts. Previous work has shown that neural networks are capable of producing sketches of natural objects drawn from a small number of classes. While earlier approaches focus on generation quality or retrieval, we explore properties of image representations learned by training a model to produce sketches of images. We show that this generative, class-agnostic model produces informative embeddings of images from novel examples, classes, and even novel datasets in a few-shot setting. Additionally, we find that these learned representations exhibit interesting structure and compositionality.

Universal Template for Few-Shot Dataset Generalization Eleni Triantafillou University of Toronto , Hugo Larochelle Google Brain , Richard Zemel Columbia University , Vincent Dumoulin Google

Few-shot dataset generalization is a challenging variant of the well-studied few-shot classification problem where a diverse training set of several datasets is given, for the purpose of training an adaptable model that can then learn classes from \emph{new datasets} using only a few examples. To this end, we propose to utilize the diverse training set to construct a \emph{universal template}: a partial model that can define a wide array of dataset-specialized models, by plugging in appropriate components. For each new few-shot classification problem, our approach therefore only requires inferring a small number of parameters to insert into the universal template. We design a separate network that produces an initialization of those parameters for each given task, and we then fine-tune its proposed initialization via a few steps of gradient descent. Our approach is more parameter-efficient, scalable and adaptable compared to previous methods, and achieves the state-of-the-art on the challenging Meta-Dataset benchmark.

On Monotonic Linear Interpolation of Neural Network Parameters James Lucas University of Toronto , Juhan Bae University of Toronto, Michael Zhang University of Toronto , Stanislav Fort Google AI , Richard Zemel Columbia University , Roger Grosse University of Toronto

Linear interpolation between initial neural network parameters and converged parameters after training with stochastic gradient descent (SGD) typically leads to a monotonic decrease in the training objective. This Monotonic Linear Interpolation (MLI) property, first observed by Goodfellow et al. 2014, persists in spite of the non-convex objectives and highly non-linear training dynamics of neural networks. Extending this work, we evaluate several hypotheses for this property that, to our knowledge, have not yet been explored. Using tools from differential geometry, we draw connections between the interpolated paths in function space and the monotonicity of the network — providing sufficient conditions for the MLI property under mean squared error. While the MLI property holds under various settings (e.g., network architectures and learning problems), we show in practice that networks violating the MLI property can be produced systematically, by encouraging the weights to move far from initialization. The MLI property raises important questions about the loss landscape geometry of neural networks and highlights the need to further study their global properties.

A Computational Framework For Slang Generation Zhewei Sun University of Toronto , Richard Zemel Columbia University , Yang Xu University of Toronto

Slang is a common type of informal language, but its flexible nature and paucity of data resources present challenges for existing natural language systems. We take an initial step toward machine generation of slang by developing a framework that models the speaker’s word choice in slang context. Our framework encodes novel slang meaning by relating the conventional and slang senses of a word while incorporating syntactic and contextual knowledge in slang usage. We construct the framework using a combination of probabilistic inference and neural contrastive learning. We perform rigorous evaluations on three slang dictionaries and show that our approach not only outperforms state-of-the-art language models, but also better predicts the historical emergence of slang word usages from 1960s to 2000s. We interpret the proposed models and find that the contrastively learned semantic space is sensitive to the similarities between slang and conventional senses of words. Our work creates opportunities for the automated generation and interpretation of informal language.

Wandering Within A World: Online Contextualized Few-Shot Learning Mengye Ren University of Toronto , Michael Iuzzolino Google Research , Michael Mozer Google Research , Richard Zemel Columbia University

We aim to bridge the gap between typical human and machine-learning environments by extending the standard framework of few-shot learning to an online, continual setting. In this setting, episodes do not have separate training and testing phases, and instead models are evaluated online while learning novel classes. As in the real world, where the presence of spatiotemporal context helps us retrieve learned skills in the past, our online few-shot learning setting also features an underlying context that changes throughout time. Object classes are correlated within a context and inferring the correct context can lead to better performance. Building upon this setting, we propose a new few-shot learning dataset based on large scale indoor imagery that mimics the visual experience of an agent wandering within a world. Furthermore, we convert popular few-shot learning approaches into online versions and we also propose a new contextual prototypical memory model that can make use of spatiotemporal contextual information from the recent past.

Bayesian Few-Shot Classification With One-Vs-Each Polya-Gamma Augmented Gaussian Processes Jake Snell University of Toronto , Richard Zemel Columbia University

Few-shot classification (FSC), the task of adapting a classifier to unseen classes given a small labeled dataset, is an important step on the path toward human-like machine learning. Bayesian methods are well-suited to tackling the fundamental issue of overfitting in the few-shot scenario because they allow practitioners to specify prior beliefs and update those beliefs in light of observed data. Contemporary approaches to Bayesian few-shot classification maintain a posterior distribution over model parameters, which is slow and requires storage that scales with model size. Instead, we propose a Gaussian process classifier based on a novel combination of Pólya-Gamma augmentation and the one-vs-each softmax approximation that allows us to efficiently marginalize over functions rather than model parameters. We demonstrate improved accuracy and uncertainty quantification on both standard few-shot classification benchmarks and few-shot domain transfer tasks.

Theoretical Bounds On Estimation Error For Meta-Learning James Lucas University of Toronto , Mengye Ren University of Toronto , Irene Kameni African Master for Mathematical Sciences , Toni Pitassi Columbia University , Richard Zemel Columbia University

Machine learning models have traditionally been developed under the assumption that the training and test distributions match exactly. However, recent success in few-shot learning and related problems are encouraging signs that these models can be adapted to more realistic settings where train and test distributions differ. Unfortunately, there is severely limited theoretical support for these algorithms and little is known about the difficulty of these problems. In this work, we provide novel information-theoretic lower-bounds on minimax rates of convergence for algorithms that are trained on data from multiple sources and tested on novel data. Our bounds depend intuitively on the information shared between sources of data, and characterize the difficulty of learning in this setting for arbitrary algorithms. We demonstrate these bounds on a hierarchical Bayesian model of meta-learning, computing both upper and lower bounds on parameter estimation via maximum-a-posteriori inference.

A PAC-Bayesian Approach To Generalization Bounds For Graph Neural Networks Renjie Liao University of Toronto , Raquel Urtasun University of Toronto , Richard Zemel Columbia University

In this paper, we derive generalization bounds for the two primary classes of graph neural networks (GNNs), namely graph convolutional networks (GCNs) and message passing GNNs (MPGNNs), via a PAC-Bayesian approach. Our result reveals that the maximum node degree and spectral norm of the weights govern the generalization bounds of both models. We also show that our bound for GCNs is a natural generalization of the results developed in  arXiv:1707.09564v2  [cs.LG] for fully-connected and convolutional neural networks. For message passing GNNs, our PAC-Bayes bound improves over the Rademacher complexity based bound in  arXiv:2002.06157v1  [cs.LG], showing a tighter dependency on the maximum node degree and the maximum hidden dimension. The key ingredients of our proofs are a perturbation analysis of GNNs and the generalization of PAC-Bayes analysis to non-homogeneous GNNs. We perform an empirical study on several real-world graph datasets and verify that our PAC-Bayes bound is tighter than others.

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Press mentions, dean boyce's statement on amicus brief filed by president bollinger.

President Bollinger announced that Columbia University along with many other academic institutions (sixteen, including all Ivy League universities) filed an amicus brief in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York challenging the Executive Order regarding immigrants from seven designated countries and refugees. Among other things, the brief asserts that “safety and security concerns can be addressed in a manner that is consistent with the values America has always stood for, including the free flow of ideas and people across borders and the welcoming of immigrants to our universities.”

This recent action provides a moment for us to collectively reflect on our community within Columbia Engineering and the importance of our commitment to maintaining an open and welcoming community for all students, faculty, researchers and administrative staff. As a School of Engineering and Applied Science, we are fortunate to attract students and faculty from diverse backgrounds, from across the country, and from around the world. It is a great benefit to be able to gather engineers and scientists of so many different perspectives and talents – all with a commitment to learning, a focus on pushing the frontiers of knowledge and discovery, and with a passion for translating our work to impact humanity.

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Professor Franzi Roesner works with graduate students in the Security & Privacy Research Lab

Allen School faculty and students are among the most prolific contributors of award papers to major conferences in our field and published papers in journals such as Science and Nature . Our graduate program alumni go on to be leaders in industry and academia, and our undergraduates — most of whom participate in faculty-supervised research — power industry-leading companies and populate the nation’s most prestigious graduate programs.

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computer science undergraduate research papers

Computer science deals with the theory and practice of algorithms, from idealized mathematical procedures to the computer systems deployed by major tech companies to answer billions of user requests per day.

Primary subareas of this field include: theory, which uses rigorous math to test algorithms’ applicability to certain problems; systems, which develops the underlying hardware and software upon which applications can be implemented; and human-computer interaction, which studies how to make computer systems more effectively meet the needs of real people. The products of all three subareas are applied across science, engineering, medicine, and the social sciences. Computer science drives interdisciplinary collaboration both across MIT and beyond, helping users address the critical societal problems of our era, including opportunity access, climate change, disease, inequality and polarization.

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Our goal is to develop AI technologies that will change the landscape of healthcare. This includes early diagnostics, drug discovery, care personalization and management. Building on MIT’s pioneering history in artificial intelligence and life sciences, we are working on algorithms suitable for modeling biological and clinical data across a range of modalities including imaging, text and genomics.

Our research covers a wide range of topics of this fast-evolving field, advancing how machines learn, predict, and control, while also making them secure, robust and trustworthy. Research covers both the theory and applications of ML. This broad area studies ML theory (algorithms, optimization, …), statistical learning (inference, graphical models, causal analysis, …), deep learning, reinforcement learning, symbolic reasoning ML systems, as well as diverse hardware implementations of ML.

We develop the next generation of wired and wireless communications systems, from new physical principles (e.g., light, terahertz waves) to coding and information theory, and everything in between.

We bring some of the most powerful tools in computation to bear on design problems, including modeling, simulation, processing and fabrication.

We design the next generation of computer systems. Working at the intersection of hardware and software, our research studies how to best implement computation in the physical world. We design processors that are faster, more efficient, easier to program, and secure. Our research covers systems of all scales, from tiny Internet-of-Things devices with ultra-low-power consumption to high-performance servers and datacenters that power planet-scale online services. We design both general-purpose processors and accelerators that are specialized to particular application domains, like machine learning and storage. We also design Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools to facilitate the development of such systems.

Educational technology combines both hardware and software to enact global change, making education accessible in unprecedented ways to new audiences. We develop the technology that makes better understanding possible.

The shared mission of Visual Computing is to connect images and computation, spanning topics such as image and video generation and analysis, photography, human perception, touch, applied geometry, and more.

The focus of our research in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) is inventing new systems and technology that lie at the interface between people and computation, and understanding their design, implementation, and societal impact.

We develop new approaches to programming, whether that takes the form of programming languages, tools, or methodologies to improve many aspects of applications and systems infrastructure.

Our work focuses on developing the next substrate of computing, communication and sensing. We work all the way from new materials to superconducting devices to quantum computers to theory.

Our research focuses on robotic hardware and algorithms, from sensing to control to perception to manipulation.

Our research is focused on making future computer systems more secure. We bring together a broad spectrum of cross-cutting techniques for security, from theoretical cryptography and programming-language ideas, to low-level hardware and operating-systems security, to overall system designs and empirical bug-finding. We apply these techniques to a wide range of application domains, such as blockchains, cloud systems, Internet privacy, machine learning, and IoT devices, reflecting the growing importance of security in many contexts.

From distributed systems and databases to wireless, the research conducted by the systems and networking group aims to improve the performance, robustness, and ease of management of networks and computing systems.

Theory of Computation (TOC) studies the fundamental strengths and limits of computation, how these strengths and limits interact with computer science and mathematics, and how they manifest themselves in society, biology, and the physical world.

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  • DASH , Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard, is the university's central, open-access repository for the scholarly output of faculty and the broader research community at Harvard.  Most Ph.D. dissertations submitted from  March 2012 forward  are available online in DASH.
  • Check HOLLIS, the Library Catalog, and refine your results by using the   Advanced Search   and limiting Resource  Type   to Dissertations
  • Search the database  ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global Don't hesitate to  Ask a Librarian  for assistance.

How to search for Non-Harvard dissertations

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  • ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global

Free Resources:

  • Many  universities  provide full-text access to their dissertations via a digital repository.  If you know the title of a particular dissertation or thesis, try doing a Google search.  

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How do I get started in Computer Science research?

  • Talk To A Faculty Member :  Problem solving with students is the cornerstone of research. The collaborative dynamic  required by research between faculty and students is unlike that found in the classroom. Reach out and see for yourself, you might be surprised!
  • Spend a Summer in a Lab: Regardless of your post-grad plans, getting paid to solve CS problems is a great career experience. Interested?... Talk to a faculty member!
  • Have a Plan - Start Early: If you are considering a graduate degree, research experience and published papers are top admission considerations.
  • Attend research group meetings : Many Computer Science research groups have regular meetings that are open to undergrads. Stopping in to evaluate your own interests, watch the research process in action, and make connections is a great first step. Meetings listed in table below.
  • Find an NSF REU : The National Science Foundation funds “ Research Experiences for Undergraduates ” for U.S. citizens and permanent residents. REU students typically get paid and lodged to spend a summer working on a research project in a lab they've chosen which can be anywhere in the US.
  • https://sparc.cra.org/students/  
  • https://conquer.cra.org
  • Distributed Research Experiences for Undergraduates (DREU)   
  • Check AURA for open research opportunities.

Students should also see the Office of Undergraduate Research for more information.

Last Updated 12 December 2023

Email forwarding for @cs.stanford.edu is changing on Feb 1, 2023.

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The Computer Science Department at Stanford have faculty and students that are globally recognized for their innovative and cutting-edge research. We offer scholars various opportunities at their disposal to participate in undergraduate research. If you are interested in research, we welcome you to explore the opportunities at your disposal.

computer science undergraduate research papers

CURIS Research

The program for CS undergrad Summer research. Participating students will work on their projects full-time and are paid a stipend for living expenses. 

computer science undergraduate research papers

Independent Study

Undergraduate research is often done through CURIS, for academic credit, or through an informal arrangement with a professor.

Getting Started

  • Undergraduate CS research website . The most reliable way to learn about projects you can get involved in is through the  undergraduate CS research  website. Throughout the year, professors have openings for undergrads to do work in their labs. They post descriptions of these projects on the site for your perusal. This site lists CS research projects during the academic year for course credit, CS research projects for the Summer quarter under CURIS (paid internship), and research projects in other departments that include CS applications.
  • Go to office hours . Find a professor whose research interests you want to learn more about. Discuss what possibilities are available or find out more about a particular group. Often the professor will be able to direct you to some research papers that might be valuable to read or other groups that you might find interesting. It's always a good idea to email a professor and let them know that you will be coming in. That way if their office hours are particularly busy, they can suggest another time.
  • Connect with a graduate student . Graduate students work on projects every day and deal with most of the details, they are probably one of the best sources of information. They will have a good idea of what role you could initially play in the project and will also be able to give an honest assessment of what it is like to work with the professor and what are the expectations of the group. Finally, if you decide to work with the group, the graduate students will probably be the ones who will be mentoring you in the day-to-day aspects of your work. Before you choose a project, try to meet with at least one graduate student in the group, preferably one that would be mentoring you. If you are still deciding between projects, ask the graduate students for their opinion.
  • Read your email . The bscs list is constantly getting announcements about presentations that are being given by faculty, advanced graduate students, and visiting faculty. Take the time to read through some of the abstracts and pick a few that interest you. These announcements are not usually forwarded to the considering_cs list. If you are interested in getting these announcements, visit the  course advisor  and declare CS !
  • CURIS poster sessions . At the end of the Summer quarter and the beginning of the Fall quarter, the CURIS program organizes poster sessions for undergraduates to present their Summer research projects. This is a great opportunity for you to get first-hand information about your peers' research experience as well as potential project ideas and research groups of interest. In addition, the display in the Gates lobby shows a collection of both undergraduate and graduate research projects year-round.
  • 500 level seminars . All of the CS 500 level courses are topic seminars. For instance,  CS 547 Seminar  focuses on Human-Computer Interaction topics. Each week, a different speaker comes in and presents their research. Sometimes the speakers are Stanford professors, graduate students, or they're outside visitors. The presentations are technical, check the schedules on the class web pages to find talks that may be interesting.
  • CS300 ( speaker schedule ) . At the beginning of each academic year, all new PhD students are required to take CS 300. In each seminar, two professors come in and describe their research work. The idea is to give PhD students an overview of the ongoing research so they can decide which groups they would like to join. Although the class is technically for PhD students, undergraduate and Master's students can enroll. The presentations are likely to be somewhat technical, but since they are geared toward PhD students with a broad variety of interests, they should be fairly accessible.

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Talented, motivated undergraduates majoring in computer science and information systems are encouraged to get involved in research with a faculty mentor. Research opportunities are offered through the Science and Engineering Scholars program, faculty grants with research for undergraduates (REU) supplements, senior theses, independent studies with credit, and other arrangements with individual faculty leading research programs. Find more information about undergraduate research at University of Delaware at urp.udel.edu .

Besides learning about the research process, undergraduate researchers work side-by-side with graduate students and learn about the graduate school environment, gaining valuable advice and guidance about applying to graduate school. In addition, undergraduate researchers often participate in writing papers and preparing posters or talks on their research. Sometimes, the work is published at a regional, national or international conference or workshop, and the student researcher is supported to travel to the venue to present their work to the global research community.

Students completing undergraduate research have been admitted to graduate school in computer science at some of the most well respected departments, including: Cornell, Princeton, University of Washington, University of Massachusetts, University of Virginia, University of California Berkeley, University of Maryland, and University of Texas. Learn more about research, graduate school, and careers in computer science research at conquer.cra.org .

If you are interested in exploring undergraduate research in CIS, we encourage you to explore the faculty web pages and set up an appointment with individual faculty member to discuss the opportunities in their research lab.

All of the Computer Science programs allow students to participate in the University’s Vertically Integrated Projects program . Interested students are encouraged to attend a VIP information session to learn about the different projects. A student typically becomes involved in the VIP project in the first or second year and remains with the project until graduation.

Why do Undergraduate Research?

The University of Delaware believes that exceptionally capable and well-motivated students should be given a chance, while they are still beginners, to see and have a part in what is happening at the frontiers of knowledge today. Toward that end, undergraduates work as assistants or junior members of their faculty research teams.While preparing to do their own research, they have the opportunity to share in a professional researcher’s work.

Undergraduate Assistance

Samantha Fowle Undergraduate Academic Advisor [email protected]  302-831-2712

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Applications, deadlines, campus tours and visitation programs 302-831-8123 [email protected]

College of Engineering and Applied Science » Academics » Departments » Computer Science » Research

Computer Science Research

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The computer science department continues to lead the world in computer science research and education.

Throughout the past four decades, the department has influenced society at levels that remain without parallel among academic institutions. Its spin-offs are among the most successful corporate ventures in the world, and many of the leaders in the academic and corporate research world are our graduates.

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What are we researching?

Strong research groups exist in areas of artificial intelligence, robotics, foundations of computer science, scientific computing and systems. 

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What is it like for undergraduate students?

The CS curriculum provides knowledge that is applicable across many fields, including many areas of engineering, science, and medicine. Students receive a strong foundation in computer science as well as specialized knowledge through the student’s choice of track.

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What is it like for graduate students?

With faculty and resources that are among the strongest in the world, students have the opportunity to participate in leading-edge academic research carried out at Stanford. The main educational goal is to prepare students for research and teaching careers either in universities or in industry

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Research Topics & Ideas: CompSci & IT

50+ Computer Science Research Topic Ideas To Fast-Track Your Project

IT & Computer Science Research Topics

Finding and choosing a strong research topic is the critical first step when it comes to crafting a high-quality dissertation, thesis or research project. If you’ve landed on this post, chances are you’re looking for a computer science-related research topic , but aren’t sure where to start. Here, we’ll explore a variety of CompSci & IT-related research ideas and topic thought-starters, including algorithms, AI, networking, database systems, UX, information security and software engineering.

NB – This is just the start…

The topic ideation and evaluation process has multiple steps . In this post, we’ll kickstart the process by sharing some research topic ideas within the CompSci domain. This is the starting point, but to develop a well-defined research topic, you’ll need to identify a clear and convincing research gap , along with a well-justified plan of action to fill that gap.

If you’re new to the oftentimes perplexing world of research, or if this is your first time undertaking a formal academic research project, be sure to check out our free dissertation mini-course. In it, we cover the process of writing a dissertation or thesis from start to end. Be sure to also sign up for our free webinar that explores how to find a high-quality research topic. 

Overview: CompSci Research Topics

  • Algorithms & data structures
  • Artificial intelligence ( AI )
  • Computer networking
  • Database systems
  • Human-computer interaction
  • Information security (IS)
  • Software engineering
  • Examples of CompSci dissertation & theses

Topics/Ideas: Algorithms & Data Structures

  • An analysis of neural network algorithms’ accuracy for processing consumer purchase patterns
  • A systematic review of the impact of graph algorithms on data analysis and discovery in social media network analysis
  • An evaluation of machine learning algorithms used for recommender systems in streaming services
  • A review of approximation algorithm approaches for solving NP-hard problems
  • An analysis of parallel algorithms for high-performance computing of genomic data
  • The influence of data structures on optimal algorithm design and performance in Fintech
  • A Survey of algorithms applied in internet of things (IoT) systems in supply-chain management
  • A comparison of streaming algorithm performance for the detection of elephant flows
  • A systematic review and evaluation of machine learning algorithms used in facial pattern recognition
  • Exploring the performance of a decision tree-based approach for optimizing stock purchase decisions
  • Assessing the importance of complete and representative training datasets in Agricultural machine learning based decision making.
  • A Comparison of Deep learning algorithms performance for structured and unstructured datasets with “rare cases”
  • A systematic review of noise reduction best practices for machine learning algorithms in geoinformatics.
  • Exploring the feasibility of applying information theory to feature extraction in retail datasets.
  • Assessing the use case of neural network algorithms for image analysis in biodiversity assessment

Topics & Ideas: Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • Applying deep learning algorithms for speech recognition in speech-impaired children
  • A review of the impact of artificial intelligence on decision-making processes in stock valuation
  • An evaluation of reinforcement learning algorithms used in the production of video games
  • An exploration of key developments in natural language processing and how they impacted the evolution of Chabots.
  • An analysis of the ethical and social implications of artificial intelligence-based automated marking
  • The influence of large-scale GIS datasets on artificial intelligence and machine learning developments
  • An examination of the use of artificial intelligence in orthopaedic surgery
  • The impact of explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) on transparency and trust in supply chain management
  • An evaluation of the role of artificial intelligence in financial forecasting and risk management in cryptocurrency
  • A meta-analysis of deep learning algorithm performance in predicting and cyber attacks in schools

Research topic idea mega list

Topics & Ideas: Networking

  • An analysis of the impact of 5G technology on internet penetration in rural Tanzania
  • Assessing the role of software-defined networking (SDN) in modern cloud-based computing
  • A critical analysis of network security and privacy concerns associated with Industry 4.0 investment in healthcare.
  • Exploring the influence of cloud computing on security risks in fintech.
  • An examination of the use of network function virtualization (NFV) in telecom networks in Southern America
  • Assessing the impact of edge computing on network architecture and design in IoT-based manufacturing
  • An evaluation of the challenges and opportunities in 6G wireless network adoption
  • The role of network congestion control algorithms in improving network performance on streaming platforms
  • An analysis of network coding-based approaches for data security
  • Assessing the impact of network topology on network performance and reliability in IoT-based workspaces

Free Webinar: How To Find A Dissertation Research Topic

Topics & Ideas: Database Systems

  • An analysis of big data management systems and technologies used in B2B marketing
  • The impact of NoSQL databases on data management and analysis in smart cities
  • An evaluation of the security and privacy concerns of cloud-based databases in financial organisations
  • Exploring the role of data warehousing and business intelligence in global consultancies
  • An analysis of the use of graph databases for data modelling and analysis in recommendation systems
  • The influence of the Internet of Things (IoT) on database design and management in the retail grocery industry
  • An examination of the challenges and opportunities of distributed databases in supply chain management
  • Assessing the impact of data compression algorithms on database performance and scalability in cloud computing
  • An evaluation of the use of in-memory databases for real-time data processing in patient monitoring
  • Comparing the effects of database tuning and optimization approaches in improving database performance and efficiency in omnichannel retailing

Topics & Ideas: Human-Computer Interaction

  • An analysis of the impact of mobile technology on human-computer interaction prevalence in adolescent men
  • An exploration of how artificial intelligence is changing human-computer interaction patterns in children
  • An evaluation of the usability and accessibility of web-based systems for CRM in the fast fashion retail sector
  • Assessing the influence of virtual and augmented reality on consumer purchasing patterns
  • An examination of the use of gesture-based interfaces in architecture
  • Exploring the impact of ease of use in wearable technology on geriatric user
  • Evaluating the ramifications of gamification in the Metaverse
  • A systematic review of user experience (UX) design advances associated with Augmented Reality
  • A comparison of natural language processing algorithms automation of customer response Comparing end-user perceptions of natural language processing algorithms for automated customer response
  • Analysing the impact of voice-based interfaces on purchase practices in the fast food industry

Research Topic Kickstarter - Need Help Finding A Research Topic?

Topics & Ideas: Information Security

  • A bibliometric review of current trends in cryptography for secure communication
  • An analysis of secure multi-party computation protocols and their applications in cloud-based computing
  • An investigation of the security of blockchain technology in patient health record tracking
  • A comparative study of symmetric and asymmetric encryption algorithms for instant text messaging
  • A systematic review of secure data storage solutions used for cloud computing in the fintech industry
  • An analysis of intrusion detection and prevention systems used in the healthcare sector
  • Assessing security best practices for IoT devices in political offices
  • An investigation into the role social media played in shifting regulations related to privacy and the protection of personal data
  • A comparative study of digital signature schemes adoption in property transfers
  • An assessment of the security of secure wireless communication systems used in tertiary institutions

Topics & Ideas: Software Engineering

  • A study of agile software development methodologies and their impact on project success in pharmacology
  • Investigating the impacts of software refactoring techniques and tools in blockchain-based developments
  • A study of the impact of DevOps practices on software development and delivery in the healthcare sector
  • An analysis of software architecture patterns and their impact on the maintainability and scalability of cloud-based offerings
  • A study of the impact of artificial intelligence and machine learning on software engineering practices in the education sector
  • An investigation of software testing techniques and methodologies for subscription-based offerings
  • A review of software security practices and techniques for protecting against phishing attacks from social media
  • An analysis of the impact of cloud computing on the rate of software development and deployment in the manufacturing sector
  • Exploring the impact of software development outsourcing on project success in multinational contexts
  • An investigation into the effect of poor software documentation on app success in the retail sector

CompSci & IT Dissertations/Theses

While the ideas we’ve presented above are a decent starting point for finding a CompSci-related research topic, they are fairly generic and non-specific. So, it helps to look at actual dissertations and theses to see how this all comes together.

Below, we’ve included a selection of research projects from various CompSci-related degree programs to help refine your thinking. These are actual dissertations and theses, written as part of Master’s and PhD-level programs, so they can provide some useful insight as to what a research topic looks like in practice.

  • An array-based optimization framework for query processing and data analytics (Chen, 2021)
  • Dynamic Object Partitioning and replication for cooperative cache (Asad, 2021)
  • Embedding constructural documentation in unit tests (Nassif, 2019)
  • PLASA | Programming Language for Synchronous Agents (Kilaru, 2019)
  • Healthcare Data Authentication using Deep Neural Network (Sekar, 2020)
  • Virtual Reality System for Planetary Surface Visualization and Analysis (Quach, 2019)
  • Artificial neural networks to predict share prices on the Johannesburg stock exchange (Pyon, 2021)
  • Predicting household poverty with machine learning methods: the case of Malawi (Chinyama, 2022)
  • Investigating user experience and bias mitigation of the multi-modal retrieval of historical data (Singh, 2021)
  • Detection of HTTPS malware traffic without decryption (Nyathi, 2022)
  • Redefining privacy: case study of smart health applications (Al-Zyoud, 2019)
  • A state-based approach to context modeling and computing (Yue, 2019)
  • A Novel Cooperative Intrusion Detection System for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (Solomon, 2019)
  • HRSB-Tree for Spatio-Temporal Aggregates over Moving Regions (Paduri, 2019)

Looking at these titles, you can probably pick up that the research topics here are quite specific and narrowly-focused , compared to the generic ones presented earlier. This is an important thing to keep in mind as you develop your own research topic. That is to say, to create a top-notch research topic, you must be precise and target a specific context with specific variables of interest . In other words, you need to identify a clear, well-justified research gap.

Fast-Track Your Research Topic

If you’re still feeling a bit unsure about how to find a research topic for your Computer Science dissertation or research project, check out our Topic Kickstarter service.

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Investigating the impacts of software refactoring techniques and tools in blockchain-based developments.

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Investigating the impacts of software refactoring techniques and tools in blockchain-based developments is in my favour. May i get the proper material about that ?

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CS Undergraduate & Masters Research Opportunities

Undergraduate & Masters students can view research projects in both the Computer Science department within Engineering, as well as the College of Arts & Sciences.

Computer Science Department Research Projects:

In the tables below, you can view current projects seeking student researchers. Scroll to the right for the contact email or webpage to learn more. 

Undergraduate students:

Masters students:, college faculty student matching: .

This table is for students looking to work with Faculty in the College of Arts & Sciences

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CS 4th Year Sophie Veys Receives CRA Undergraduate Research Award

Sophie Veys, a 4th-year CS major working with Assistant Professor  Blase Ur ’s  SUPERgroup , received one of four  Outstanding Undergraduate Research Awards  from the Computing Research Association (CRA).

The award program, which “recognizes undergraduate students in North American colleges and universities who show outstanding research potential in an area of computing research,” also gave honorable mention to two additional undergraduates,  Shriya Bansal and Shicheng Liu.

“I just fell in love with usable security and privacy,” Veys said. “It’s something that I’m constantly nagging my friends and family about, telling them to turn their location services off and, ‘isn’t that creepy that we were just talking about a topic and now Facebook’s advertising it.’ It really became a passion for me, to convince my friends that they should care too.”

In her first project, Veys studied personalized advertising – how companies gather information on consumers, how they use it, and how people feel about the process when they learn more about how it works. From there, she grew interested in Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), two new laws governing online privacy rights and transparency. Both laws require companies to provide data downloads on request of the information they have collected about their users.

However, these downloads are often in formats, such as JSON or CSV, designed for machine readability or programming purposes. With her collaborators in SUPERgroup, Veys  conducted user studies  where researchers gave participants their data downloads from sites such as Amazon or Spotify and a “scavenger hunt” to find particular bits of information in the file. Participants shared opinions about their data and ideas for redesigning data downloads to be more user-friendly. The team then uses the results of these focus groups to create new apps that make the information users care about easier to access and understand.

“We want to support all the different reasons people might want to access their data, and perhaps demonstrate to them some things that they should care about, such as privacy,” Veys said.

Veys has co-authored papers at HCI and security conferences such as SOUPS, ConPro, USENIX, and CHI, where she was on  a paper  that received  an honorable mention award  in 2020. The CRA award grants Veys funding to attend a conference of her choice in the future.

Honorable Mentions

Bansal and Liu were two of 77 students to receive the honorable mention designation in this year’s CRA awards. Bansal is pursuing a joint BS/MS in computer science and works with Assistant Professor  Marshini Chetty  in the  Amyoli Internet Research Lab , using natural language processing and topic modeling techniques to analyze the effectiveness of apps from the Google Play Store in teaching children about privacy and security.

“I was interested in studying children’s relationship with online privacy and security, especially given the extent to which devices are intertwined with their education, relationships, and daily function,” Bansal said. “Our research has found that although parents seek resources for teaching digital citizenship to their children, few exist. I hope that this work will encourage developers to build educational features that empower children with technology and allow them to interact with their devices in a safe and responsible manner.”

Liu, a CS and mathematics double major with a minor in physics, is a member of Professor  Shan Lu ’s research group, where he has studied  the use of machine learning cloud APIs  and developed a testing tool for this kind of software.

“Computer science research — and systems research in particular — interests me for the potential to discover existing problems in widely used systems and to provide optimal solutions or products that have real practical impacts,” Liu said. “The high quality of UChicago CS courses has motivated me to pursue this field further, and the high faculty-to-student ratio also means that ample research opportunities are open to undergraduates.”

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Two students in computer science and software engineering recognized for undergraduate research

Published: Feb 20, 2024 9:00 AM

By Joe McAdory

Two students in computer science and software engineering , Matthew Freestone and Hugh Williams, were recently recognized by the Computer Research Association (CRA) as two of its Outstanding Undergraduate Researchers for 2023-24.

Their deep dive into Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) research was selected as an honorable mention by the CRA, which recognizes undergraduate students in North American colleges and universities who show outstanding research potential in an area of computing research.

“I am thrilled to see two of the most exceptional undergraduate students I’ve had the privilege of collaborating with recognized for their work on the national level,” said Shubra (Santu) Karmaker, assistant professor in computer science and software engineering and director of the Big Data Intelligence (BDI) Lab, where he mentored Freestone and Williams.

“Matthew’s principal research interest revolves around computational linguistics, focusing on the distributed semantics and the application of transformer-based encoding techniques. In the past year, Matthew has come up with a set of original research questions related to Large Language Models’ (LLMs) semantic properties, proposed a concrete plan to test a lot of hypotheses to answer these questions, and successfully executed it.”

More specifically, Freestone focused on the differences between classic word embeddings and large-language-model-based embeddings. The primary objectives include systematically comparing large and classic embeddings and examining their vector representations through quantitative and qualitative analysis. These models, pre-trained on extensive data, create high-dimensional vectors that capture the semantic meaning of words, thereby aiding in tasks such as predicting the next word in a sentence or clustering semantically similar words.

However, these numerical representations, especially in newer models with larger dimensions, are challenging for humans to interpret, contributing to the 'black box' nature of neural language models. As these models are central to any modeling task, understanding their functions and uncovering any inherent biases is crucial. Through this research, Freestone discovered an interesting finding that PaLM and ADA, two LLM-based models, tend to agree with each other and yield the highest performance on word analogy tasks, but they also surprisingly and meaningfully agree with the language model SBERT. This suggests that while PaLM and ADA can capture meaningful semantics and yield high accuracy, SBERT can be an efficient alternative when resources are constrained.

“The challenge lies in comparing embeddings of varying dimensions and the computational expense due to the high-dimensional, large vocabulary nature of these models,” said Freestone, a senior and president of the Auburn Association of Computing Machinery . “With Dr. Karmaker’s guidance, I have submitted a draft of the publication to a computational linguistics anthology. I look forward to working with Santu to address reviewer concerns on that work, and I’m excited to continue doing undergraduate research in the BDI Lab.”

Karmaker considered Williams as, “one of the strongest and most sincere undergraduate student that I have ever worked with and is definitely one of the best students in the CSSE undergraduate program in the College of Engineering.”

“I am hugely impressed by how fast Hugh has progressed in NLP research. He has a great aptitude for quickly learning research paper concepts and thinking critically. Hugh is always curious and courageous in exploring new ideas, which will help him become a great researcher in the future,” Karmaker said.

Williams’ research interest is focused on generative AI evaluation, more specifically, Natural Language Generation (NLG) evaluation. The common practice of evaluating NLG systems involves computing the similarity between a collection of automatically generated documents and their corresponding (human-written) golden reference documents. Unfortunately, existing document similarity metrics are black boxes and, thus, hard to interpret and explain, making robust evaluation of NLG tasks even more challenging.

To address this issue, Williams introduced a new evaluation metric called ExSiM, which provides a vector of scores instead of a single similarity score, where each component of the vector describes a particular property of the similarity metric, thus providing a natural way of explanation. His experimental results demonstrated that the proposed vector can perform comparably to traditional metrics like BERTScore and ROUGE for undirected similarity assessment while providing useful explanations. In addition, ExSiM yields a higher human-machine agreement for directed similarity assessment. This work has also been submitted to ACL 2024.

“I investigated how these situations are best dealt with, and then determined the overall similarities between documents and texts,” said Williams, a junior from Birmingham. “We had to find the semantic overlap between different documents, or texts. In summary, my interest is trying to determine better ways to make AI more explainable.”

Why tackle research at the undergraduate level? Curiosity, Williams said.

“I find it helpful on a personal level, but then of course it can also be very useful career-wise,” said Williams, a junior. “But really, much of it is curiosity. I'm interested in natural language processing using AI to do English tasks — the tasks that feel the most human out of almost any given task. It feels weird for machines to do it, but I have an interest in language, too. It’s very interesting how we communicate.”

Hugh Williams, left, and Matthew Freestone research natural language processing.

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Each year, the School of Computer Science admits students to undergraduate programs ranging from a traditional B.S. in computer science to a bachelor of computer science and arts. 

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Carnegie Mellon's undergraduate major in computer science combines a solid core of computer science courses with the ability to gain substantial depth in another area through a required minor in a second subject. The curriculum also gives you numerous choices for science and humanities courses. Computing is a discipline with strong links to many fields, and our program gives you unparalleled flexibility to pursue these fields. Our mathematics and probability component ensures that you'll have the formal tools to remain current as technologies and systems change, but at the same time you'll gain insight into the practical issues of building and maintaining systems by participating in intensive project-oriented courses.

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Computer Science > Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition

Title: magic-me: identity-specific video customized diffusion.

Abstract: Creating content for a specific identity (ID) has shown significant interest in the field of generative models. In the field of text-to-image generation (T2I), subject-driven content generation has achieved great progress with the ID in the images controllable. However, extending it to video generation is not well explored. In this work, we propose a simple yet effective subject identity controllable video generation framework, termed Video Custom Diffusion (VCD). With a specified subject ID defined by a few images, VCD reinforces the identity information extraction and injects frame-wise correlation at the initialization stage for stable video outputs with identity preserved to a large extent. To achieve this, we propose three novel components that are essential for high-quality ID preservation: 1) an ID module trained with the cropped identity by prompt-to-segmentation to disentangle the ID information and the background noise for more accurate ID token learning; 2) a text-to-video (T2V) VCD module with 3D Gaussian Noise Prior for better inter-frame consistency and 3) video-to-video (V2V) Face VCD and Tiled VCD modules to deblur the face and upscale the video for higher resolution. Despite its simplicity, we conducted extensive experiments to verify that VCD is able to generate stable and high-quality videos with better ID over the selected strong baselines. Besides, due to the transferability of the ID module, VCD is also working well with finetuned text-to-image models available publically, further improving its usability. The codes are available at this https URL .

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Your personal data is political: W&M computer scientists find gaps in the privacy practices of campaign websites

The first large-scale analysis of its kind analyzed 2,060 House, Senate and presidential campaigns from the 2020 United States election cycle.

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According to researchers from the Secure Platforms Lab, data privacy is a bipartisan issue and regulations are needed to prevent political campaigns from misusing user data. Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay.

Would you trust a random political canvasser to do whatever they wanted with your resume, your friends’ email addresses – and perhaps your profile pictures? That’s precisely what you may be doing when interacting with political campaign websites, according to a new study  published in the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (S&P) by researchers from William & Mary, Google and IBM. Two W&M doctoral students in computer science – Kaushal Kafle and Prianka Mandal – respectively served as first and second author.

The underlying research has already been presented at many events – including the  2023 Commonwealth Cyber Initiative Symposium , where it won the Best Poster Award.

“The only thing users can really do to keep their data safe is to not provide it in the first place,” said co-author Adwait Nadkarni , Class of 1953 Associate Professor of Computer Science and  Secure Platforms Lab lead at William & Mary. 

The study examined 2,060 House, Senate and presidential campaigns from the 2020 United States election cycle, representing the first large-scale analysis of the privacy practices of political campaign websites. Those campaigns, the study revealed, often retained extensive private data for an unspecified amount of time, generally provided incomplete or no privacy disclosures and were likely to share data with other campaigns or sell them post-election.

Highly private data was often collected alongside contact information, the study found, allowing campaigns to build user profiles without their explicit consent. The often undisclosed use of trackers gave campaigns access to user browsing habits, exposing them to microtargeted political ads that have often been  defined as manipulative and as a potential danger to democracy .

Nadkarni remarked that this work “just happened to fit” with the data  and democracy  initiatives from the university’s  Vision 2026  strategic plan, as well as the  proposed new school in Computer Science, Data Science, Applied Science and Physics .

The research process also highlights another Vision 2026 pillar – careers .

“This paper came out of an existing collaboration with IBM Research,” said Nadkarni. “The way these collaborations usually work is having students intern with collaborators, working on collaborative research as part of their internship project.”

What data are we surrendering?

Political campaigns, Nadkarni explained, are classed as nonprofit, receiving less scrutiny than commercial enterprises. They collect data of significant value but still aren’t subject to the same regulations applying to businesses.

Over two thirds of the 2,060 campaigns examined were found to collect personal information through their websites, with the most collected data being email addresses (99%) and phone numbers (62%). Other data types ranged from political opinions to social media information and, in rare cases,  data such as union status and race, defined as “highly sensitive” by the researchers.

A few campaigns also obtained information about people other than the user – thus without consent.

Kaushal Kafle presented the poster for this study at the CCI Symposium 2023, Apr. 17-18, 2023.

The researchers performed two additional studies to understand data sharing implications. Thirty-one percent of campaigns shared email information with other political entities, but over one third of these didn’t mention data sharing in their privacy policy. Sixty-one percent of campaigns using fundraising platforms did not have a privacy policy at all.

None of the campaigns disclosed how long they would retain user data. “So, what happens to that data after the campaign ends? You should accept that it is going to remain there in perpetuity,” said Kafle.

Researchers also conducted a security risk analysis and found out that campaign websites were generally secure, although a small number included malicious outbound links that weren’t adequately vetted. Seventy-three percent of campaigns used trackers: Of these, almost two thirds didn’t have a privacy policy; among those that did, one in four did not mention trackers.

Privacy as a bipartisan issue

The study did not disclose or discuss political affiliations of candidates. However, its dataset remains open in order to enable future research.

“Privacy really is a bipartisan issue,” said Nadkarni. “We didn’t want the message to become ‘this particular party isn’t doing privacy right,’ but rather ‘there needs to be a legislation to actually make everybody follow best-practice guidelines.’” 

Retaining data in perpetuity does not only represent a privacy issue, the study argued, but also a security problem due to the potential for data leaks. All campaigns come to an end, but their URLs and the associated user data can be bought by offshore entities for potential malicious use.

Previous studies and news articles, the researchers said, had indicated it was not uncommon for candidates to switch party affiliation after their campaigns. “If you had donated to their campaigns, you may not agree with their current position, but your data still remains with them,” said Nadkarni.

Users, Nadkarni remarked, are not currently in control. The only immediate countermeasure is not volunteering information, especially about third parties, and sharing the bare minimum of data required when donating to a campaign.

“But what users can do in the long term is ask their lawmakers to make regulations to prevent campaigns from misusing data,” he said. “Just like there have been movements to rein in for-profits and their use of information, there needs to be a similar push for regulating political campaigns.”

The  Voter Privacy Act Bill  introduced in Senate, which follows the blueprint of the European Union’s  General Data Protection Regulation , represents an effort in this direction.

The researchers also reached out to campaigns directly, which opened to some positive interactions. Many campaigns, being grassroots-run, didn’t have the technical expertise to protect the data; Nadkarni said that further research will be looking at examples of “good” campaigns to offer a good blueprint of how to safeguard privacy in the political campaign space.

The research team will be also looking at campaigns from the upcoming 2024 federal elections, having already analyzed campaigns from the 2023 Virginia elections.

Kafle said that their paper aimed to raise awareness of how non-profit entities were processing data. He said that their poster had already attracted considerable interest at different venues.

“I think almost everyone perceived this to be a bad situation, but to be staring at that in numbers was something else,” he said. “We intend to increase public attention and awareness on this topic as one the key outcomes of this study.” 

Antonella Di Marzio , Senior Research Writer

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  1. Computer Science

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  27. Bachelor's Programs

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  29. Your personal data is political: W&M computer scientists find gaps in

    Nadkarni remarked that this work "just happened to fit" with the data and democracy initiatives from the university's Vision 2026 strategic plan, as well as the proposed new school in Computer Science, Data Science, Applied Science and Physics. The research process also highlights another Vision 2026 pillar - careers. "This paper came ...