SUNFEST 2003
Each year an average of 12 students, ending their sophomore
or junior year, are selected from various universities
nationwide to participate in a unique program that provides
talented undergraduate students with hands-on research
opportunities. The program is jointly sponsored by the
National Science Foundation as a REU (Research Experience
for Undergraduates) site, Microsoft Corporation, and the
Center for Sensor Technologies at Penn Engineering. Typically,
half of the students come from outside Penn and are selected
nationwide. Students from engineering and the physical
sciences are eligible to apply and special attempts are
made to attract underrepresented students. This summer
students participated from Princeton, University of Pittsburgh,
Swarthmore, University of Virginia and Penn. Running from
May 27 to August 2, the program provided students with
classroom instruction in addition to lab experience. Oral
and written communications as well as ethics and the social
impact of technology is included in the classroom experience.
Students are exposed to serious research projects, supported
by a faculty member from the Center for Sensor Technologies.
This year’s research
topics included:
- Sony Aibo Motion Calibration
and Monitoring/Control System
- Dielectrophoretic Assembly,
Integration, and Characterization of Functional Nanostructures
- Remote Cognosensors: Developing
a Nir Imaging Model to Map Brain Function
- Optimizing Methods for Early Cancer Detection
via Optical Imaging with a Redox Scanner
Two Penn Engineering participants, Brian Corwin, CTE’04,
and Jonathan Goulet, CSE’05, agreed that their
experience in SUNFEST went far beyond the actual research,
providing opportunities to meet interesting people from
different backgrounds and learning about new topics.
Says Brian, “I was exposed to many areas of engineering
research that I was not aware of, from nanotechnology
to 3D image reconstruction. All in all, it was a wonderful
growth experience for me, both from an academic standpoint
and a personal one.” |
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