

\begin{center}
{{\bf               
 Undergraduate Research in Computer Science and Computational Physics
                        }}
\end{center}
 


The Syracuse Center for Computational Science (SCCS)
at Syracuse University (SU), a proposed site for
a summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program
requests NSF support for eight (8) REU participants per year for a 
three year period, 1992-1995.
This program will combine in a coherent way  
and use the resources
available in the following divisions of
Syracuse University:
the Syracuse Center for Computational Science (SCCS),
the Northeast Parallel Architectures Center (NPAC),
the  Department of Physics and
the school of Computer and Information Science (CIS).
The research stipends will be awarded to talented and
motivated undergraduate students 
entering their junior and senior years.
At least five of the eight REU participants will be selected from external 
applicants,  attending other colleges and universities.
A particular effort will be made to attract  women, minorities
and disabled students. 
Syracuse University will make a major contribution to the project
of 
% please update
\$ 71,389. 
We request 
% please update
\$ 35,720 
in support from the NSF.




Sixteen full-time faculty members in CIS and Physics 
have expressed interest in supervising the REU participants.
The eleven  who participated in the program last summer, 
offer projects that build on the results of last summer's research,
while the other five offer new projects. 
The areas in which the faculty members are actively engaged are
parallel computing software and algorithms, 
pattern recognition and computer vision,
neural networks, optimization problems, virtual reality,   
computational condensed matter physics, 
statistical mechanics, 
nonlinear dynamics (chaos),
and use of computers for education.
An REU participant may 
select a research problem in any one of these research 
areas that interests him.
The research interests of the  faculty supervisors, and typical research
problems to be suggested to the REU participants are listed in the 
proposal.


\newpage


\vspace{0.2in}
\leftline{\underline{{\bf 
The Instruction and Research Environment at Syracuse University 
}}}


Syracuse University is one of the largest private universities in
the United States.
It is located in the center of New York State
in short distance to some of the state's most spectacular scenic
areas.
Its twelve colleges provide more than 200 different programs
of study that lead to degrees in
arts and sciences,
architecture,
computer science,
education, engineering,
human development,
information studies,
management, nursing, public communications, social work and visual
and performing arts.

Syracuse University has about 12,000 undergraduate students,
2,130 full time and 2,340 part time graduate students,
and 900 full-time faculty.
The activities at Syracuse    
University takes place in more than 324 buildings
on its extended campus of 900 acres.




\vspace{0.2in}
\leftline{\underline{{\bf 
The Syracuse Center for Computational Science (SCCS)
}}}

The 
Syracuse Center for Computational Science 
is a 
new program in computational science
headed by Geoffrey Fox.
The SCCS program builds on Fox's 
experience at Caltech where he led the Caltech
Concurrent Computation Program, which pioneered the
interdisciplinary approach to computing with close coupling
between physics, computer science and other scientific
application areas.
 
As a part of this  program, the Physics Department
is creating a computational physics
group. 
Initially the group consists of  O. Biham, G.C. Fox,  W. Furmanski,
Enzo Marinary 
and three postdoctoral fellows: Coddington, Middleton and Vinson.

The center and the faculty members involved have a strong
commitment to developing new educational programs in computational
science.
As a part of this initiative, new courses 
in computational physics will be added at the graduate and undergraduate
levels.
A workstation laboratory
dedicated to this purpose already exists,
while additional substantial investments in course related software
development and maintenance will be made.

The center builds on existing areas at Syracuse University
including the Northeast Parallel Architectures Center (NPAC),
The Computer a
nd Information Science Department (CIS),
the Department of Physics,
the Department of Electrical and 
Computer Engineering (ECE) and the Center of Computer
Applications and Software Engineering (CASE).








\vspace{0.2in}
\leftline{\underline{{\bf 
The Northeast Parallel Architectures Center (NPAC)
}}}

NPAC, the Northeast Parallel Architectures center, will provide parallel
computing support for the REU program. NPAC has 
excellent hartware facillities including a 32K CM-2 Connection Machine, two 
Encore Multimax's, a small NCUBE2 hypercube and a digital DECmpp
Maspar 1208 system with 8K four bit SIMD processors.
More importantly as in 1991, NPAC's staff will provide a training session for the students to start the REU.
These facilities will be provided at no cost to this proposal.




\vspace{0.2in}
\leftline{\underline{{\bf 
The Center for Research on Parallel Computation (CRPC)
}}}

As a part of the 
Center for Research on Parallel Computation (CRPC),
NPAC/SCCS collaborates with parallel computing centers throughout the
country. CRPC, an NSF
Science and Technology Center, includes staff and facilities from 
leading universities and national laboratories. 

Seeking to encourage collaboration among researchers
in all fields, 
CRPC sponsors many software development, computer science and computational
science projects. 
NPAC/SCCS members enjoy the following advantages through CRPC:
collaboration with other CRPC members, access to one of the most complete
collections of high performance parallel computer systems, and access to
CRPC public domain software.

The Syracuse REU program will collaborate with other CRPC institutions 
such as Rice and Caltech. 
The collaboration will include 
exchange of students between the summer programs held in these institutions.
In particular, our 2 week  training workshop will be open to students 
from the other institutions.
This is especially important for the recruitment of minority students
to our program, especially from Rice University that has been very 
successful in this area.
The collaboration with CRPC will include a joint recruitment program 
for all the participating institutions.


 
\newpage
\vspace{0.2in}
\leftline{\underline{{ \large \bf 
Results from Prior NSF Support 
}}}
In the summer of 1991 
we held an  REU Site program entitled 
``Undergraduate Research in Computer Science and Computational Physics''.
The program included eleven undergraduate students and eleven faculty 
advisors. Eight students were supported by the NSF REU 
Grant No. CDA-9100833, ( \$35,720 for one 
year)
, two by the
Center for Research on Parallel Computation (CRPC) and one student by
the SU Fredrickson Fellowship. 
Among the eleven students four were external students from 
Boston University,
Clarkson University, The Johns Hopkins University and The Massachussets
Institute of Technology. The remaining  seven were 
from SU. Six of them are computer science majors and the other five are
physics majors.

To recruit external students we mailed our brochure and application forms
to 45 Physics departments and 
45 Computer Science departments in the North-East. We also sent 30
brochures directly to our colleagues. As a result we received 40 applications 
from external students. In our  selection 
process we made 10 offers to external
students. Four of them accepted our offers 
and participated in the program.
Internal SU students were recruited by distributing our brochures in classes,
posting them on notice boards and asking our faculty colleages to recommend the
program to eligible students.

An area in which we have not been successful is the recruitment of women and
underrepresented minorities (one Woman participated and no minority
students). 
This was especially hard due to the fact that we were informed 
about the award so 
late in the academic year. 
At that time most of the eligible women and minorities
who were interested in a summer research 
program had already accepted offers from
other places. 
As described later
we plan to pursue agressive recruitment 
effort this year, starting 
in late October 91, to recruit more external 
students, especially women and minorities.



The emphasis in our program has been on interdisciplinary research in
Physics and Computer Science.
The students studied a variety of problems in Physics and
Computer Science using workstations and the Connection Machine to
perform large scale simulations.


In the first two weeks of the program the students participated in
a training workshop in which they learned about
UNIX , the Connection
Machine architecture, Fortran 90, scientific visualization, numerical
methods, software libraries and scientific applications. 
This workshop allowed them to catch up quickly and to familiarize 
themselves with the computer systems. 
The training was provided by  NPAC staff and
CIS and ECE faculty 
(George Boyce, Don Hewitt, Steven Sather,
Nancy McCracken, Gaber Mohamed,  Ernie Sibert,  and 
Ed Bogucz) with a comlementary session on applications by Richard Shapiro
from United Technology Research Center (UTRC), in NPAC's training facility.
Each student was then assigned to work with one faculty member from
the Computer Science or Physics Departments
on a research project. 
The assignments
of the students were based on their interests 
as expressed in their application forms and in  phone conversations with 
the program co-director and faculty advisors,  and on their background.
After acceptance to the program the students received more detailed
information about the available projects. They were encouraged to 
contact the prospective faculty asvisors and 
had the option to revise their choice.
We found this procdure very successful as both faculty and students 
expressed high level of satisfaction from the assignments. We made 
a strong effort to provide the best possible working conditions for all
students. All the students had unlimited access to UNIX workstations.
The one to one ratio between students and faculty allowed very close 
interaction, usually on a daily basis between the students and their
advisors. They all expressed strong desire to learn as much as possible
and to make progress in their research. 


The students were accomodated in a very convenient residence hall on
campus and provided  with a complete meal plan. This allowed them to concentrate
on the research without worrying about  meals.
We supplemented  the research with a weekly seminar series in which
Physics and CIS faculty presented topics of interest in computational 
science. 

In addition to the seminars we had less formal meetings to discuss their
plans, progress and administrative issues.  
One of these meetings was dedicated to the issue of graduate school. 
To this meeting we invited graduate students, postdocs and assistant 
professors, who told the REU students about their experience, and answered 
their questions. This meeting and the private discussions that followed
made sure  that our REU students were well informed
about graduate school. They have acquired the knowledge
 that will help them to make good career decisions.
The program evaluation forms 
that they all filled out at the end of the program 
indicate that they all plan to go to graduate school. 
  



In the last week we organized a three-day workshop in
which all the students 
gave talks on the work they had accomplished in the program.
This workshop attracted a lot of interest and many faculty members and
graduate students attended these talks. 

The success of the program can also be measured in the high visibility that 
we acheived in the Physics and CIS departments, which encouraged more faculty 
members to join.  We have shown to our local faculty
that the concept of summer undergraduate 
research is a success.
Participation in the REU program was both useful and fun 
because of the
close interaction with very talented undergraduate students that resulted
in a set of successful projects.
 



All of  the students (with the help of their advisors) wrote papers in
which they summarized their research and results.
We compiled these papers and published them in the 
 {\it Journal of Undergraduate Research in Computational Physics and
Computer Science at Syracuse University }, Vol. I, edited by Ofer 
Biham. 
The journal is available upon request at no cost. 
Some  of these papers are  part of  larger projects carried out by the
faculty advisors, while others are new projects initiated in the summer.
Many of the papers will be extended and submitted for publication in 
the appropriate technical journals. Six of the students are currently
continuing their projects under the supervision of their advisors, and
expect to submit papers for publication within the next few months. 
Also, one NSF proposal (submitted by Prof. Hartmann)  builds on
the research in which the REU student participated.

We managed to attract more funding in addition to the NSF REU grant. 
Next year 
we expect to have one student supported by 
the SU Fredrickson fellowship. 
Our program has also helped SU to be selected for an 
award from the GE foundation.
This award will provide us with three fellowships dedicated to minority 
students. 



 





\newpage
\vspace{0.2in}
\leftline{\underline{{\bf 
Procedure for the Selection and Expected Profile of REU Participants 
}}}


The proposed REU project is a  ten (10) week  summer program.
At least five of the eight participants supported by the NSF REU, 
will be selected from academic
institutions other than Syracuse University. 
A special effort will be made to select qualified women, minority
and disabled participants both from Syracuse University and from
other academic institutions.
On the basis of past experience in other NSF supported REU projects
considerable interest and favorable response is expected
from prospective participants in the north-east region of the
United States.
We identified 
over one hundred appropriate institutions
in this region.
Some institutions from our list are, for example:
SUNY at Buffalo,
Clarkson University, Cornell University, 
Colgate University, Hamilton College, 
the University of Rochester, Boston University, MIT and Rutgers University.


\vspace{0.2in}


\vspace{0.2in}
\leftline{\underline{{\bf 
Recruitment Plan
}}}


We will pursue an aggressive recruitment 
plan as a joint effort with other REU sites associated with CRPC
(including Rice University, Caltech, and University of Tennessee).
As a part of this effort brochures will be sent out 
to
Computer Science Departments and
Physics Departments 
and provide information about all the participating REU sites.






The mailing list will include about one hundred appropriate institutions
in the Northeast.
The brochure will also be sent to colleagues in 
external institutions, with an attached letter asking them 
to bring our REU project to the attention of their 
sophomore and
junior year students
(entering their junior and senior year in the fall)
who may be interested in research participation 
at Syracuse University or one of the other institutions during summer 1992.
The brochure will include the information about the NSF stipends,
full support for room and board for a ten-week  
period of research participation. 
A short description of the research areas pursued by the faculty supervisors
involved, and  some typical research projects will  
be included.
Each applicant will provide curriculum vitae, two letters of recommendation
and academic transcripts.
Promising applicants will be encouraged to visit SU as a 
part of the selection process
and part of their travel expenses will be covered.
Final decisions will be made by the  
project director
with the approval of faculty supervisors.  
 

In the  selection of the REU participants from  Syracuse
University students,
the program and
the availability of
stipends will be publicly
announced through the local university newspapers and the faculty members
in the classrooms. 
The brochure explaining the scope, the purpuse, 
the stipends and related particulars of the REU project, and the faculty
supervisors available to guide the participants will be distributed.



As described above, we have established a joint recruitment effort 
with other CRPC institutios that will increase our audience and
in particular will help us in the recruitment of minority students.


 


 
\begin{center}
{\large {\bf Proposal }}
\end{center}


It is proposed that under the National Science Foundation's
program for Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU),
the 
Syracuse Center for Computational Science (SCCS)
at Syracuse University be designated as
an REU site.
Support for eight (8) REU participants/year is requested for a 
three year period, 1992-1995.
At least five of the eight REU participants will be selected from external 
applicants
who attend colleges and universities
other than SU.
A particular effort will be made to attract  women, minorities
and disabled students to participate.



\vspace{0.2in}
\leftline{\underline{{ \large \bf 
Scope of the Program and Proposed Activities
}}}

This project is a first step in a broader interdisciplinary
program  that will combine physics and computer science.
Syracuse University brings to this program
a unique combination of excellent computational resources
(including mainframes, workstations and NPAC), 
strong support of interdisciplinary work,
broad selection of undergraduate programs
and a  strong commitment to teaching.
 


Students  accepted  to the program 
will be provided with reading materials describing  
the reseach areas of the prospective faculty supervisors.
This will give them a better orientation to the program.
The summer activity will consist of the following components:



1. In the first two weeks  we will provide
a training workshop in which the students will  learn about
UNIX, the Connection
Machine architecture, Fortran 90, CM-Fortran,  scientific visualization, numerical
methods, software libraries and scientific applications.
One lesson that we learned from last year's program is that 
we need to customize the training to the individual needs of the students.
Therefore we plan to provide two different tracks in the training - a fast track for
students who enter the program with a basic knowledge of UNIX and concurrent programming
that will allow them to start their research projects earlier, and a slow track for
students who need a more complete training program. Our experience 
indicates  that some of
the computer science students belong to 
the first group while the physics students 
typically  belong to the second group. 
For both groups the advantage in the training workshop is that it  allows them
to catch up quickly and to familiarize 
themselves with the computer systems. 
The training will be provided by  NPAC staff and
CIS and ECE faculty 
in NPAC's training facility.


2. Individual students will participate  in a research project under the 
supervision of
one of the faculty supervisors.
Sustained personal guidance will be given to the students by
their supervisors
to ensure that each of the participants feels confident to conduct his/her
reseach project.
The faculty supervisors will try to keep the scientific and computational
scope of the reseach project simple, yet meaningful.
A strong effort will be made to provide challenging problems that
are not beyond the participant's background and grasp. 
Hopefully, the participant's  interest
in graduate studies will be enhanced  
as a result of the REU participation.


3. A weekly seminar will be given by the participating 
faculty supervisors and other selected faculty members.
In choosing the topics, attention will be given to special
interests which will  develop among the participating students.

4. Student's seminar: During the last week of the program 
we will organize a workshop in which each
student will give a seminar describing the problem he/she 
worked on and the results obtained. 
The faculty supervisors will provide assistance and advice
in preparing the seminars.
External students will be encouraged to present the seminar 
when they return to their own college/university.



5. During the last week of participation each participant will
prepare a final report
on his/her individual project.
The reports will be published in the 
second volume of the {\it Journal of Undergraduate 
Research in Computational Physics and Computer Science at Syracuse University
}.




6. Some of the papers will be submitted for publication in appropriate 
technical journals while other papers will be submitted to 
undergraduate research journals.




 
 
 
\vspace{0.2in}



\vspace{0.2in}
\leftline{\underline{ {\bf 
Plans for Post Participation Activities 
}}}





Participants will be encouraged to continue their research  
during the academic year following their participation.
They will have the choice either to continue their summer 
project or to choose a new project under the 
supervision of any one of the faculty members involved in the
REU program.
In the future, 
in order to avoid additional academic load,
the possibility  
to give  two  credit hours for a succesful research project
during the academic year will be considered.




\vspace{0.2in}
\leftline{\underline{{ \large \bf 
Faculty Supervisors
}}}


Prof. Geoffrey Fox is to serve as the director of the proposed REU
project.
He has served in a similar project at 
the California Institute of Technology
 between the years
1985-1990.
Prof. Ofer Biham will be the co-director of the project.
Sixteen faculty members 
will be
available to devote the needed time and effort to 
guide and supervise the research efforts of the REU participants.
The academic and research background of participating faculty members
are listed in appendix V.

\vspace{0.2in}
\leftline{
\underline{{\bf 
Areas of Research and Suggested Research Projects
for REU Participants.
}}}

The research interests  of participating faculty members
are described below.
Suggested undergraduate research projects 
are briefly noted.
















































