BSOE Undergraduate Newsletter
Announcements
Gesher Group Consulting Applications
Application Opening Soon for Gesher Group
We are a Pro Bono Business Consulting Org, who work with real clients in three sections of service: Data Analytics, Marketing Strategy, and Business Consulting. If you are interested in a career in any of these three sectors, Gesher Group allows the application of these skills in a real professional field.
You do not need any previous work experience in applying and prefer candidates who have at least 1 year left at UC Santa Cruz.
If you are interested in applying, early applications will be available next Friday, February 19. For those applicants who submit their form any time between February 19 and March 1, will qualify for an automatic interview with Gesher.
Make sure to follow @geshergroup on IG/LinkedIn/Facebook to stay tuned in for more updates and events!
Deans' & Chancellor's Award Information
The Deans and Chancellor wish to encourage and stimulate outstanding scholarship and creativity among undergraduate students, based on work developed in courses or programs in the normal pattern of 2020-2021 academic activity at UCSC.
All materials, including the faculty letter of support, must be received by March 24, 2021.
DEANS' UNDERGRADUATE AWARDS
Fifty undergraduates, 10 from each of the academic divisions will receive a Dean's Award of $100 for outstanding achievement in their division.
CHANCELLOR'S UNDERGRADUATE AWARDS
Fifteen Chancellor's Awardees, three from each division, will be selected from theDeans' Award lists to receive the Chancellor's Award of an additional $500.
STECK AWARD
The Steck Award will recognize the most outstanding research project chosen from the fifteen Chancellor's Awardees. This student will receive an additional $1000. In addition, his or her research project will be bound and copies given to the student, the research supervisor, the UC Santa Cruz Library, and the Steck Family whose generous contributions have made this award possible.
Winners of the Deans', Chancellor's and Steck awards will be honored during Undergraduate Student Achievement Week, June 2021.
GUIDELINES
- All research project submissions must include at least one letter of recommmendation by a faculty mentor/sponsor. Once the student submits their application a seperate email to the mentor listed will be generated automatically containing the link for them to submit the letter of recommendation. All undergraduate students applicants must contact their mentor/sponsor before submitting their application in order to confirm that a letter of support will be possible.
- All applications must include either an attachment of a completed thesis or completed project or performance (by URL). Research projects must be finished when the application is submitted. Projects that are still in progress, or are planned to be completed after the application deadline, should be submitted in the following application cycle. Submitted applications that are incomplete, or do not have a project attachment or link, or are projects that are not yet completed, will be rejected.
- The applicant should choose the one faculty mentor/sponsor of their project who is most familiar with the project and who will be able to provide the strongest letter of recommendation. Only one letter of recommendation is required. Mentors should be UCSC faculty/lecturers/post-docs/researchers etc that have a blue CruzID.
- For group projects, only one student in the group (usually the lead in the project) completes an application. They then must list the other students as project students. Each project member must approve of the application that is submitted.
- When the faculty mentor/sponsor submits their letter of recommendation, they must also approve the submitted project. Faculty sponsor recommendations and approvals must be submitted online immediately after the student application deadline. It is recommended that the mentor/sponsor write the letter as soon as possible after being contacted by the student.
- Foreign language projects must be accompanied by appropriate translation.
- Technical papers must include an abstract in non-technical language.
- Projects completed in spring 2020 (and therefore not submitted in last year’s competition) are eligible for the 2021 awards competition, even if the student has already graduated.
- Previous award winners are only eligible to submit projects in the current application cycle if those projects are significantly different in scope or topic from the previously awarded project.
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Click Here to Apply for the Deans', and Chancellor's Award
Application requires use of your CruzID Gold password
Please contact ur_hnrs@ucsc.edu if you have any questions regarding the application or the application guidelines
Apply for Summer Research Funding!
The Undergraduate Research in Science & Technology Endowment provides awards of $2500-$3500 for undergraduate research in science and technology. The awards are available for students from any major at UC Santa Cruz. Deadline for applications is March 15, 2021 and must include a recommendation from a faculty sponsor. For details on how to apply, visit https://science.ucsc.edu/research-opportunities/undergraduate-research-in-science-and-technology-award/
NEW Course Offered in Spring 2021! CSE 40: Machine Learning Basics: Data Analysis and Empirical Methods
Description: This course provides an introduction to the basic mathematical concepts and programming abstractions required for modern machine learning, data science and empirical science. The mathematical foundations include basic probability, linear algebra and optimization. The programming abstractions include data manipulation and visualization. The principles of empirical analysis, evaluation, critique and reproducibility will be emphasized. Mathematical and programming abstractions will be grounded in empirical studies including data-driven evidential reasoning, predictive modeling and causal analysis.
This course is a great first introduction to machine learning and an ideal preparation for upper division ML and AI classes.
The prerequisites to CSE 40 are: Math 19B or Math 20B, and CSE 30.
Spring Opportunities in the Tech4Good Lab
The Tech4Good Lab has several positions open next quarter for undergraduate students from all majors. We are looking for people who are extremely responsible, love learning, and have a strong drive to apply technology for social good. For next quarter, we have positions across the following types of contribution:
- User research: interviewing users and analyzing interviews to understand user needs and context,
- Usability evaluation: conducting evaluations of interfaces for usability,
- Interface design: designing and iterating on web interfaces in Figma,
- Web development: coding an app within an Angular/NgRx/Firebase stack,
- DevOps: building tools to support developers and operations across lab projects,
You would be contributing to a variety of projects in the lab related to designing systems to better support the future of education, work, and community engagement:
- Helping connect with community leaders to establish an ecosystem connecting learning on campus to community projects (see Santa Cruz Tech Beat article),
- An app aimed at scaling apprenticeship learning, where people learn web development through micro-roles and help to build websites for nonprofits as they learn,
- An app aimed at microlearning through small groups to create learning environments supporting curiosity, creativity, and relationships,
- An app containing short activities for team/group community building, and also creating "small group networks" that can facilitate interesting collective goals,
- An app aimed at supporting students in setting career goals and studying conversational interfaces for group mentorship from professionals.
Joining requires a commitment of 10 hours/week for the quarter for independent study credits. If you are interested, fill out the Tech4Good Lab Interest Form and send an email to David Lee (dlee105@ucsc.edu).
Google Looker x Gesher Group Workshop
Event: Thursday March 4th at 7:30pm.
This event lead by Google employee, Noah MacDonald, will teach students fundamental tools within Looker as well as how to apply it using real data. Learn the foundations of data visualizations and machine learning models as well as basic tips and tricks to utilize Looker's analytic tools. This collaboration is open to ALL students and RSVP here: https://forms.gle/h87vzdWzZHG5smsr8 to get the Zoom Link.
Register to Participate in Baskin Day 2021
Summer 2021 REU SITE of Florida International University Research Experience for Undergraduates
SURF THE WAVES with ASSET:
ASSET:ADVANCED SECURED SENSOR ENABLING TECHNOLOGIES
MAY 28-AUG 4,2021
The application early action deadline is March 5, 2021 and regular deadline is April 15, 2021 or until positions are filled
Funded by NSF and DoD (PIs: Dr. Pissinou and Dr. Iyengar)
The Summer 2021 REU SITE of Florida International University Research Experience for Undergraduates in Advanced Secured Sensor Enabling Technologies spans ten weeks, May 28- August 4 2021, offers research and professional development opportunities for 10 undergraduate students.
Available research projects share the theme of advanced secured sensor enabling technologies and span several exciting areas such as
* Trajectory Privacy Preservation in Mobile Sensor Networks,
* Privacy & Secure Social Sensor Networks,
* Mobile Video Authenticity Verifications
* Search Rank Validation for Social Media
* A Software Library for Visualizing Large Scale Sensor Network Applications,
* Trajectory Sensor Stream Cleaning,
* Resource Management for Security & Surveillance over a Sensor Network,
* Self-configuring, non-cooperative Mobile Sensors
* and many others
Details about REU-ASSET including an online application, can be found at http://it2.fiu.edu/it2_REU.php
Invitation to participate in the study
We would like to invite you to participate in the study of food choices by UCSC undergraduate students. This study will contribute to better understanding of the relationship between diets and cultural, socio-economic, and demographic factors. This study is not specific to the COVID situation.
If you are interested in participating, you will be interviewed by a member of our research team, who is also a UCSC undergraduate student. Your interview answers will be recorded anonymously. The interview should take about 30 minutes and could be arranged over the phone or Zoom. If interested, please fill in the Opt-In form here: https://forms.gle/d4gPXRJq7jEAVTq19 (takes about 1 minute, please log in from UCSC account). We will contact you to schedule the interview time.
Please consider helping with this important project. If you have any questions, please contact Galina Hale, Principle investigator, at gbhale@ucsc.edu.
Events
Google Looker x Gesher Group Workshop
Event Date and Time: 03/04/2021 7:30 pmEvent Location: RSVP Zoom: https://forms.gle/h87vzdWzZHG5smsr8
Join our event, next Thursday March 4th at 7:30pm. This event lead by Google employee, Noah MacDonald, will teach students fundamental tools within Looker as well as how to apply it using real data. This collaboration explores learning basic foundational tools of Looker as well as diving into data visualization, machine learning diagrams, and computational models. This event is open to ALL students and RSVP to get the zoom link.
RSVP here: https://forms.gle/h87vzdWzZHG5smsr8
UCSC Baskin Day
Event Date and Time: 04/09/2021 3:00 pmEvent Location: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/baskin-day-event-free-registration-and-box-order-form-tickets-137237564249?fbclid=IwAR1obv0hYAoiH-W7SORhjMfDw8YYRsjtfBowygyhgJY-GO5bpyqWhNUzYEE
We are so excited to invite you to UCSC’s Baskin Day 2021, a FREE virtual 3 day conference organized by engineering students at UC Santa Cruz to showcase our school of engineering to the community. This event is open to people of all ages and backgrounds to celebrate the UCSC’s Baskin School of Engineering, its students, faculty, and its achievements over the years. This annual event will be held online from April 9th-April 11th. There will be various exciting events for everyone to enjoy, ranging from workshops, speakers, and panels to alumni networking opportunities. We hope alumni, current students, families, prospective students, and engineering enthusiasts can join us for the weekend. Please check out our website and Eventbrite for more information and to secure your spot at this exciting event.
Website: https://sites.google.com/ucsc.edu/baskinday/home?authuser=0
Columbia University’s MA in Statistics' final Virtual Open House
Event Date and Time: 03/05/2021 12:00 pmEvent Location: Online
Columbia University MA in Statistics Virtual Open House
Friday, March 5th from 3:00pm-4:00pm ET via Zoom. Register here.
If you have any questions, please contact Program Coordinator Jill Folger at jf2306@columbia.edu.
GWC College Loops: Dinner Talks
Event Date and Time: 03/08/2021 7:00 pmEvent Location: https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/93252897047?pwd=TklxdGxyQ3paWlc3UEtXMDRmTDgvUT09&fbclid=IwAR2CO5diGqgTZd2z71U4KPl4OaZBs7WwVmAP2mZ6DJ4thKwZuyanlL2MiXA
Join us for our last meeting of winter quarter to reflect on these past few months, discuss what's ahead, and meet other members! Feel free to bring your dinner too!
The meeting will be on Monday, March 8 at 7PM PST using this link.
All female and non-binary identifying students are welcome, no engineering major or background needed.
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College Loops is an initiative by Girls Who Code, intended to support college-aged women interested in computer science! They provide both social and professional development opportunities for our members as well as space for women to collaborate, create, and inspire one another.