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.
Register to Participate in Baskin Day 2021
Survey - Depth of Discipline as an Influencing Factor of Engineering Identity
An Industrial and Systems Engineering doctoral student at Mississippi State University (MSU) is conducting an academic survey to collect data from participants regarding engineering identity.
Participants must be ages 18 to 23, and enrolled as an undergraduate student in an engineering program in the United States.
If you agree to participate, the survey should take less than 5 minutes to complete. Participation is completely voluntary, and your answers will be anonymous. A copy of the survey is attached for your reference. After completing the survey, you will have the option of entering your email address on a separate webform if you would like to be entered into a random drawing for one of fifteen $25 Amazon gift cards. This drawing is simply an opportunity for me to thank you for your time, but this webform is not tied to your survey response in any way.
This study has been reviewed by Mississippi State University’s HRPP/IRB and has been granted an Exemption Determination. This research is supervised by Dr. Lesley Strawderman and has been approved by MSU’s Institutional Review Board (Protocol ID: IRB-21-046).
Please click the hyperlink below to complete the survey. Thank you so much for your time!
Survey - Depth of Discipline as an Influencing Factor of Engineering Identity
Summer Fellowship for Anti-Racism Research
Overview
The Baskin School of Engineering is committed to anti-racism through our research and teaching activities and by advancing a climate of belonging and mutual respect for our entire community. The Scholarship for Anti-Racism Research program is designed to advance anti-racism research at both the student and faculty levels, by supporting faculty-supervised student research that investigates racism and bias in technology/engineering and explores tools to fight racism and bias through technology. Awards will range from $2000 to $6000, depending on the scope of the project, and will be provided to students in the Baskin School of Engineering to work on an original project of their choice. Awardees will receive feedback on their projects from faculty and will be invited to present their completed projects in public speaker series.
Example topics might include the following:
- What algorithms are currently being used to uncover racial bias in the massive data sets used in machine learning? What companies and organizations are leading the way in these efforts and/or what kind of policy exists or should exist to expand the use of such algorithms?
- Certain technologies use sensors to determine the proximity of a human being (e.g., automatic faucets in public restrooms), and in some cases that technology works better for fair skin than it does for darker skin. How can those technologies be improved to be able to sense all human skin, not just certain skin tones?
- What efforts can game developers make to avoid propagating racist stereotypes in their games, and even help promote anti-racist themes?
- The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) of 2008 protects Americans from discrimination based on their genetic information in both health insurance (Title I) and employment (Title II). Are there ways in which GINA should be expanded to protect individuals from being the target of racist actions or systems?
Eligibility: Undergraduate and Graduate Students
All declared Baskin Engineering students are eligible for FARR, as are undergraduates enrolled in an Engineering minors. Engineering graduate students enrolled in MS or PhD programs housed in Baskin Engineering are also encouraged to apply. Students may apply individually, or in teams of up to three students.
Application
We welcome applications that highlight the clarity and importance of the proposed project and its potential technical applications and/or applications to engineering. Final projects may take a variety of forms, depending on the nature of the work, including a research paper or digital resources such as a video game, toolkit, podcast series, or short film.
If a faculty advisor has been identified, please include a brief statement of support from the advisor. If not, we will help you identify a member of the Baskin Engineering faculty or another faculty member at UC Santa Cruz to serve as an advisor to the project.
Application materials are due March 29, 2021, and awards will be announced by April 5, 2021. Applications should include a description of the proposed project (up to 3000 words) and a timeline for research (up to 300 words). For team applications, care should be taken to explicate the role of each member of the team in the project. Email completed applications or questions to Abigail Kaun akaun@ucsc.edu.
More information
Two information sessions have been scheduled for prospective applicants: Tuesday, March 16, 2021 4:00-5:00 p.m. and Wednesday, March 17, 1:00-2:00 p.m.. To receive the Zoom link, please email Abigail Kaun at akaun@ucsc.edu.
180 Degrees Consulting is Recruiting Consultants this Spring!
Interested in gaining Business Management or Consulting experience? Join 180 Degrees Consulting, UC Santa Cruz!
We are the world’s largest student-run consultancy for nonprofit organizations! Develop critical industry skills while working to design business solutions for our clients. As a Consultant at 180 Degrees, you’ll gain access to exclusive consulting resources from the 180 Degrees Global Team, training from Catalyst Consulting, and an instant network of like-minded students and industry professionals.
Applications are out! Apply by March 20th.
https://tinyurl.com/180UCSCAPP
If you’re interested in learning more or applying, come out to our upcoming recruitment events! Fill out our contact form to receive updates: 180 Degrees Consulting, UCSC Contact Form.
Please email ikharbanda@180dc.org with any questions.
Reader position for ECE153 - Digital Signal Processing
We are looking for a reader to help grade homework assignments during the Spring 2021 quarter. To qualify the reader has to have taken ECE153 (or an equivalent course on Digital Signal Processing) and received a grade of B or better.
Interested students please apply here: https://rta.soe.ucsc.edu/
Undergraduate research opportunities in Computational Media for Spring 2021 now available
Hello! The Computational Media department currently has several openings for undergraduate research assistants in various projects ranging from assistive technology to virtual reality to using machine learning to study mental health and more. If you are looking for an exciting opportunity to get involved in research next quarter, please take a look at our project list and apply to projects of interest as soon as possible. If you have any questions about particular projects, feel free to reach out to the person who is hosting that project using the contact information provided on the sheet.
ECE 104/204
This course can be used to satisfy an elective for the following majors and minors:
EE Major
EE Minor
Bioelectronics & Biophotonics minor
For more information: