Sixty Cornell undergraduates spent 10 weeks working alongside faculty and graduate students through the Bowers Undergraduate Research Experience this summer.
The paid program connects students with about 40 participating faculty members in computing and information science, giving them a chance to test whether research or graduate school may fit their goals.
Projects included work by computer science major Myles Pasetsky, who studied ways to improve the real-world hardware performance of robotic arms trained in simulations.
Students also attended weekly faculty seminars and practical talks about life as a graduate researcher. Organizers said the program is designed to expand access to research opportunities that can otherwise be competitive.
Participants described the work as an exercise in revising ideas when hypotheses or experiments reach dead ends.
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