Program Overview

FoDOMMaT (The Future of Discovery: Training Students to Build and Apply Open Source Machine Learning Models and Tools) is a 10-week on-site summer Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). FoDOMMaT will bring together 10 undergraduate students, particularly those who would otherwise lack such an opportunity, to work on cutting-edge projects. The program will begin with a week-long training where students are taught machine learning (ML) / deep learning (/DL) methods. They will work for the remaining nine weeks on a specific research project under the guidance of a pair of research mentors, one from the project’s research area and the other with expertise in machine learning. Students will be trained to apply machine learning and to participate in research where these tools are at the center of scientific discovery, preparing them to apply machine learning methods in other fields. Students will openly share their models and tools, including their home institutions, an undergraduate research symposium on the University of Illinois campus, and the science and engineering research community.

Highlights

• 10-week summer program offers opportunities:
  • Intensive training in machine learning (ML) / deep learning (DL)ML/DL methodology and relevant software, as well as open source software development methodologies
  • Leading-edge research projects supervised by NCSA researchers and interdisciplinary faculty members, leading to open source models or tools
  • Develop ability to apply ML/DL to real-world, cutting-edge research problems 
  • ML/DL subject matter mentoring by a graduate student 
  • Access to state-of-the-art computing facilities to run these tools and models
  • Immersion in interdisciplinary research activities
  • Seminars by visiting researchers from industry and academia
  • Social activities, networking and professional development events
• Paid stipend & housing (arranged by the program), meal plan, one round trip to and from campus