Quotes from past years students

2017

" This REU has shown me how to do research and what to expect. "
" I enjoyed the hands on experience and learning how to present. "
" I enjoyed being in a professional setting and watching my research progress overtime. "
" I feel like I am a better problem solver and writer now. "
" I enjoyed the strong faculty/advisor support…my peers in other programs say their programs are much worse in this aspect. "
" I will use the researching strategies I learned from this project in future work. "
" I really enjoyed all of the people I got to work with. "
" I felt very challenged. I originally thought we would be just assisting a professor or graduate student with research, but in reality we did the research ourselves with very little knowledge beforehand. "

2016

" I really enjoyed every minute and day because I was learning new things and meeting new people. "
" The REU environment is very supportive of the students. "
" I have a better feel for research and an added set of tools to use. "
" It helped me to learn more about my field and about what to expect from my career than what I learn in lectures. Also, you get to know new people that could be future colleagues. "

2015

" Originally, my only hope for the program was to publish my research at the end. However, I have gained so much more out of this experience than just that. I have made amazing friends that I will endeavor to keep in contact with, I have learned so much about graduate school and research, and I was able to accomplish a task that most undergraduates do not even get a chance at. Overall, I could not have found any better way to spend my summer than to be at the UnCoRe REU program. "

2013

" My topic was very interesting I enjoyed doing research for my project. I really felt like I learned a lot from this experience. "
" I enjoyed the daily meetings guidance, it was helpful. "
" Coach Zhody was a great advisor who really challenged us to complete a lot of work for this REU. I look forward to staying in contact with him in the future! "
" Jared was always eager to help out however possible. He was great. "
" I enjoyed the research opportunity experience to further my education. It will be extremely useful for graduate school. "
" I learned a lot about doing research what qualities to look for when applying to grad school. "
" It was a great experience overall I think the info skills that I`ve learned throughout the summer will be invaluable in my career down the road. "

2012

" I really liked the overall experience of the program. However, if I have to pick something, I would say that the “best” thing is that it prepared us to understand and like research. It was an extraordinary experience and an excellent way to know about the real meaning of research, how it should be done, what it can accomplish, how important it is and how to be successful if choosing the research path as a career. Getting to hear about what everyone else is doing and to talk about each project at coffee hour. Also getting to help with the smartphone project with Dr. Fu was AWESOME. For me, the best thing about the 10 weeks program was the coffee hour every Wednesday. We had to give a little presentation about what we’ve done for the past week. We meet all the other group and we interact and learn from each other when taking our breakfast. "
" I had a great experience with OU staff especially Ms Debra Valla(Administrative secretary/Computer Science and Engineering). It is a wonderful environment to work in and every question you have will be answered and in a prompt time. "
" Dr. Mohamed Zohdy is a great advisor. He came in the lab daily and sometimes twice a day to make sure that we have everything necessary to move forward in our research. He was really prompt at answering questions we had and quiz us from time to time to test our knowledge of the material we are working on. He introduced us to his Doctorate students, we got to meet them and introduce our project; Overall that was a rewarding experience for me and I hope the relation I developed with my advisor will be helpful even after the program. Thank you Professor Zohdy for all your guidance and support along this research program, it was a great and rewarding experience working as your student researcher. "
" Dr. Li was always helpful and ready to work with us in any time we had problems or difficulties. She encouraged us to work hard, and was always guiding us towards the goal of the project. She is an excellent advisor. Dr. Tyagi from Beaumont Hospital was also very friendly and she always gave her best to provide us with unknown information. She was very interested with the project and she followed the progress very closely, making suggestions and giving useful information along the way. Dr. Li was always available for questions and very helpful in guiding us. My research advisor was energetic and excited about my project. She was direct and kept me on track to the task at hand. "
" My team was always helpful and ready to work. We got along really well and accomplished a lot of the work in collaboration. It was awesome to work with people who loved to work hard, who liked to share ideas and knowledge, and who also liked to learn and explore new things. "
" I really enjoyed working with my lab partner. The cultural background difference and the different point of view we had help us come up with numerous ideas and approaches for our projects. Dan is a great lab partner and I will keep in touch with him so we can discuss about future projects and plans. Great job Dan and I really had a great time. I enjoyed doing research in network security. I am really interested in smartphone technology so to learn about the networks and how they work was a great experience. "
" Challenging, intensive and at the same time fascinating, can be extended to other field. It has never been attempted before so at the beginning, the feeling was “we cannot do it” but as we move on and ask more questions to our advisor, we found a way to approach the problem and solve it. We are actually working on our paper and we hope will publish in a journal. "
" I enjoyed many of the events we had. They all pertained either to the development of our current skills or of graduate school, both of which are essential to the REU program. I couldn’t ask for more. "

2011

"The research topic itself was very interesting. I learned very much about an area that I've never worked on before in a short amount of time. I also felt that I contributed to its improvement."
"I'm happy with the research topic that I have. It is unique and different - it is something that I have not done and did not know much about it before. "
"I felt the organized events were very appropriate for the program and I gained much from every single one of them."

2008

"I currently work as a computer scientist for Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command in Washington, DC. I applied for Johns Hopkins University's master of science in Computer Science and I'm still waiting to hear from them. I have kept in touch with my advisor at Johns Hopkins, hopefully I'll hear the good (or bad) news soon."
"I truly appreciate UnCoRe faculty members and stuff for their dedication to each individual student who participated in the program. Because of their hardwork and support, I am where I am today. Thank you so much for the opportunity, guidance and support!"

2007

"I am currently enrolled in the Masters of Computer Science program at Northeastern University. I am also working full time as a Web Developer at a non-profit ministry in Boston as an AmeriCorps member."
"I cannot speak highly enough about this program. Working as a REU student within UnCoRe provided me with invaluable experience as a researcher and helped me improve my confidence as a scientist and engineer. My adviser did a fantastic job helping me improve my skills in computer science and as a researcher entirety. The program gave me a lot of insight into what it takes to be a successful scientist and engineer and I would recommend it for any student looking to pursue a career in research and academia. My summer at UnCoRe was fantastic, and the skills I learned was an UnCoRe student have helped me greatly in my academic and career goals!"

2006

"Great. Seriously, My advisor was very helpful and encouraging during the entire process, while being hands off enough for us to set our own pace and take the lead if we wanted to."
"My advisor made herself available to us. She was thinking about our research even in her down time."
"It was such a fulfilling experience. I was able to network with engineering faculty and students as I applied my current engineering knowledge to a real life situation."
"Overall I think it was a great experience. You really feel like you've accomplished something."

2005

"This program overall was a great experience. I came back this year to hopefully get a publication and to learn more. My expectations were exceeded."
"We learned what research entails. I for one really enjoy research and would love to do more."
"The Women in Computing/Computer Science and Engineering Day gave me more of a handle of the careers outside of a university that exist."
"This program, while frustrating and difficult at times, has been the best use of my summer of my entire college career. In spite of some difficulties I have personally learned a lot about the research, writing, and presenting aspects of being a researcher. All these aspects have not only expanded my knowledge about the process, but also guided my decision to apply for graduate study when I graduate."
"I really felt like a peer discussing the possibilities of what we can do and how to do it rather than somebody just getting an assignment."
"The research environment was so invigorating, being surrounded by focused students and motivating mentors."

2004

"This program not only boosted my confidence but also made me realize the importance of graduate studies."
"I would highly recommend this program to anyone in the engineering field who would possibly be interested in research."
"The most important thing I learned was how research really works."

2003

"Dr. Mili was always encouraging us to think outside the box and she listened to our suggestions, most of which were reflected in our first presentation."
"Before entering this program, I was undecided about what to do after I obtain my bachelors (I am going to be a junior at Oakland University in the fall). Now I am almost positive that I will be attending graduate school."
"[Our adivisor] was able to get us started in the right direction without telling us exactly what we should do. We were able to come up with many ideas of our own that he helped us to develop into a good and new method for solving our problem."
"Just working on a research project has been great for getting an understanding about what an academic career would be like, and I'm definitely starting to think it's something I would enjoy."

2002

"The UnCoRe program convinced me that I actually liked computers, and that I wanted to go into research."