Outreach to REU Students at the University of Texas at Dallas

W. Eric Wong
Editor-in-Chief, IEEE Transactions on Reliability
Chair, Dallas Chapter

Lon Chase
Member of Administrative Committee
Vice Chair, Dallas Chapter

Since 2009, Professor Eric Wong (also the Chair of RS Dallas Chapter) has organized a summer program every year sponsored by the US National Science Foundation (NSF). It is part of the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU). This ten-week program was held at the University of Texas at Dallas from May 18 to July 26 with students recruited nationwide. The focus was “Software Safety and Reliability: Research and Applications”. It offered special lectures on software safety, reliability, project management, architecture, object-oriented design, etc. These were also open to all members of the RS Dallas Chapter. Speakers included not only UTD faculty, but also members of the IEEE Dallas Section and Fort Worth Section. See the pictures listed below.

Lecture for REU Students

Through a close collaboration between this REU program and the RS Dallas Chapter, students have opportunities to directly communicate with a group of professionals from universities and the industry who are either engaged in researching advanced technologies to help practitioners produce reliable and dependable software or directly involved in developing such software at work. This can help students better understand the challenges in the software industry and establish a strong connection between the knowledge they have learned in classrooms and the techniques currently used in practice.