BigDataX REU Program -- Summer 2018

The BigDataX (from theory to practice in Big Data computing at eXtreme scales) is a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site in Chicago Illinois. The program has six mentors at two institutions, the Illinois Institute of Technology and University of Chicago, with a variety of complementing expertise from theory to programming languages distributed systems, and databases; more information on potential projects has been posted. More information can be found at the general BigDataX site. For more details about the summer activities, see the BigDataX Overview and the official announcement. To apply to the program, see the online application (deadline March 9th, 2018). For eligibility requirements, click here.

Institutions:

Mentors (bigdatax@datasys.cs.iit.edu):

Ioan Raicu (IIT)
Gruia Calinescu (IIT)
Kyle Hale (IIT)
Justin Wozniak (UChicago)
Aaron J. Elmore (UChicago)
Kyle Chard (UChicago)

Project Areas:

Big Data Systems (more here)
Data Management and Analytics (more here)
Operating Systems and Computer Architecture (more here)
Parallel Programming Systems (more here)
Database Systems (more here)
Theory of Big Data

Eligibility Requirements:

Undergraduate student in Mathematics, Computer Science, or Engineering at a US institution
- For Chicago area students, undergraduates or high school students, both domestic and international students, we have a unique opportunity to participate in an international competition called Student Cluster Challenge at the IEEE/ACM Supercomputing/SC 2018 conference.
US citizen or permanent resident on or before May 29th, 2018
Minimum GPA 3.0
2 recommendation forms (must be received by March 9th, 2018); details about this form will be emailed out directly to recommenders after your applications has been submitted

Important Dates:

Application deadline (submit online): March 9th, 2018
Recommendation forms deadline (submit online): March 9th, 2018
Notification of decision: March 20th, 2018
Program starts: May 29th, 2018
Program ends: August 3rd, 2018

Program Highlights:

Spend 10 weeks immersed in research on Big Data at either Illinois Institute of Technology or University of Chicago
Work on large scale distributed systems (e.g. Amazon AWS Cloud, Chameleon Cloud, XSEDE Grid, Theta Supercomputer)
Prepare for graduate school
Publish papers and attend international conferences
Spend the summer in one of the greatest cities in the world, Chicago Illinois
Finances (per summer):
- $5000 stipend (taxable as income)
- $500 relocation allowance for travel to and from the BigDataX site (minimum of 50 miles away)
- $500 travel funds to attend conference (e.g. IEEE/ACM Supercomputing/SC 2018)
- Housing and meal plan included on the IIT campus paid directly to IIT housing (a $2200 value)

Online Application:

To apply to the program, please submit your complete online application by the March 9th 2018 deadline. For any questions, please send email to bigdatax@datasys.cs.iit.edu.

Data-Intensive Distributed Systems Laboratory

Illinois Institute of Technology
Department of Computer Science