2023 Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) - A Benchmark and Analysis of Gaze Behavior and Brain Activity During Software Design Tasks
The College of Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) is a unique opportunity for college of engineering undergraduate students to engage in hands-on research with a faculty mentor while using critical thinking, collaborative, and entrepreneurial skills. SURP is an 8-week long program (can be non-contiguous), and students are expected to spend at least 20 hours/week working on their research projects and additional time preparing and presenting their poster for the annual SURP symposium; SURP students and their faculty mentor will agree upon a start date and timeline for their research project (with a suggested start date of June 26th, 2023). The goals of SURP are to:
- Help Cal Poly Engineering students develop professionally and enhance their portfolios for future employment.
- Give opportunities for CENG faculty (including lecturers) to advance their research/project agendas over the summer quarter.
- Build lasting student-faculty mentoring relationships
- Provide opportunities for industrial and other external sponsors to work with Cal Poly faculty and students to advance connections, gain access to Cal Poly talent and capabilities, and engage in valuable collaborative activities.
Our Summer 2023 SURP will support over 30 projects (with some projects taking 2 students) for 39 students. You can apply to up to 3 projects on MustangJobs (each project has its own job posting). You need not be in the same department as the faculty advisor to apply to a given project.
Each SURP student participant will receive a CENG Summer Research Grant of $3,500.
Please note that the grant amount is fixed, and additional funding is not available. This grant will be disbursed through the Financial Aid Office toward the end of the summer. Preference will be given to students who have not yet participated in SURP.
This Project
Project Title: A Benchmark and Analysis of Gaze Behavior and Brain Activity During Software Design Tasks
Faculty Advisor: Javier Gonzalez Sanchez
Faculty Email: javiergs@calpoly.edu
Faculty Department: CSSE
Number of Students for this project: 1
Description of Research Project: An Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) is a computer system that provides immediate and customized instruction or feedback to learners without requiring intervention from a human teacher. An ITS emulates the qualities of skillful human teachers (including having empathy and creating an engaging presence). Doing that involves real-time awareness of students' cognitive challenges and affective states (emotions and mood). Two technologies that can support providing an understanding of cognitive challenges and affective states to software systems are eye tracking for gaze behavior analysis and brain-computer interfaces for brain activity monitoring. Imagine having continuous real-time access to what a student is looking at and their brain's activity while reading a page, solving a problem, or answering a quiz. How can we leverage such information (gaze and brain activity) to improve the depth and accuracy of machine learning modeling for the student and use such a model to drive an ITS's behavior? In particular, we aim to leverage such capabilities into an ITS that supports students in learning Software Design topics. In that context, this summer's undergraduate research project focused on: (1) exploring lowcost open-source eye-tracking technology and its application in triggering tutoring behaviors, primarily examining the relationship between eye gaze and software models (diagrams), focusing on detecting the differences between skilled and unskilled students, and (2) using low-cost brain-computer interface (Emotiv Headset) to examine cognitive and emotional reactions to software structural models. Particularly, examine whether modular design affects levels of cognitive load or affect.
HOW TO APPLY:
PLEASE SUBMIT THE FOLLOWING TWO DOCUMENTS VIA HANDSHAKE AND SEE RUBRIC BELOW FOR EVALUATION CRITERIA. YOU CAN APPLY TO UP TO THREE SURP PROJECTS, BUT CAN ONLY BE AWARDED ONE.
- Submit your resume
- Submit a cover letter that answers the following three questions:
- Describe why you are interested in this research project.
- Describe how participating in SURP and working on this research project, will help you advance your academic and professional development goals
- Describe how your past experiences have helped prepare you for your participation in SURP. This includes relevant academic, other formal, and informal preparation.
INCOMPLETE APPLICATIONS COULD DISQUALIFY YOU FROM FURTHER CONSIDERATION.
Note that applications are due April 30; selected students will be notified by no later than May 12.