Encouraging the development of undergraduate researchers in computer vision

Abstract

In a small computer science department without a graduate program, it is sometimes difficult to attract research students. This is particularly true for research in computer vision, since it is built upon a substantial body of knowledge, including considerable mathematics, that most undergraduates are not familiar with. My approach to encouraging students to take part in this research starts by introducing computation with images in early programming classes. Students become comfortable working with images in a structured framework, where they are not exposed to excessive underlying details. The students that become interested in working with images can take my computer vision class. This course is taught in a way that students can understand the material without having a deep background in mathematics. Students that are successful in this class are ready for (and encouraged to) work on undergraduate research projects and perform internships in computer vision research. While my strategy focuses on computer vision, similar approaches could be used for other research areas.