Selection of Participants

We will primarily look for students who will be juniors or seniors in the Fall semester of each year, who have a GPA of at least 3.25, and who have a strong background in Mathematics and basic Computer Science. Each candidate will be asked to complete an application form similar to the one given in the Appendix. After an initial screening, the faculty members will meet individually with the potential participants and decide which should receive offers. We plan to have five students working with the UCF group and five with the USF group. It is planned that at least five of the ten participants will be women and/or minorities. Our past experience indicates that this is an achievable goal. We have already contacted the Minority Programs offices at UCF and USF and will have their help in recruitment if it is needed.

While we have found that "word of mouth'' from current and past participants is the most effective recruiting tool, the following efforts will also be made:

1. advertisement of the opportunity in the campus newspapers,

2. notices posted at various places on the campuses,

3. announcements made in the junior level classes,

4. announcements distributed in Tau Beta Pi (Engineering honor society), UPE (Computer Science honor society), IEEE and ACM student chapters,

5. juniors majoring with a GPA of 3.25 or above will be sent a letter inviting them to apply,

6. students in the Honors programs will be contacted, and encouraged to apply,

7. current REU participants will be asked to give a talk about their experience at SWE (Society of Women Engineers) and SME (Society of Minority Engineers) meetings in the spring semester, Faculty/Student Seminars, and

8. the PIs will personally contact women, minority and especially-talented students and encourage them to apply.