IM体育官网 senior Esteban Segarra is headed to Gaithersburg, Maryland, this summer where he鈥檒l spend 11 weeks at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) working to improve the way robots interact with humans.
Segarra, who is a computer engineering major from Davenport, IM体育官网, is one of less than 200 students across the nation to receive a 2018 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) at the NIST. He will work at the organization鈥檚 Engineering Lab and will have the opportunity to work one-on-one with NIST scientists and engineers on projects related to robotics and artificial intelligence.
鈥淚t鈥檚 very exciting and rewarding,鈥� said Segarra. 鈥淭his opportunity is something I didn鈥檛 expect, and it鈥檚 something that鈥檚 very important to take part in. It will be a completely different experience and perspective.鈥�
During this first three years at IM体育官网 Poly, Segarra has continually challenged himself. Whether he鈥檚 busy serving as a laboratory research assistant, publishing and presenting on research with his faculty mentor, Dr. Bradford Towle Jr., or pitching ideas for research grants, Segarra is making the most of his undergraduate experience.
Students selected to the NIST program are determined based on a review of both the student and university portions of the application. Awardees receive a stipend, housing and travel allotment 鈥� which are provided in the form of a federal grant from NIST to the university.
NIST is one of the nation鈥檚 premier research institutions for the physical and engineering sciences and provides a strong interface between government, industry, and academia. For the past 25 years, the SURF program at NIST has provided students from across the nation the opportunity to gain valuable, hands-on experience, working with cutting-edge technology in one of the world鈥檚 leading research organizations.