Chameleon is proud to support the BigDataX program, a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site in Chicago Illinois. BigDataX is seeking students for its Summer 2024 cohort. The program has four mentors at two institutions, the Illinois Institute of Technology and University of Chicago, with a variety of complementing expertise from programming languages, parallel computing, distributed systems, data science, and edge computing; more information on potential projects can be found at http://datasys.cs.iit.edu/grants/BigDataX/2024/index.html#Projects (see also: http://datasys.cs.iit.edu/grants/BigDataX/bigdatax.pdf). The program will be conducted in-person and will unfortunately not be able to accomodate a virtual format. Applications are due March 4, 2024. See the details for applying below.

Apply here: https://etap.nsf.gov/award/1882/opportunity/8813

Who are the REU mentors?

• Ioan Raicu (IIT)
• Kyle Hale (IIT)
• Kate Keahey (UChicago)
• Kyle Chard (UChicago) 

Project Areas

• Data Management in Scientific Computing and Blockchains
• Data Analytics and Systems
• Operating Systems & Computer Architecture
• Edge Computing with CHI@Edge

Eligibility Requirements

• Undergraduate student in Mathematics, Computer Science, Engineering, or related discipline at a US institution
• US citizen or permanent resident on or before May 28th, 2024
• Minimum GPA 3.0
• 2 recommendation forms; must be received by March 4th, 2024

Important Dates

• Application deadline: March 4th, 2024
• Recommendations: March 4th, 2024
• Notification of decision: March 18th, 2024
• Program starts: May 28th, 2024
• Program ends: August 2nd, 2024

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, Aurora Supercomputer, Mystic)
• Prepare for graduate school
• Publish papers and attend international conferences
• Finances (per summer):
  • $7000 stipend (taxable as income)
  • $500 travel funds to attend conference (e.g. IEEE/ACM Supercomputing/SC 2024)
  • $500 relocation allowance for travel to and from the BigDataX site (minimum of 50 miles away)
  • Housing and meal plan included on the IIT campus paid directly to IIT housing (a $2250 value, paid by the university)

Online Application

To apply to the program, please submit your complete online application through ETAP by the March 4th 2024 deadline at https://etap.nsf.gov/award/1882/opportunity/8813. For any questions, please send email to bigdatax-group@iit.edu.