UCLA freshmen, sophomores and juniors from across the campus can win $15,000 and a yearlong opportunity to pursue revolutionary, interdisciplinary research on the topic of the Internet.
The newly established Internet Research Incubator will provide this — and more — for up to 12 UCLA undergraduate students who want to conduct research through experiment, design or social inquiry and analysis. The goals of the research should be to gain more knowledge about or contribute to the development of the Internet.
Organizers of the competition want to make faculty members campuswide aware of this opportunity for their students. “Consider an undergrad with an exciting idea of their own,” said Leonard Kleinrock, distinguished professor of computer science. “The idea could fall to the wayside if they can’t pursue it due to their busy university schedule, and perhaps work demands.” Students can also lack funding, lab space, a supportive peer group and mentors to help them launch a research project.
“The Internet Research Incubator provides all that and enables an undergrad to pursue their own idea rather than engage in ongoing, faculty-directed, research activities,” Kleinrock said. “Moreover, this interdisciplinary program encourages students from across the entire campus to submit their ideas.”
The inaugural awards will fund research to take place in the 2016-17 academic year, including a final presentation of findings. For details on how to apply, go to: http://www.iri.ucla.edu.
The prize is made possible with generous seed support from UCLA alumnus Venky Harinarayan and is based in the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science at UCLA.
