1. TRUST:Team for Research in Ubiquitous Secure Technologies
SUPERB
Shankar Sastry
University of California Berkeley
NSF STC Review
September 13, 2004

2. SUPERB-IT – Summer Undergraduate Program in Engineering Research at Berkeley – Information Technology
Objective: To increase diversity in the information technology graduate school pipeline by affirming students’ motivation for graduate study and strengthening their qualifications through research experiences
Established in 1990 by BGESS & EECS Department; funded by UC System-wide (grass roots flavor)
Presently funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) and the Center for Hybrid Embedded Software Systems (CHESS)
SUPERB 2003
NSF STC Review
September 13, 2004

3. Program Components Undergraduate Research
8-week research project in IT
Faculty and graduate student mentors;
Written technical reports and poster presentation
Educational Activities
Expose students to research areas at UCB, ethics, presenting research
Industry Field Trips, tours of research facilities, and research group presentations
Graduate Study Preparation
Workshops: Graduate application process, fellowship and financial aid information, graduate academic life
GRE preparation course
NSF STC Review
September 13, 2004

4. SUPERB-IT Accomplishments
130 participants
61 Faculty Mentors
A host of graduate student mentors
At least 67% of participants are pursuing graduate study; based on longitudinal surveys
6 Ph.D’s: Fred Ware, Jonathan Reason, John Davis, Amy Wang, Michel Maharbiz, Almudena Ordonez
NSF STC Review
September 13, 2004

5. Evaluation Methodology
Formative Evaluation
Short-term corrections such as research mismatches, insufficient mentoring, or logistic difficulties
Post-Program
Students’ and graduate mentors’ perception of the value of SUPERB-IT experience
Longitudinal follow-up
(67% response rate)
NSF STC Review
September 13, 2004

6. Key Features
Program is perceived by students to have increased their motivation to aspire to graduate school
Students from smaller institutions with no Ph.D programs were learning about research universities for the first time
Students Leverage Research
Continuing research at their undergraduate institution
Dissemination of research: presentations, publications
Support for graduate applications
NSF STC Review
September 13, 2004

7. SUPERB and TRUST
Students want greater specialization and groups (such as embedded systems).
In 2004, security and trust was the major area of interest
Will leverage experience to make available SUPERB experience to all TRUST members.
Vanderbilt has its own version of SUPERB, possibly other partners will as well
SUPERB students are excellent mentors for high school students
NSF STC Review
September 13, 2004