Mentoring undergraduates in computer vision research

The future of our society will be shaped by the young and talented minds going through our colleges and universities today. During the last 14 years roughly 130 undergraduate students from several institutions have participated in our research experiences for undergraduates (REU) program funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). A large fraction of our students have been able to prepare a paper for submission to a conference, have the paper accepted, and then attend the conference to present the paper. Several participants have even accomplished enough substantial research to result in journal publications. Many past participants are now pursuing graduate studies at various institutions. In this paper, the REU model is described in detail; some examples of student success are discussed; and some observations are summarized.