REU Site: The Face and Mind of Artificial Intelligence

This Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) site will engage 10 undergraduate students per summer at the University of Southern California's Institute for Creative Technologies, a unique multidisciplinary research community that combines leading academic researchers in computer science, psychology, communications, cinematic arts, and medicine with the creative talents of Hollywood and the video game industry. Participants will be immersed in collaborative research teams focused on the institute's core theme of intelligent interactive experiences, with specific projects in natural language dialogue, affective computing, intelligent human perception, adaptive teaming, and learning sciences. These activities will be combined with weekly interactive seminars for training in best research practices, mentorship support, and peer feedback. The research projects will advance the state of the art for creating intelligent interactive experiences, with specific contributions in the areas of natural language dialogue, affective computing, intelligent human perception, adaptive teaming, and learning sciences. The techniques and technologies developed by the researchers create compelling synthetic environments and characters with immediate relevance to a broad range of application domains including training, education, rehabilitation, medicine, and entertainment. Engagement of undergraduate students in summer experiences that emphasize interdisciplinary research will foster participation in computing and introduce undergraduate students to opportunities in science and engineering graduate programs. This effort has the potential to prepare undergraduates to perform independent research, thereby increasing enrollment and retention in computing doctoral programs. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.