Summer Program

 

 

OVERVIEW - Summer 2024

 

Welcome to the program! We are thrilled to have you all participate in an undergraduate research project this summer, and hope that it is a rewarding and educational experience. Summer 2024 program dates are June 3, 2024 through August 9, 2024.

This page collects information about the people running BURE this summer, and planned BURE events and enrichment activities. 

All events are open to all undergraduate researchers in Cornell Bowers CIS, whether or not your research is funded through BURE. If you would like to be part of these activities, please contact the BURE team (bure@cornell.edu).

 

STAFF

 

The primary contacts for BURE 2024 are:

• Rebecca Dillon (Program Administrator)

• Sainyam Galhotra (Faculty Organizer)

• Noah Stephens-Davidowitz (Faculty Organizer)

We have a great team of graduate students helping us run BURE this year:

• Christian Belardi

• Zizhao Chen (Cornell Tech)

• Tharushi Jayasekara

• Anshuman Mohan

• Nomi Ringach

• Shaden Shaar

• Ayaka Yorihiro

 

LOGISTICS

 

There will be flex space in Rhodes 117, which can be accessed by all Cornell Bowers CIS students with a card swipe. Please keep in mind:

• These desks cannot be reserved. Please do not leave anything in the room.

• This space is a quiet working environment. Please use other spaces on campus for Zoom calls, research conversations, and social activities.

• Please help us keep this space clean!

We are organizing all BURE events to be in-person in Ithaca. We plan to make most events virtually accessible to students at Cornell Tech.

 

EXPECTATIONS

 

The main activity in BURE is research supervised by your mentor. We also have the following expectations for all BURE students:

• Not take other jobs concurrently. BURE is a full-time commitment.

• Attend the regular BURE events. These activities supplement your research experience with time to learn general research skills, and discuss with other students.

• Participate in the symposium at the end of the summer. This will involve presenting a poster and/or giving a talk.

• Fill out progress reports. At the middle and at the end of the summer.

 

BURE EVENTS AND ENRICHMENT ACTIVITIES

 

RESEARCH PRACTICES AND ACADEMIC CULTURE SEMINAR

During the first week of the program from 10:30am-12pm in Gates G114, we will have a seminar on research practices and academic culture. This will be a classroom-style activity, with plenty of time for interactive discussions. We will be adapting the excellent course materials from Harvard's class for first-year graduate students (CS 290), developed by Yaniv Yacoby and others; course materials can be found here. Recordings of these seminars can be found here (you must login to Box with Cornell credentials).

Date	Topic	Facilitator
June 3	Communication in Collaborative Environments	Anshuman + Sainyam + Noah
June 4	Mental Health in Research	Anshuman + Sainyam
June 5	How to Skim a Research Paper	Anshuman + Sainyam
June 6	How to Do a Literature Search	Anshuman + Noah
June 7	PhD Life and Grad School Applications	Anshuman + Noah

SUMMER TALK SERIES

Every Wednesday from 12:30-2:00 PM in Gates G114, a faculty member will give a research-related talk. Lunch is provided starting at 12:30 PM, the talk begins at 1:00 PM.

Date	Speaker	Title
June 5	Adrian Sampson	Toward Hardware Acceleration for Pangenomes
June 12	Amy Kuceyeski	Using AI to Read (and Write in?) the Brain
June 19	NO TALK	NO TALK
June 26	Angelique Taylor	Human-Robot Teaming in Safety-Critical Environments
July 3	NO TALK	NO TALK
July 10	Sainyam Galhotra	Towards Goal-aware Responsible Data Science
July 17	Raaz Dwivedi	Statistically & Computationally Efficient Algorithms for Personalized Decision-making
July 24	Bharath Hariharan	The World in Motion
July 31	Eva Tardos	Welfare and Learning in Strategic Interactions (Games)
August 7	Sarah Dean	Feedback and Dynamics in Machine Learning Systems

 

MENTORING SOCIALS

Every Friday from 2:00 PM-4:00 PM, you'll meet up in small groups for a mentoring social. Each group will be led by one of our BURE graduate students, and you'll meet up or walk somewhere to talk about how things are going. 

 

SUMMER RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM

To wrap up the summer, we'll hold a BURE Symposium, scheduled for August 9, 2024 from 3-5 PM in Gates G01 and the First Floor Atrium. Ithaca-based students will participate in a poster presentation and our NYC-based students will share pre-recorded talks. Recordings of the NYC-based students can be found here (you must login to Box with Cornell credentials)

 

CODE OF CONDUCT

 

All BURE participants are expected to abide by Cornell's Student Code and Research Integrity policies. In addition, we expect everyone to follow a basic principle at all events and related activities, whether digital or in person: be nice and treat each other with respect. For instance, we do not tolerate:

• Behavior that is disruptive, disrespectful, or degrading to others, whether through messages, images, or personal interactions.

• Harassment or discrimination based on age, ancestry, color, gender identity or expression, national origin, physical or mental disability, religion, sexual orientation, or other protected characteristics.

We encourage everyone to help create a welcoming and safe environment. If you see or experience any concerning behavior, please let us know.

 

SPONSORS

 

BURE is supported by the Cornell CS department, Cornell Bowers CIS, the Clare Booth Luce Program, various faculty grants, and generous gifts from anonymous donors.