NSF REU Collaboration

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Members of the Dallas Chapter have played significant roles in organizing and supporting the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site in the Department of Computer Science at The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD).

• Professor Eric Wong (Chapter Chair) – Principal Investigator (PI) of the REU Site
• Dr. Mark Bentsen (Chapter Vice Chair) – Member of the Industry Advisory Board (IAB) and guest speaker
• Zizhao Chen (Chapter Treasurer) – Student mentor
• Chih-Wei Hsu (Chapter Secretary) – Student mentor

Through these activities, Dallas Chapter members contribute to undergraduate research, student mentoring, and collaboration between academia and industry.

This REU Site was established in 2009 and has been continuously supported by NSF through six consecutive awards (CCF-0851848, CNS-1156977, CNS-1461149, CNS-1757828, CNS-2050869, and CNS-2349347). Its research initially focused on verification and validation for software safety, expanded to include software reliability in 2018, and broadened further in 2024 to encompass software dependability, with an emphasis on security, safety, and reliability. The most recently submitted REU proposal further extends this research direction by investigating how emerging artificial intelligence (AI) and large language model (LLM) technologies can enhance software security, safety, and reliability while also introducing new challenges in these areas.