EECS undergrads shine at SuperUROP research review

Faculty, students, and industry representatives packed MIT's Grier Room on Thursday, Dec. 4, to learn about new research in robotics, machine learning, wireless power transfer, synthetic biology, and more -- all being conducted by undergraduates through the groundbreaking SuperUROP program within the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS). "My feeling is some of this work is as good as master's-quality research. It's very good stuff," said Vincent Chan, the Joan and Irwin M. Jacobs Professor of Electrical Engineering and Aeronautics and Astronautics, who is advising two SuperUROP students this year. "We are creating a community of scholars. As they are exposed to the breadth of research in EECS, their excitement and enthusiasm to engage in research and innovation is contagious," said Anantha Chandrakasan, the Joseph F. and Nancy P. Keithley Professor of Electrical Engineering and EECS department head, who launched the year-long SuperUROP research program in 2012 to expand the experience familiar to many through MIT's Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP).