An NSF REU Site Based on Trust and Reproducibility of Intelligent Computation: Experience Report.

This paper presents an overview of an NSF Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) Site on Trust and Reproducibility of Intelligent Computation, delivered by faculty and graduate students in the Kahlert School of Computing at University of Utah. The chosen themes bring together several concerns for the future in producing computational results that can be trusted: secure, reproducible, based on sound algorithmic foundations, and developed in the context of ethical considerations. The research areas represented by student projects include machine learning, high-performance computing, algorithms and applications, computer security, data science, and human-centered computing. In the first four weeks of the program, the entire student cohort spent their mornings in lessons from experts in these crosscutting topics, and used one-of-a-kind research platforms operated by the University of Utah, namely NSF-funded CloudLab and POWDER facilities; reading assignments, quizzes, and hands-on exercises reinforced the lessons. In the subsequent five weeks, lectures were less frequent, as students branched into small groups to develop their research projects. The final week focused on a poster presentation and final report. Through describing our experiences, this program can serve as a model for preparing a future workforce to integrate machine learning into trustworthy and reproducible applications.