Introduction to the NSF REU Site in Sensing and Smart Systems

The Institute for Sensing and Embedded Network Systems Engineering (I-SENSE) at Florida Atlantic University hosts an intensive summer research program in sensing and smart systems for talented undergraduate students across the country. This program is closely related to the Internet of Things and focuses on smart systems that provide real-time awareness of conditions, trends, and patterns to support improved decision-making and automation.

Program Overview

The program is a paid, nine-week research experience that focuses on training, mentoring, research, and overall experience for students that prepares them for graduate studies or careers in science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) disciplines. Participants will typically work from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, with one hour for lunch. Undergraduate researchers are paid a stipend of $700/week along with a $200 meal allowance, also per week. Participants will be housed in apartment-style dormitories on Florida Atlantic's Boca Raton campus.

Research Areas

The on-campus research will focus on I-SENSE's three main program areas:

• Infrastructure Systems
• Marine and Environment
• Health and Behavior

2026 REU Project Descriptions

These are the research projects planned for this summer:

• Infrastructure Systems: Digital Twins for Smart Streetscapes, led by Jinwoo Jang, Ph.D.
• Infrastructure Systems: Digital Storytelling, led by Jason O. Hallstrom, Ph.D.
• Infrastructure Systems: Smart, Resilient, Energy Systems, led by Yufei Tang, Ph.D.
• Marine and Environment: The Internet of Floating Things, led by Georgios Sklivanitis, Ph.D.
• Health and Behavior: Wearables and Data Analytics for Personalized Therapeutic Management, led by Behnaz Ghoraani, Ph.D.
• Bioinspired Smart Swimming Robots, led by Erik D. Engeberg, Ph.D.

Previous Years' Projects

Previous years' projects include:

• 2025:
  • Infrastructure Systems: Digital Twins for Smart Cities, led by Jinwoo Jang, Ph.D.
  • Infrastructure Systems: Digital Storytelling, led by Jason O. Hallstrom, Ph.D.
  • Infrastructure Systems: Smart, Resilient, Energy Systems, led by Yufei Tang, Ph.D.
  • Marine and Environment: The Internet of Floating Things, led by Georgios Sklivanitis, Ph.D.
• 2024:
  • Infrastructure Systems: Smart, Resilient, and Green Energy Systems, led by Yufei Tang, Ph.D.
  • Infrastructure Systems: Human-in-the-loop Digital Twins for Smart Cities, led by Jinwoo Jang, Ph.D.
  • Infrastructure Systems: Machine Learning Techniques for Energy Forecasting and Optimization, led by Zhen Ni, Ph.D.
  • Marine and Environment: The Internet of Floating Things, led by Georgios Sklivanitis, Ph.D.
  • Marine and Environment: Development and Testing of a Wave Powered Offshore Sensing System, led by James VanZwieten, Ph.D.
  • Health and Behavior: Next-Gen Health Monitoring Empowered by Python Programming and Deep Learning Applications, led by Behnaz Ghoraani, Ph.D.
  • Health and Behavior: Soft Sensors and Actuators for Wearables to Assist People with Disabilities, led by Erik Engeberg, Ph.D.
  • Modern Cybersecurity in IoT Devices, led by Reza Azarderakhsh, Ph.D.
• 2023:
  • Infrastructure Systems: Artificial Intelligence for Smart Cities, led by Jinwoo Jang, Ph.D.
  • Infrastructure Systems: Smart and Resilient Energy Systems, led by Yufei Tang, Ph.D.
  • Infrastructure Systems: Modern Cybersecurity in IoT Devices, led by Reza Azarderakhsh, Ph.D.
  • Health and Behavior: Deep Learning for Biomedical Health Data, led by Behnaz Ghoraani, Ph.D.
  • Health and Behavior: Deep Learning for Unstructured Data Analytics and Mining, led by Xingquan Zhu, Ph.D.
  • Marine and Environment: Cognitive Wireless Radios for Maritime Robotics, led by Georgios Sklivanitis, Ph.D.
• 2022:
  • Infrastructure Systems: Mobility Sensing and Analytics for Smart Cities, led by Jason O. Hallstrom, Ph.D. and Jiannan Zhai, Ph.D.
  • Infrastructure Systems: Smart and Resilient Energy Systems, led by Yufei Tang, Ph.D.
  • Marine and Environment: Cognitive Wireless Radios for Maritime Robotics, led by Georgios Sklivanitis, Ph.D.
  • Health and Behavior: Soft Sensors and Actuators for Wearables to Assist People with Disabilities, led by Erik Engeberg, Ph.D.
  • Health and Behavior: Deep Learning for Biomedical Health Data, led by Behnaz Ghoraani, Ph.D.
• 2021:
  • Infrastructure Systems: Mobility Sensing and Analytics for Smart Cities, led by Jason O. Hallstrom, Ph.D. and Dr. Zhai
  • Infrastructure Systems: Smart and Resilient Energy Systems, led by Yufei Tang, Ph.D.
  • Marine and Environment: Cognitive Wireless Radios for Maritime Robotics, led by Georgios Sklivanitis, Ph.D.
  • Health and Behavior: Soft Sensors and Actuators for Wearables to Assist People with Disabilities, led by Erik Engeberg, Ph.D.
  • Health and Behavior: Wearable Sensors and Data Analytics for Therapeutic Management, led by Behnaz Ghoraani, Ph.D.
• 2020:
  • Infrastructure Systems: Mobility Sensing and Analytics for Smart Cities, led by Jason O. Hallstrom, Ph.D. and Dr. Zhai
  • Infrastructure Systems: Smart and Resilient Energy Systems, led by Yufei Tang, Ph.D.
  • Marine and Environment: Cognitive Wireless Radios for Maritime Robotics, led by Georgios Sklivanitis, Ph.D.
  • Health and Behavior: Soft Sensors and Actuators for Wearables to Assist People with Disabilities, led by Erik Engeberg, Ph.D.
  • Health and Behavior: Wearable Sensors and Data Analytics for Therapeutic Management, led by Behnaz Ghoraani, Ph.D.
• 2019:
  • Infrastructure Systems: Battery-Free Leak Monitoring, led by Jason O. Hallstrom, Ph.D.
  • Health and Behavior: Detecting Emotion in Multi-Party Conversations, led by Jason O. Hallstrom, Ph.D.
  • Infrastructure Systems: Adaptive Traffic Control, led by Aleksandar Stevanovic, Ph.D.
  • Infrastructure Systems: Smart and Connected Cities, led by Jinwoo Jang, Ph.D.
  • Network the Oceans: Cognitive Reconfigurable Radio Architectures for Connected Autonomous Maritime Vehicles, led by George Sklivanitis, Ph.D.
  • Cross Cutting: Evolving Adaptive Neural Systems, led by Yufei Tang, Ph.D.
  • Health and Behavior: Identifying Stages of Lung Cancer through Image Classification using Deep Learning Techniques, led by Borivoje (Borko) Furht, Ph.D.
  • Marine and Environment: Robust Co-Prime Sensing with Underwater Inflatable Passive Sonar Arrays, led by Bing Ouyang, Ph.D.
  • Marine and Environment: Developing Inexpensive Sediment Oxygen Utilization Measurement Chambers, led by Jordon Beckler, Ph.D.
  • Health and Behavior: Prosthetic Hand Design and Control, led by Erik Engeberg, Ph.D.
  • Health and Behavior: Monitoring Interactions in Therapeutic Relationships, led by Paul Peluso, Ph.D.
  • Health and Behavior: Characterizing Human Motor-Cognitive Performance Through Data Analysis and Machine Learning, led by Behnaz Ghoraani, Ph.D.
• 2018:
  • Cross-Cutting: IoT Security, led by Reza Azarderakhsh, Ph.D.
  • Health and Behavior: Detecting Emotion in Multi-Party Conversations, led by Jason Hallstrom, Ph.D. and Paul Peluso, Ph.D.
  • Health and Behavior: Robotic Prosthetics, led by Erik Engeberg, Ph.D.
  • Infrastructure Systems: Adaptive Traffic Control, led by Aleks Stevanovic, Ph.D.
  • Infrastructure Systems: Data Analytics for Vehicle-based Mobile Sensing Data, led by Jinwoo Jang, Ph.D.
  • Infrastructure Systems: Data Embedding in Digital Media, led by Dimitris Pados, Ph.D.
  • Infrastructure Systems: Smart Energy Systems, led by Yufei Tang, Ph.D.
  • Marine and Environment: Robust Co-Prime Sensing with Underwater Inflatable Passive Sonar Arrays, led by Bing Ouyang, Ph.D.
  • Marine and Environment: Geochemical Sensing, led by Jordon Beckler, Ph.D.
• 2017:
  • Cross-Cutting: IoT Security, led by Reza Azarderakhsh, Ph.D.
  • Health and Behavior: Monitoring Interactions in Therapeutic Relationships, led by Paul Peluso, Ph.D.
  • Health and Behavior: Analysis of Cardiac Signals Related to Atrial Arrhythmia, led by Behnaz Ghoraani, Ph.D.
  • Health and Behavior: Identifying Human Emotion through Computer Analysis, led by Jason O. Hallstrom, Ph.D.
  • Health and Behavior: Robotic Prosthetics, led by Erik Engeberg, Ph.D.
  • Infrastructure Systems: Adaptive Traffic Control, led by Aleksandar Stevanovic, Ph.D.
  • Infrastructure Systems: Smart Grid Control and Optimization, led by Yufei Tang, Ph.D.
  • Infrastructure Systems: Violence Detection in Surveillance Scenes, led by Borivoje (Borko) Furht, Ph.D.
  • Marine and Environment: Comprehensive Sensing, led by Bing Ouyang, Ph.D.
  • Marine and Environment: Effective Communication and Inductive Charging for Ocean Swarm Robotic, led by Jason Hallstrom, Ph.D.
  • Marine and Environment: Ocean Current Analysis, led by Laurent Cherubin, Ph.D.

Eligibility

• Undergraduate students majoring in science or engineering.
• U.S. Citizen or permanent resident.
• Selections will be based on a combination of research interests, academic qualifications, and faculty recommendations.

Funding

Florida Atlantic's REU in Sensing and Smart Systems is supported through National Science Foundation award.

Important Dates

• Application Deadline: March 30, 2026
• First Round Notification: April 6, 2026
• Second Round Notification: April 14, 2026
• Program Start Date: June 1, 2026
• Program End Date: July 31, 2026 (ceremony on Thursday, July 30)

Florida Atlantic University - Intensive English Institute

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Overview:

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This program prepares students for admission to FAU degree programs (undergraduate and graduate).

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This program focuses on developing the language skills necessary for academic success.

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Guidance on visa requirements and procedures.

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Information on tuition fees and refund policies.

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