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 Projects

• 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 Projects

• 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 Projects

• 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 Projects

• 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 Projects

• 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 Projects

• 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 Projects

• 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 Projects

There were nine research projects completed in 2018, including:

• Cross-Cutting: IoT Security
  REU Mentor: Reza Azarderakhsh, Ph.D.
  REU Scholar: Nikolas Bussey
• Health and Behavior: Detecting Emotion in Multi-Party Conversations
  REU Mentors: Jason Hallstrom, Ph.D. and Paul Peluso, Ph.D.
  REU Scholars: Jacob Belga, Hannah Gibilisco and Serena Walker Jean
• Health and Behavior: Robotic Prosthetics
  REU Mentor: Erik Engeberg, Ph.D.
  REU Scholar: Wen-Yu (Marty) Cheng
• Infrastructure Systems: Adaptive Traffic Control
  REU Mentor: Aleks Stevanovic, Ph.D.
  REU Scholar: Forest Elliott
• Infrastructure Systems: Data Analytics for Vehicle-based Mobile Sensing Data
  REU Mentor: Jinwoo Jang, Ph.D.
  REU Scholar: Jordan Miller
• Infrastructure Systems: Data Embedding in Digital Media
  REU Mentor: Dimitris Pados, Ph.D.
  REU Scholar: Connor Weeks
• Infrastructure Systems: Smart Energy Systems
  REU Mentor: Yufei Tang, Ph.D.
  REU Scholar: Sean Passmore
• Marine and Environment: Robust Co-Prime Sensing with Underwater Inflatable Passive Sonar Arrays
  REU Mentor: Bing Ouyang, Ph.D.
  REU Scholar: Jordan Thomas
• Marine and Environment: Geochemical Sensing
  REU Mentor: Jordon Beckler, Ph.D.
  REU Scholar: Zachary Wilhelm

2017 Projects

There were 11 research projects completed in 2017, including:

• Cross-Cutting: IoT Security
  Mentor: Reza Azarderakhsh, Ph.D.
  Student: Braxton McLean
• Health and Behavior: Monitoring Interactions in Therapeutic Relationships
  Mentor: Paul Peluso, Ph.D.
  Student: Kirielle Singarajah
• Health and Behavior: Analysis of Cardiac Signals Related to Atrial Arrhythmia
  Mentor: Behnaz Ghoraani, Ph.D.
  Student: Kelly Nguyen
• Health and Behavior: Identifying Human Emotion through Computer Analysis
  Mentor: Jason O. Hallstrom, Ph.D.
  Students: Jacob Belga and Emmanuel Damour
• Health and Behavior: Robotic Prosthetics
  Mentor: Erik Engeberg, Ph.D.
  Student: Michael Bornstein
• Infrastructure Systems: Adaptive Traffic Control
  Mentor: Aleksandar Stevanovic, Ph.D.
  Student: Oghenekaro Durojaiye
• Infrastructure Systems: Smart Grid Control and Optimization
  Mentor: Yufei Tang, Ph.D.
  Student: Michael Aiudi
• Infrastructure Systems: Violence Detection in Surveillance Scenes
  Mentor: Borivoje (Borko) Furht, Ph.D.
  Student: Whitney Angelica Andrews
• Marine and Environment: Comprehensive Sensing
  Mentor: Bing Ouyang, Ph.D.
  Student: Benjamin Maltbie
• Marine and Environment: Effective Communication and Inductive Charging for Ocean Swarm Robotic
  Mentor: Jason Hallstrom, Ph.D.
  Student: Paul Scarpinato
• Marine and Environment: Ocean Current Analysis
  Mentor: Laurent Cherubin, Ph.D.
  Student: Richard Peterson

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:

Florida Atlantic University's Intensive English Institute (IEI), established in 1995, offers high-quality English language instruction to international and domestic students. Located within the Center for Global Engagement, IEI aims to help students achieve their academic, professional, or personal goals by developing their linguistic and cultural competence.

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Services Offered:

IEI provides a comprehensive and innovative curriculum delivered by dedicated faculty. The institute offers:

Academic Track:

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

Summer Programs:

These programs offer intensive English language instruction during the summer months.

Custom Programs:

IEI can tailor programs to meet the specific needs of individuals or groups.

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Student Life and Campus Experience:

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Key Reasons to Study There:

Prestigious Global Academic Track Program:

This program provides conditional admission to FAU degree programs.

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Dedicated Faculty:

Students benefit from the expertise and guidance of experienced and committed instructors.

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Academic Programs:

English for Academic Purposes (EAP):

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

Global Academic Track Program:

This program provides conditional admission to FAU degree programs for students who meet specific English proficiency requirements.

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Other:

IEI is accredited by the Commission on English Language Program Accreditation (CEA) and is a member of English USA. The institute offers a variety of resources and support services to students, including:

Housing:

Information and assistance with finding suitable housing options.

Visa Information:

Guidance on visa requirements and procedures.

Payments and Refunds:

Information on tuition fees and refund policies.

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Events:

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