RESEARCH

Sorry about late introduction; I am a junior in computer science, here at UIUC.

POSTECH does have a department for Computer Science and Engineering. As you can probably guess, their computer engineering curriculum is actually combined with computer science, instead of electrical engineering. Before I move on, here is a list of POSTECH's undergraduate engineering departments, in case you are a non-CS engineer interested in the program:

I got placed under a research lab called Networking and Distributed Systems Lab.

As you can tell from the name, it is a research area related to computer networking and communications. I didn't really make a choice in going into this lab. But I think I could have if I wanted to; as an undergrad who just finished the second year, I didn't really have the background to "choose my research."

In the lab, you are an undergraduate research participant.

For me, I did not really have the ability or experience to "contribute" to their research. Everyone in the lab were either Ph. D candidates or in their masters program. However, I was still warmly welcomed in the lab. I remember the first night, the professor and graduate students held a welcoming dinner for me in a nice Korean barbeque restaurant.

Throughout the 6-week program, I went through several tasks. I was first given a networking textbook (in English, of course), and read some of the introductory sections of the book. This was to prepare for my project: an assignment to create a network capture program through language C. Even though I was not really able to complete the coding by the end of the period, I learned a lot through observing the sample source codes, getting help from graduate students, and playing around with similar programs that are out on the web.

At the end, I was to write a report for them. This report contains the content of my research in detail. If you want to read it, it is here.

This is program is a chance for you to kill two birds with one stone. In terms of research content, you can obviously broaden your knowledge and get hands-on experience, boosting both your confidence and resume. While doing so, you have the opportunity of gaining all that experience in a different setting. You get to see how it is like in research labs outside of U of I campus - or even further, outside of U.S. Surely, this is a rare chance.

Anyway, so that is my say on the research program.

Here is the research lab photo gallery. Sorry about only having photos of the facilities and myself. I didn't get a chance to take pictures with the people.