Starting an Undergraduate Research Team With I2 Labs

This document outlines a rough process for undergraduate leaders to begin and grow a team of undergraduate researchers with Interactive Intelligence Labs. The goal of forming an I2 Labs team is to study how machine learning can become humanly intelligent. Research projects are open ended with this vision in mind, and often weave literature from neuroscience and psychology to found their ideas and exploration.

1. Take a look at the broad timeline of team formation below.

   1. Don’t get overwhelmed! If you follow the Checklists and make use of the templates, it will be a breeze

2. Proceed to the Getting Started Checklist to get started right away! [I2 Labs] Getting Started Checklist

3. Once you have completed the Getting Started Checklist to your satisfaction, go to [I2 Labs] Starting a Project to begin researching with your team.

   1. If you have already begun researching, then update your team’s profile on I2-labs.org with your research accomplishments, specialties, interests and future directions in order to connect your team with researchers and other teams!

I2 Labs Team Timeline Overview

Quarters / Terms System

Fall

• Recruit

  • Posters
  • Club fairs
  • Announcements in classes and online forums
  • Word of mouth

• Onboard new members

  • Run I2 intro to Neuro/AI sessions and make small projects and goals

• Learn and explore through journal clubs

• Create research questions

  • Propose and brainstorm ideas

  • Dig into existing literature regarding those topics in parallel teams and present findings

    • Emphasize literature review within teams!

• Form project teams within club

  • Weekly project meetings for each group

• Set goals for which journals, conferences, or forms of presenting work to aim for

Winter

• (Optional) Mini recruiting push, club fairs etc…

• Learn and explore through journal clubs

  • Deep dive into specific topics relevant to projects

• Read more papers, think about specifics about how to make your own paper

• Begin coding and/or creating

  • Find smaller tasks to give to newer members to build programming skills

Spring

• Continue research from Winter, attempt to get some publishable work done

• Begin summarizing, writing, and publishing findings

• Team building activities!

  • Soccer
  • Team picnics

Summer

• Continue writing, publishing
• Attend conferences
• Continue to develop projects if still unfinished

Semester System

Fall/Winter

• Recruit

  • Posters
  • Club fairs
  • Announcements in classes and online forums
  • Word of mouth

• Onboard new members

  • Run I2 Intro to Neuro/AI sessions sessions and make small projects and goals

• Learn and explore through journal clubs

• Create research questions

  • Propose and brainstorm ideas

  • Dig into existing literature regarding those topics in parallel teams and present findings

    • Emphasize literature review within teams!

• Form project teams within club

  • Weekly project meetings for each group

• Set goals for which journals, conferences, or forms of presenting work to aim for

• Begin coding and/or creating

  • Find smaller tasks to give to newer members to build programming skills

• Read more papers, think about specifics about how to make your own paper

Winter/Spring

• Continue research from Fall/Winter

• Continue to read relevant papers about project topics

• Learn and explore through journal clubs

  • Deep dive into specific topics relevant to projects

• Begin summarizing, writing, and publishing findings

• Team building activities

  • Soccer
  • Team picnics

Summer

• Continue writing, publishing
• Attend conferences
• Continue to develop projects if still unfinished