MedIX: MEDical Informatics eXperiences in Undergraduate Research

The proposed REU site is in the area of Medical Informatics and will address

issues related to the workflow driven acquisition of image data in an

electronic medical record environment, and the subsequent post-processing of

the image information to improve the accuracy and efficiency of the

consumers of this information, notably radiologists. In particular,

segmentation, texture analysis, classification and annotation of computed

tomography (CT) images using computer vision and data mining techniques will

be emphasized.

Since many racial minorities are significantly underrepresented in computer

science (CS) departments, the primary educational objective is to promote

graduate studies for bright, talented undergraduates - especially

first-generation college students and undergraduates from groups

historically underrepresented in exact sciences. Furthermore, since the

demand for individuals who see their career opportunities at the

intersection between Medical Informatics and CS far outstrips the current

supply, the second educational objective is to promote and encourage

interdisciplinary undergraduate studies in computer science and medical

informatics.

The MedIX (MEDical Informatics eXperiences in undergraduate research) REU

site will run for three summers, with eight student participants spending 10

weeks each summer doing research both at DePaul University, Intelligent

Multimedia Processing Laboratory and Northwestern University, Feinberg

School of Medicine, Imaging Informatics Laboratory.