Profile:
As a second-year Bachelor’s in Information Technology (BIT) Interactive Multimedia & Design student, Taryn Laurendeau is engaged with research for Professor Audrey Girouard on flexible displays (which are bendable display prototypes that currently have sensors but no screen).
Role as a Researcher:
Her role has involved evaluating bend gestures in the flexible displays to understand the direction the displays are bending and how much they are able to bend. Her newest role has involved helping another researcher in the lab with text manipulation using bend gestures with the displays. All the prototypes and programming take place through an open-source electronics prototyping platform known as Arduino. She has also had the opportunity to work on the lab website.
Relating it to her classes:
Now she has a background in Arduino and Processing, which is very important for her upcoming classes and research work. She will also have a human-computer interaction course soon, and her work in the lab will tie in well with this.
Most valuable skill gained:
Taryn finds that the top skill she has gained is being comfortable asking for help when she is lost. She has gained the comfort and familiarity needed to ask for help from her supervisor, which is especially important since her department is small and she will work with her supervisor a great deal in future classes.
For her future career, the skills of independent learning and problem solving are definitely her most important take-aways.
Need-to-knows for people considering doing I-CUREUS in this setting:
“I think one of the coolest things for me has been the insight I have gained about human-computer interactions. I came into university with an interest in animation and visual effects for film, but now I have had an opportunity to experience a new side of the same field. Also, I got into it because I got to know the prof beforehand. You might not think to establish a relationship with a prof when you first start school, but it is has been really beneficial and has shown me a great deal.”
Final thoughts:
“Overall, this has been a great learning experience. For people who are planning on trying I-CUREUS, they should be prepared for exposure to a lot of new content. However, it is great to see the hands-on side of things, because instead of learning in a class, you get to experience it. And I know a bit about the life of a Master’s student because I have seen them preparing for conferences and writing papers, which gives me a great preview!”
To learn more about I-CUREUS, visit: http://carleton.ca/discoverycentre/undergraduate-research/icureus/