Do-it-yourself environmental sensing

We have had an excellent year with many undergraduates working the lab on this project. We are now seeking students to start in fall 2022. We have several related activities. Students can work on assembling and programming raspberry pi based sensor platforms that host various sensors. It is basically a computer in a weatherproof box with attached sensors that record things like temperature and sound. We are especially interested in students that may have experience analyzing sound and video data as these can be used to monitor wildlife populations. There are opportunities to assist in building training datasets by downloading and curating recordings from global databases of bird vocalizations. Other activities involve assembling machine learning pipelines to process incoming data streams. Students have worked with deep learning libraries and voice activity detection. We are also developing devices that sample DNA from the air and students interested in learning molecular techniques should also apply. We have a variety of tasks that can fit different skill levels in computing and biology. We have had a good mix of computer scientists, engineers, and biologists. Consider joining the project next year. It has been really fun and productive. And you get to contribute to the conservation of biodiversity and building understanding of climate change impacts on nature.

We have written a perspective on the topic, which you can find here: https://sites.cns.utexas.edu/sites/default/files/keittlab/files/858.ful…

To apply, please visit: https://forms.gle/xBm3vGHJ3dMKi8YB9