I'm gonna be the kind of side-observer here. I'm a regular in the LUG here, who's not in Computer Science (go figure), and heres a peripherial opinion:

This is really gross negligence on the part of the department, professors and students. Yes! You are at a horrible disadvantage trying to get into graduate school with no research experience.

I'm a student in the college of textiles, where undergraduate research is discussed and presented and offered from FRESHMAN year onward.  I've done a half-dozen semesters of undergraduate research now, from Crop Science to Textiles to Electrical Engineering, and it's one of the most valuable things I've done so far here at State.

I can't believe that you aren't offered the opportunities; that undergraduate research isn't shown in early/introductory classes, or mentioned in the upper-level classes (many of these professors do research in the fields they present).

Are students encouraged to pursue their own research topics? Do they know they can get funding and mentoring to do research on a topic they find interesting/compelling (Undergraduate Research Grants)? Do they know that they can just go to professors for research suggestions if they don't have any ideas of their own? Do they know what their professors research, and which professors' research matches their own interests?  Do students know that there are several different ways of going about research, from elective class-credit to NSF or outside funding, to NCSU funding?

If there is a 'No' to any of these, in my opinion, you're "doing it wrong".

Theres a lot of research opportunities in all fields all over the university, and undergraduate research is CHEAP! We cost less than simulation time on the NCSU High-Performance Computing Cluster.  And most of all the research experience is extremely valuable to us, either in graduate schools or in industry.

I'm sad that this isn't the case for computer science.  Arguably, if any department should be doing lots of undergraduate research, it's computer science, you guys have lots of advantages over other fields, most importantly:

* The field is relatively young.  There's plenty of new and old ideas to explore, and lots of room for innovation.  This is harder to come by in older fields.

* COMP SCI RESEARCH IS CHEAP! You don't have to by parts, or equipment, or fertilizer, or test tubes.  Use open source code (see: Linux User Group), and open source tools.  The only cost is your time!  I don't think any other field (than programming) can boast this.

Geez, guys. Get your act together.

Humbly yours,

~Alex Ray

Junior, college of textiles