Welcome
to the Bed Time Research Institute
What is
the Bed Time Research Institute (BTRI)?
The Bed Time Research Institute (or BTRI) is part of
the Simulation and Optimization Laboratory in the Department of Computer
Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
The BTRI conducts STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering,
Mathematics) research applied to problems that impact society, inform policy,
and/or are of broad societal interest.
The BTRI is structured as a STEM learning
laboratory, allowing both graduate and undergraduate students to work together
on such problems, resulting in research papers, conference presentations, and
websites launched that have Broader Impacts on society.
How did the Bed Time Research Institute get its name?
The graduate students working within
the BTRI are conducting their dissertation research on fundamental
problems. The BTRI problems are of
societal and/or popular interest. As such,
this research is conducted often before they turn in for the day (and hence,
the name). In some case, this research
grows into mainline research activities, which become part of students’
dissertations and theses.
The undergraduate students working
within the BTRI are actively using the knowledge and skills that they learn in
the classroom and applying it to problems of societal and/or popular
interest. They typical have a graduate
student mentor, who guides them in a variety of STEM-focuses activities
including data analysis, computational experimentation, and website design.
For more information, contact:
Sheldon H. Jacobson,
Ph.D.
Founder Professor
201 North Goodwin Avenue (MC-258)
Urbana,
Email: shj@illinois.edu
X: shjanalytics
Last
updated: 28 August 2026
URL address: btri.cs.illinois.edu