Mentors by Subject Area

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• Architecture and Design

  Architecture

  • Dr. Ross Wienert is interested in sustainable architecture, materials, public interest design, humanism, and experiential architecture. Students who wish to work with Dr. Wienert may email rgwienert@uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, and Mellon Research Scholars.
  • Donna Kacmar, FAIA is interested in all aspects of dwelling from small houses to hotel design, materials, low carbon design, equity, and multi-modal transportation. Students who wish to work with Professor Kacmar may email dkacmar@uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, Mellon Research Scholars, Energy Scholars, Senior Honors Thesis, and Independent Study.

  Industrial Design

  • Professor Jeff Feng has research interests in medical and healthcare design, accessible and affordable prosthetics design for users in underserved communities, and body balance assessment through the Intel I Sense camera system. Students interested in working with Professor Feng may email ffeng@uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, and other research assistantships.

• Arts

  School of Art

  • Dr. Stephan Hillerbrand, Department of Photography/Digital Media, is interested in photography, video, film, and performance. Students who would like to work with Dr. Hillerbrand may email schillerbrand@uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, and Senior Honors Thesis.

  School of Theatre and Dance

  • Dr. Rachel Bush has research interests in stage management (theatre, opera, entertainment industry, events, etc.) and production Management (theatre). Students who wish to work with Dr. Bush may email rrbush@central.uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF.

• Business

  Decision and Information Sciences

  • Dr. Emese Felvegi is interested in open data, open educational resources, electronic text, mixed methods and qualitative research. Students interested in working with Dr. Felvegi may email efelvegi@uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF and PURS.

  Finance

  • Dr. Raul Susmel has research interests in international finance, investments, and financial econometrics. Students who wish to work with Dr. Susmel may email rsusmel@uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, Senior Honors Thesis, and Mellon Research Scholars.

  Marketing and Entrepreneurship

  • Dr. Partha Krishnamurthy asks, "How do people choose between attractive products, and how does it differ from choosing between unattractive products? Does having a mental quota for a behavior actually affect one's actual behavior (e.g., I should eat no more than two desserts every week)? What influences the happiness people derive from consuming products?" If you are curious about questions such as these that focus on consumers and their behavior, and wish to work on research projects, please contact Dr. Krishnamurthy at partha@uh.edu, 713-743-4576.

• Education

  Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

  • Dr. Virginia Rangel is interested in minoritized students' interest and participation in the K-16 STEM education pipeline, school principal preparation, and school discipline. Students interested in working with Dr. Rangel may email vrangel4@central.uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, and Senior Honors Thesis.

  Psychological, Health, and Learning Sciences

  • Dr. Rosenda Murillo is interested in physical activity, Latino health, health disparities. If you have similar research interests and would like to work with Dr. Murillo, please email rmurillo3@uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF and PURS.
  • Dr. Leslie Frankel is recruiting undergraduate research assistants for The Parent-Child Interaction Lab. The Parent-Child Lab conducts research in the areas of parenting in general as well as in the context of feeding. Current and upcoming studies investigate parental perceptions of infant and child behavior and how parenting influences children's self-regulatory abilities in general and specifically in the context of eating. The undergraduate research assistant's primary role is recruitment of parents and childcare providers for studies. Other responsibilities include (but are not limited to): 1) the maintenance of the day-to-day functioning of the lab, 2) organization of the lab, 3) data entry, 4) coding, and 5) assisting with IRB submissions, grant proposals and manuscript preparation. Research assistants are required to commit 10-15 hours per week for at least one year. While this is a one-year, unpaid position, there is the possibility for renewal based on productivity and performance. Unpaid internships are available and qualifying students may pursue independent study for course credit or PURS or SURF based on competitive application and research-interest fit within the lab. Minimum GPA of 3.2 required. Please send a cover letter and CV to Leslie Frankel at Lafrankel@uh.edu.

• Engineering and Technology

  Biomedical Engineering

  • Dr. Kirill Larin is offering an opportunity for undergraduate students to join The Biomedical Optics Laboratory (BOL) at the University of Houston and work on several exciting research projects in the area of optical high-resolution imaging and sensing in live sciences. The Laboratory is focused on developing new noninvasive methods and techniques used for imaging and biosensing of tissues and cells. Currently, there are a wide range of projects being offered in the lab which involve the use of a new noninvasive imaging technique, Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT). This technique is emerging as an imaging modality because of its ability to image millimeters into tissue and still maintains a high spatial resolution (5-20 microns), which is not like other imaging techniques commonly used today. The increase in resolution allows the tracking of the functional and structural development in mammalian embryos, which creates a better understanding of the development of the heart and vascular system. In addition, the lab focuses on the noninvasive optical sensing of micro-retroreflectors in turbid media and tissue, which leads to the possibility of being able to monitor glucose in-vivo. The BOL lab is also working on the assessment of drug diffusion in ocular and vascular tissues in order to enhance the understanding of topical drug delivery and create the possibility of novel therapeutic agents and drug-delivery techniques. We have developed a noninvasive OCT-based Biometric System that would be able to reliably identify the presence of artificial materials commonly used for spoofing fingerprint devices. Furthermore, we use OCT to image tumor boundaries that might help surgeons to guide their surgical interventions in Operating Rooms. We have strong research collaborations with several groups at Texas Medical Center including Baylor College of Medicine. Methodist Hospital, and UT MD Anderson Cancer Center. For details please visit BOL webpage at https://www.egr.uh.edu/bol/. This research project is also an opportunity for students to conduct a senior honors thesis. Students who will be seniors may be able to secure six hours of credit to conduct a thesis under the mentorship of Dr. Larin. If interested, please send your resume and GPA to Dr. Kirill Larin at klarin@uh.edu

  Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

  • Dr. Nikolaos Malamataris has research interests in parallel programming techniques (domain decomposition) and design of computational meshes for numerical experiments in fluid mechanics. Students interested in working with Dr. Malamataris may email Nmalamataris@uh.edu. Open to mentoring for PURS and Senior Honors Thesis.
  • Dr. Patrick Cirino is interested in protein engineering, gene cloning, bacteria culture, and sterile technique. Students interested in working with Dr. Cirino should email pccirino@uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, and Energy Scholars.

  Civil & Environmental Engineering

  • Dr. Debora Rodrigues has research interests in environmental microbiology, drug delivery, self-healing concrete, and water treatment. Students who wish to work with Dr. Rodrigues may email dfrigirodrigues@uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, and Senior Honors Thesis.
  • Dr. Vedhus Hoskere is interested in artificial intelligence, computer vision, structural engineering, structural health monitoring, robotics, deep learning, and finite element analysis. Students who wish to work with Dr. Hoskere may email vhoskere@uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, and Senior Honors Thesis.
  • Dr. Dimitrios Kalliontzis has research interests in the areas of infrastructure resilience, structural testing, wave energy converters, civil structures, and extreme events such as hurricanes and earthquakes. Students interested in working with Dr. Kalliontzis may email dkallion@central.uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, Energy Scholars Program, Senior Honor Thesis, and Independent Study. For details of Dr. Kalliontzis' research, please visit https://structuralperformancefluid-structureinteractionlab.space/
  • Dr. Hyongki Lee is interested in researching satellite remote sensing for hydrology/water resources management. Students interested in working with Dr. Lee may email hlee45@central.uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, and Senior Honors Thesis.

  Electrical and Computer Engineering

  • Dr. Jiming Bao is interested in researching nanogenerators and triboelectrics. Students interested in these areas should email jbao@uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, Energy Scholars, and Senior Honors Thesis.
  • Dr. Rose Faghih is interested in researching medical cyber-physical systems; biomedical and neural signal processing; physiological modeling; wearable computing. Students interested in working with Dr. Faghih should email rtfaghih@uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, and Senior Honors Thesis.
  • Dr. Rohith Reddy is interested in researching machine learning, biomedical imaging; medical devices; optics and photonics; image processing; biomedical instrumentation. Students interested in these areas should email rkreddy@ uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, and Senior Honors Thesis.
  • Dr. Badri Roysam is interested in bio-image analytics. Students interested in working with Dr. Roysam may email broysam@uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, and Senior Honors Thesis.
  • Dr. Aaron Becker is interested in robotics research on these themes:
    • Matlab programming of swarms of drones with GPS (simulation)
    • Flying hardware drones to test beam-forming antenna configurations
    • Improving our CFD pipeline that optimizes magnetic robots (FreeCAD, FlexPDE, and/or Python)
    • Fast inverse kinematics of robot arm using ROS
    • Underwater BlueROV robot mechatronics: improving magnetic sensors for pipeline inspection
    Students interested in working with Dr. Becker may email atbecker@central.uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, Energy Scholars, and Senior Honors Thesis.
  • Professor Yan Yao, Director of the Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials and Devices, offers research opportunities for undergraduate students (summer, semester or academic year) in the areas of 1) advanced batteries and 2) autonomous lab driven by Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). Students can receive credit for an Independent Study or can apply for the UH SURF program. This research effort will expose the students to state-of-the-art energy conversion and storage technologies, and will potentially result in high-impact journal publications and conference presentations. Candidates should have a strong motivation to apply textbook knowledge to solve practical energy challenges. In addition, career-mentoring activities will be offered by PI, such as recommendations for jobs in the energy industry and graduate fellowships. Applicants should email Prof. Yan Yao, yyao4@uh.edu, a copy of their resume and GPA, and a letter of interest regarding the position.
  • Dr. Saurabh Prasad is interested in hosting undergraduate researchers in the area of image processing and pattern recognition for hyperspectral image analysis, and multi-sensor data fusion. He is seeking students with an interest in image processing as applied to challenging high dimensional problems resulting from cutting-edge sensing modalities. This research effort will expose the students to state-of-the-art sensors, image processing and analysis approaches, and will potentially result in a conference publication. This research area has promising career prospects. In addition to opportunities in the industry, several prestigious national labs and agencies have an active interest in such capabilities to support their research and programs. Please visit Dr. Prasad's web-page to learn more about his research and contact Dr. Saurabh Prasad for more information.
  • Professor Jose L Contreras-Vidal, Director of the Laboratory for Noninvasive Brain-Machine Interface Systems, offers research experiences for undergraduate students (summer, semester or academic year) in the areas of brain-machine interfaces, assistive robotics, neuroprosthetics, and research at the interface of science and the arts. Students can receive credit for Independent Study or can apply for paid internships through the UH SURF program, the National Science Foundation's Research Experiences for Undergraduates (URAP) program, or the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Prior undergraduate internships have led to peer-reviewed journal publications, conference presentations and awards by undergraduate researchers. If interested, please send your resume and GPA to Prof. Contreras-Vidal.
  • Dr. Bhavin R. Sheth welcomes highly motivated UH undergraduate students and offers research opportunities for undergraduate students (summer, semester or academic year). He is seeking students with an interest in working on the human nervous system, and in recording brain waves using non-invasive neuroimaging and biological recording/stimulation techniques such as magnetoencephaolography (MEG), electroencephoalography (EEG), electrocardiography (ECG), impedance cardiography (ICG), eye monitoring, and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). The work may involve doing experiments with cutting-edge recording technology and the use of time-series signal processing, image processing, and machine learning techniques for data analysis. There are several different questions being asked in the lab, with research ranging from the function of sleep, understanding the brains of individuals with autism, studies of the bidirectional interaction between mind and body (in scientific lingo, the interaction between the central and autonomic nervous systems), human intuition about statistics, studies of human consciousness (sensory awareness) and others. Students can also receive credit for an Independent Study or can apply for the UH SURF or PURS program. A technical background (engineering/ mathematics/physics) would be a plus but is not required. In the past, students in electrical engineering, biomedical engineering, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, chemistry, psychology, biology and neuroscience from UH and other schools all have worked successfully in the laboratory on various projects. A high GPA will enhance the possibility of obtaining a SURF/PURS award and is welcomed but otherwise bears weak correlation with research potential, motivation, and skill. Please contact Dr. Sheth (713-743-4935, brsheth@uh.edu) with your resume if interested.

  Mechanical Engineering

  • Dr. Tian "Tim" Chen is interested in the design, simulation, optimization, fabrication, characterization, and imaging of novel architected materials. Students interested in working with Dr. Chen may email their CV, transcript, and a statement of interest to tianchen@uh.edu. Open to mentoring for PURS, SURF, and Senior Honors Thesis. Please visit https://aim.me.uh.edu/ for more information.
  • Dr. Pradeep Sharma is interested in the application of data sciences and machine learning to engineering problems. Students interested in working with Dr. Sharma may email psharma@uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, and Senior Honors Thesis.
  • Dr. Haleh Ardebili is interested in researching experimental work on materials for energy storage-specifically batteries. Students interested in working with Dr. Ardebili may email hardebili@uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, and Senior Honors Thesis.

  Petroleum Engineering

  • Dr. Lori Hathon is interested in image analysis applications to modeling petrophysical properties of hydrocarbon reservoirs. Students who would like to work with Dr. Hathon may email lahathon@uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF and PURS.

  Technology Division

  • Dr. Tomika Greer, from the Department of Human Development and Consumer Sciences, has research interests in women/gender, race and ethnicity, careers, work-life balance, career transitions, and career development. Students interested in working with Dr. Greer may email twgreer@uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, Mellon Research Scholars, and Senior Honors Thesis.
  • Dr. Anima Bose, Director of the Sustainable Energy Conversion and Storage Laboratory and member of the Texas Center of Superconductivity at UH, is offering research opportunities for undergraduate students during all semesters in the areas of low and high temperature fuel cell research. Students are encouraged to apply to the UH SURF program to potentially receive compensation during the research period over the summer. Students are also eligible to receive credit for Independent Study and after approval by the PI. This research will engage students with state-of-art fuel cell technologies that are currently marketed to solve energy related problems in the field. Students should have a strong desire to learn more about energy sustainability and plan to be directly involved in a variety of research projects that focus on electrochemical performance and improving the durability of fuel cells, improving the latest manufacturing methods of fuel cells, and/ or designing characterization techniques for evaluating fuel cells and the manufacturing of fuel cells. Applicants should contact Dr. Anima Bose abbose@central.uh.edu, and provide a copy of their resume as well as a letter addressing his/her interests regarding this opportunity.
  • Dr. Farrokh Attarzadeh, from Computer Engineering Technology (CETE) program, is seeking a qualified and interested undergraduate junior or senior student who has a keen interest in robotics. In particular, the student will assemble, program and test several different robots with multiple sensors. Feasibility of incorporating some of these robots into a curriculum will be studied. Students who have embedded systems hardware and software backgrounds may use the knowledge gained and expand it for their senior capstone project in the CETE program. Interested students please submit a one page summary of how they can benefit from this project and how they will apply it to their senior project course, relevant courses taken with grades, prior experience with robotic projects, cumulative GPA, and their anticipated date of graduation to fattarzadeh@>uh.edu.

• Global Hospitality Leadership

  • Dr. Jaewook Kim is interested in small and medium size firms' strategic management and entrepreneurship. Students interested in working with Dr. Kim may email jkim65@uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF and PURS.

• Liberal Arts & Social Sciences

  Economics

  • Dr. Kei-Mu Yi has research interests in international economics, growth and development, and macroeconomics, including monetary policy. Students interested in working with Dr. Yi may email kyi3@central.uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, and Senior Honors Thesis.

  English

  • Dr. Lauren Zentz has research interests in applied linguistics, sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, politics, activism, nationalism, identity, narrative, language socialization, social media, and discourses surrounding AI. Students interested in working with Dr. Zentz may email lrzentz@central.uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, Mellon Research Scholars, and Senior Honors Thesis.

  Health and Human Performance

  • Dr. Seoung Hoon Park focuses on 1) understanding neurophysiological mechanisms underlying deficient motor control and learning in healthy older adults and individuals with neurological diseases such as stroke, spinal cord injury, and cerebral palsy, 2) developing novel rehabilitation tools and protocols for improving their functional motor control with emphasis on walking and balance, and 3) identifying behavioral and neural changes in response to rehabilitative interventions that we develop. For more information, please visit the lab's website (https://www.monelab.net/). Students interested in working with Dr. Park may email shpark5@uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF and PURS.
  • Dr. Pranav Parikh is interested in working with highly motivated undergraduate students with a keen interest in studying human motor control and learning. Current research in the laboratory is directed at (a) determining the role of different brain areas in grasp force control for dexterous object manipulation and (b) understanding the mechanisms underlying poor balance control in stroke patients. He uses a wide range of approaches including motion tracking, kinetic measurements, surface electromyography, electroencephalography, transcranial magnetic stimulation, and transcranial direct current stimulation. For more information, please visit the lab's website. Please contact Dr. Parikh at pjparikh2@uh.edu with your CV if interested.
  • Dr. Joyce Ogunrinde is interested in researching Black women in sport, sport for development, student-athlete wellbeing, sport coaching, culturally responsive sport and physical activity programming. Students who wish to work with Dr. Ogunrinde may email joolusho@Central.UH.EDU. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, and Senior Honors Thesis.

  History

  • Dr. Nancy Young has research interests surrounding gender and political activism in the 1970s. Students who wish to work with Dr. Young may email nyoung@central.uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, Mellon Research Scholars, and Senior Honors Thesis.
  • Dr. Leandra Zarnow is interested in US history; women's history; political history; legal history; women, gender, and sexuality studies; public policy; public history; digital history; Jewish Studies. Dr. Zarnow is also an affiliate faculty member in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Jewish Studies. Students who wish to work with Dr. Zarnow may email lrzarnow@central.uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, Mellon Research Scholars, and Senior Honors Thesis.

  Modern and Classical Languages

  • Dr. Francesca Behr is interested in areas such as the Classics (Roman and Greek), reception of Classical Literature, the Italian Renaissance, gender, and women in literature. Students interested in working with Dr. Behr may email fbehr@central.uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, Mellon Research Scholars, and Senior Honors Thesis.

  Political Science

  • Dr. Kelley Littlepage has research interests in law (international, comparative, American constitutional law), Western European politics, EU politics, and judicial institutions. Students who would like to work with Dr. Littlepage may email kglittle@central.uh.edu. Open to mentoring for PURS, Mellon Research Scholars, and Senior Honors Thesis.
  • Dr. Terry Hallmark is interested in researching political philosophy, American politics and political thought, international relations, and American foreign policy. Students who wish to work with Dr. Hallmark may email tlhallma@central.uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, Mellon Research Scholars, and Senior Honors Thesis.

  Psychology

  • Dr. Michael Zvolensky is recruiting volunteer research assistants for the Research on Emotion, Substance Treatment Outcomes, and Racial Equity Laboratory (RESTORE). His research team is currently conducting several transdiagnostic intervention studies as well as laboratory-based studies on anxiety and smoking. Research assistants are required to commit 10 hours per week for at least one year. For a complete list of current studies, please visit the RESTORE Lab website. Responsibilities for projects include (but are not limited to): 1) helping to develop questionnaires 2) conducting telephone screenings and scheduling participants, 2) administering questionnaires and interviewing participants, 3) data entry and data coding, 4) organizing and managing data files, 5) conducting literature searches for relevant articles to assist with project conduct and presentation of results, and 6) daily office tasks. Bilingual skills (English and Spanish) are desired, but not required. If you are interested in volunteering at RESTORE, please contact Andre Bizier.
  • Dr. Hanako Yoshida, from the Cognitive Development Laboratory, routinely accepts applications for undergraduate research assistants interested in the mechanisms of early cognitive processes, particularly word learning, in infants and children 3 months to 10 years old from a wide range of backgrounds including a variety of SES backgrounds and cultures, those with autism, and typically developing. Studies examine such topics as the cognitive effects of bilingualism, children's attentional development and the relation to language learning. Undergraduate research assistants help recruit subjects, read and present relevant research articles, code and analyze data, and create and alter stimuli. The lab is very active in developing new studies and modifying old ones, and undergraduates are encouraged to participate in this process. The experience gained in the lab has helped students apply for PURS, SURF, and the Undergraduate Research Travel Fellowship. Students may also have the opportunity to participate in national and international conferences. If interested, contact the Cognitive Development Laboratory at cogdev@central.uh.edu or 713-743-4876. Please visit the lab website for more information and to apply. Applications are posted near the end of each semester for the subsequent semester positions.

• Libraries

  • Based in M.D. Anderson Library, the Digital Research Commons (DRC) encourages and facilitates interdisciplinary research at the University of Houston. DRC staff work with researchers at all levels, consulting on digitally based projects, research data management practices, publication preparation and reuse, and other key aspects of research design and process. In addition to expert assistance, the DRC offers a flexible physical space for team collaboration, equipped with an 18-foot visualization wall powered by a high-end PC as well as a Mac Pro and two additional high-performance stations, each featuring enhanced visualization capabilities and software, among other technological services. Projects are ongoing, and opportunities for undergraduates are available. Contact: drc@uh.edu. Web:drc.lib.uh.edu.

• Medicine

  Health Systems and Population Health Sciences

  • Dr. Ben King is interested in epidemiologic methods; quantitative statistical methods with clinical databases; psychometrics/measurement theory; evaluation of primary care programs; connections between homelessness/extreme poverty and health outcomes - eg. deaths, violent deaths, cardiovascular disease; and "vulnerability" measures housing prioritization. Students interested in conducting research with Dr. King may email kingb@uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, and Senior Honors Thesis.

• Natural Science and Mathematics

  Biology and Biochemistry

  • Dr. Mehmet Sen is interested in researching the biological chemistry of proteins and their molecular interactions. Students who wish to work with Dr. Sen may email msen2@cougarnet.uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, and Senior Honors Thesis.
  • Dr. Dan Graur is interested in computational biology, molecular evolution, computational genomics, bioinformatics, history of genetics, and genetic racism. Dr. Graur seeks (1) students with some computational skills (e.g., Phyton, C++, Matlab) that are interested in applying their skills to evolutionary and biological questions; and (2) students who would like to complete an undergraduate thesis on a topic related to the History of Genetics, with special emphasis on Genetic Racism. None of the position is paid and work can be done remotely. Students interested in working with Dr. Graur may email dgraur@uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, and Senior Honors Thesis.
  • Dr. Marc Hanke is seeking a student to conduct targeted, investigatory research related to Galveston Bay Foundation's (GBF) Water Monitoring Program. The GBF science water monitoring team samples sites around Galveston Bay each month for general water quality parameters. One site has recently shown high levels of fecal indicator bacteria. During the summer of 2018, weekly targeted sampling occurred for five weeks to better determine the potential sources of these bacteria. The undergraduate researcher will build upon this work, conduct more targeted sampling at this location, and synthesize findings into more concrete conclusions. This student will develop their own independent research project informed by existing data findings. Interested students should contact Dr. Marc Hanke mhhanke@uh.edu) for more information.
  • The Crawford Lab is accepting applications for undergraduate research positions. The Crawford Lab studies plant community ecology. Projects include understanding the importance of intraspecific diversity in plant communities, evaluating the role plant-microbe interactions play in structuring plant communities, and elucidating how plants and microbes influence ecosystem development. These positions are open to students majoring in all fields, but biology majors and students interested in ecology and environmental sciences are especially encouraged to apply. No prior experience is necessary. Student researchers will assist with sample analysis, data collection, data entry, and literature searches. There are also opportunities for motivated students to conduct independent research. Students will receive compensation for their time in the form of research credits or payment. More information can be found on our website: https://thecrawfordlab.com. For more information or to apply with your resume, please contact Dr. Kerri Crawford (kmcrawford3@uh.edu).
  • Dr. Steven Pennings is interested in plant ecology and salt marsh ecology. Students interested in working with Dr. Pennings may email spennings@uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF. Apply for additional research with Dr. Pennings at https://gce-lter.marsci.uga.edu/public/employment/summer_internships_2023.asp.
  • Research in the Vicens Lab is shaped around... shapes! Three-dimensional shapes of ribonucleic acid - to be more precise - and usually in complex with proteins or small molecules. Approaches integrate biochemistry, molecular and cell biology, as well as computational biology. Learn more about RNA Shapes from Dr. Vicens here and see Dr. Vicens talk about his research here. Students interested in working with Dr. Vicens may email qvicens@uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, and Senior Honors Thesis.
  • Dr. Rich Meisel studies evolutionary genetics and genomics. His lab combines organismal experimentation, molecular biology, genomic analysis, and computer modeling to understand how and why genetic variation exists within populations and differences accumulate across species. Students interested in working with Dr. Meisel may email rpmeisel@uh.edu or learn more on Dr. Meisel's lab website. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, Senior Honors Thesis, Independent Study, and Research Assistantships.

  Chemistry

  • Dr. P. Shiv Halasyamani is interested in synthetic solid-state inorganic chemistry and crystal growth of functional inorganic materials. Students who wish to work in the Halasyamani lab may email psh@uh.edu if interested in an undergraduate research position. Positions are normally on a volunteer basis at first, with the possibility of a paid position during the summer months. Dr. Halasyamani can only hire chemistry, physics, or engineering majors and preference will be those who have interest in pursuing graduate students in chemistry, physics, or engineering. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, and Senior Honors Thesis.
  • Dr. Eric Bittner is recruiting a Physics student interested in pursuing a theory project for SURF or PURS. Interested students may email ebittner@central.uh.edu.

  Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

  • Dr. Bernhard Rappenglueck has research interests in the areas of air quality, air chemistry, meteorology, and climate change. Students interested in working with Dr. Rappenglueck may email brappenglueck@uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, Independent Study, Senior Capstone Research Project, and Senior Honors Thesis.

  Mathematics

  • Dr. Alan Haynes is interested in Diophantine approximation, and number theory. Students who wish to work with Dr. Haynes may email haynes@math.uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, and Senior Honors Thesis.
  • Dr. Andreas Mang has research interests in the areas of computational mathematics, numerical optimization, machine learning, optimal control, and data science. Students who wish to work with Dr. Mang may email andreas@math.uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, and Senior Honors Thesis.

  Physics

  • Dr. Claudia Ratti is recruiting research assistants for state-of-the-art theoretical research in fundamental physics. Ordinary hadronic matter is expected to undergo a phase transition to the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) in extreme conditions of temperature or density. This transition, predicted by the fundamental theory of strong interactions (QCD), is now being realized in heavy ion collisions at the Relativistic Hadron Collider (RHIC) in Brookhaven and at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN near Geneva. The aim of the group's research is to achieve a microscopic understanding of the QGP properties near the transition. They extract from first principles the temperatures and densities at which hadrons (protons, pions, kaons, etc) are formed, and they simulate several observables which can be directly compared to the experimental measurement. This comparison can be made today for the first time, thanks to the precision that they reach in their results. They plan to extend their analysis to large densities, thus reaching the lower collision energies of the RHIC beam energy scan and the future FAIR facility in Germany. The research involves production and interpretation of first principle results, by means of numerical simulations and phenomenological models. Interested applicants should be physics majors and have a basic knowledge of Mathematica. They should contact Dr. Ratti at cratti@uh.edu.

• Nursing

  • Dr. Carol Dwyer has research interests in healthy weight management in primary care. Students interested in working with Dr. Dwyer may email cadwyer@central.uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF.

• Optometry

  • Dr. Kimberly Meier's research seeks to understand how the development of visual perception (things like 3D vision, motion perception, and eye-movements) unfolds from childhood through adulthood, and how development can be impacted by childhood vision disorders like strabismus of amblyopia (lazy eye). Projects are well-suited for motivated students who are interested in gaining research experience as they prepare for professional programs in optometry, medicine, or health; or those who are considering graduate school in psychology, vision science, and related fields. Students interested in working with Dr. Meier may email kmeier@uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, and Senior Honors Thesis.
  • Dr. Diane N. Sayah's research focuses on the biomechanical properties of the sclera in glaucoma and myopia. In other words, we use an imaging technique to measure if a subject's eyeball is rigid (like a soccer ball) or compliant (like a birthday balloon), and evaluate the role of this parameter in the development and progression of eye diseases. Several opportunities are available for motivated students with a keen interest in optometry/ophthalmology, vision science, ocular imaging, image processing (programming) and/or who want to acquire relevant experience in clinical research, particularly in childhood myopia. Students interested in working in the Sayah Vision Lab may email their CV, transcripts and cover letter to dnsayah@central.uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, and Senior Honors Thesis.
  • Dr. Vivien Coulson-Thomas is interested in researching the extracellular matrix, stem cells, hyaluronan and ocular surface. Students interested in working with Dr. Coulson-Thomas may email vjcoulso@central.uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, and Senior Honors Thesis.
  • Dr. Christophe P. Ribelayga is interested in the plasticity of electrical synapses (gap junctions) between rod and cone photoreceptors in the retina and its impact on visual behavior. Students interested in working with Dr. Ribelayga may email their CV, transcript, and a statement of interest to cpribela@central.uh.edu. Motivated students with solid experience in MATLAB and/or artificial neural networks are particularly encouraged to apply. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, and Senior Honors Thesis.
  • Dr. Tarsis Gesteira Ferreira is interested in researching computational drug design, protein engineering, extracellular matrix, protein-protein interactions, glycobiology, and ocular surface. Students interested in working with Dr. Ferreira may email tgferrei@central.uh.edu. Open to mentoring for SURF, PURS, and Senior Honors Thesis.

• Pharmacy

  • Dr. Yang Zhang is currently recruiting undergraduate students to work on exciting new projects related to the epigenetics and pathology of cardiovascular diseases associated with obesity, diabetes, aging, and kidney disease. These projects investigate mechanisms and strategies to establish novel biomarkers or treatments for cardiovascular diseases. Motivated students with a strong background in biology, physiology, biochemistry, molecular biology, or pharmacology are encouraged to apply. They will be supported by NIH grants. For more information, contact Dr. Zhang at 713-743-7710 or at yzhan219@central.uh.edu.
  • Dr. Gregory Cuny is recruiting undergraduate students interested in synthetic organic chemistry. Motivated students with a strong academic record and interest in organic chemistry and its application to drug discovery are encouraged to apply. For more information, contact Dr. Cuny at gdcuny@central.uh.edu.
  • Dr. Bradley McConnell is currently recruiting undergraduate students to work on exciting new projects related to the pharmacology, physiology, and genetics of heart disease; by investigating mechanisms and strategies to improve heart function as well as towards heart repair. Motivated students with a strong background in biology, physiology, biochemistry, molecular biology, or pharmacology are encouraged to apply. For more information, contact Dr. McConnell at 713-743-1218 or bkmcconn@central.uh.edu.
  • Dr. Vincent Tam is currently recruiting students for his research in infectious diseases and anti-infective pharmacology. Students should have prior microbiology (or molecular microbiology) lab experience and a strong background in mathematics. Students interested in pursuing graduate school are especially encouraged to apply. For more information, please contact Dr. Tam at 832-842-8316 or at vtam@uh.edu.
  • Dr. Alexander Statsyuk is looking for undergraduate students to conduct research at the interface of chemistry and biology, with an emphasis on drug discovery. The students will be synthesizing drug-like compounds using organic synthesis techniques, and then test compounds in cancer cells looking for those that kill cancer cells. Students will learn organic synthesis, biochemistry, protein purification techniques, molecular biology techniques, and cell biology techniques. Students interested in this research opportunity should be willing to commit at least a year for the research project. Specifically, during the fall/spring semesters students should commit at least two afternoons per week (preferably consecutive), i.e. at least 10h a week for research. Students are also expected to conduct the research during the summer (8 weeks) and should be willing to apply for PURS/SURF. At least one year of research experience is desired, however students with no research experience are encouraged to apply. Students interested in this research opportunity should submit their cover letter stating why they are interested in this particular research opportunity, state their career goals in the cover letter, and also submit CV. Please address your cover letter to Prof. Alexander V. Statsyuk, and submit your application as a single PDF file (cover letter + CV) to avstatsy@central.uh.edu.

  To see more opportunities offered by the College of Pharmacy, visit their website below.

  https://www.uh.edu/pharmacy/research/research-education/