Barrett Small Network Hero

Engineering

Explore the various projects below categorized under the general theme of Engineering. Be sure to return to the Barrett College Fellows Program main page and explore projects under the other 11 themes as well. You might be surprised at what you find and maybe you will discover the perfect research project for what you hope to study!

Please do not contact the research centers or faculty listed below directly (a formal application process is a required step to joining these research opportunities).

For questions about the Barrett College Fellows Program or specific research projects, please contact Dr. Sarah Graff at: BarrettCollegeFellows@exchange.asu.edu.

Back to Barrett College Fellows main page

Research projects

Project # 8

Center name: Renewable Energy Materials and Devices Laboratory
Campus/Location: ASU Research Park
Faculty lead: Nicholas Rolston

Project description

Our group's research goals are to develop next-generation energy and semiconductor technologies and to ensure that they are fit for manufacturability and durability. We study the connection between material degradation in printable thin-film energy and semiconductor materials and devices with the evolution of mechanical and environmental stress. We leverage scalable, open-air deposition methods to fabricate robust devices toward the goal of manufacturing. We use thin-film metrologies along with newly developed and custom-built equipment to characterize material properties and reliability on length scales from angstroms to meters. Our focus is to develop the next-generation of photovoltaics, battery, and semiconductor technology using the paradigm of design for reliability.

Special skills needed

Above all else, enthusiasm and a desire to learn more about designing the future of energy and semiconductor devices!

Majors

Any field of engineering, physics, or chemistry

Years

2nd Year Students, 3rd Year Students, 4th Year Students- Seniors

Themes

Cross-listed with the following themes:

Engineering, Sustainability

Project # 36

Center name: MSD, Space Architecture & Extreme Environments (SAEE)
Campus/Location: Tempe
Faculty lead: Elena Rocchi

Project description

Barrett Honors students will participate in SAEE Barrett Research programs, including:
1) Working in the labs of the Interplanetary Initiative, The Next Lab, and the Luminosity Lab, contributing to cutting-edge science, with one student per lab.
2) Engaging in supply chain management within the Business program to contribute to designing the first Starbucks in space, with one student.
3) Participating in the SAEE Barrett Global Flex program in Rome, one of the space capitals of the world, providing an ideal environment for this program and open to all.
The faculty lead is Elena Rocchi, working in collaboration with the different lab directors, program heads, and faculty abroad. By the time of application, new opportunities in labs and cities may arise, so students are encouraged to schedule a meeting with me, as the leading faculty member, to discuss available placements and opportunities in more detail.

Special skills needed

Self-Time Management; Design Capacity and Interest in Making Things; Collaboration and Teamwork; Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving; Adaptability and Flexibility; Attention to Detail; Interpersonal and Cross-Cultural Communication; Initiative and Drive; Technical Competency; Global Perspective

Majors

Architecture,
Industrial Design,
Graphic Design (for virtual simulations/technologies),
Computer Science (for virtual simulations/technologies),
Design, Arts,
Mechanical Engineering,
Civil Engineering,
Urban Planning,
Business Administration (Supply Chain Management),
Environmental Design,
Aerospace Engineering,
Biomedical Engineering (for health-related research in space),
Materials Science,
Sustainability Studies,
International Studies (for global perspectives),
Electrical Engineering (for wearable technology design),
Physics (for space science and research applications)

Years

2nd Year Students, 4th Year Students- Seniors, ASU Online Barrett Honors Students (fully remote work), 3rd Year Students

Themes

Cross-listed with the following themes:

Art, Architecture, and Design, Biological, Chemical, and Physical Sciences, Business and Entrepreneurship, Education, Engineering, Health and Wellness, Humanities, Journalism, Communication, and Mass Media, Law, Justice, and Public Service, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Sustainability

Project # 39

Center name: Center for Transitioning to a Net-Zero Chemicals and Materials Industry
Campus/Location: Tempe
Faculty lead: Bhavik Bakshi

Project description

The main goal of this project is to develop a model of the electronics industry that includes the flow of various types of materials, energy use, products, and waste. This will require a study of the industry based on the academic literature, government reports and industry data. Basic knowledge about steps in the electronics industry including manufacture of chips, assembly and disassembly will also be needed. This work will utilize a framework developed in my group that has already been used to develop similar models for other industry sectors including basic chemicals, steel, cement, etc. The work will be entirely computational in nature.

Special skills needed

Basic understanding of mass and energy conversion and balance.

Majors

Chemical engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, chemistry, physics.

Years

4th Year Students- Seniors, 3rd Year Students, 2nd Year Students

Themes

Cross-listed with the following themes:

Engineering, Sustainability

Project # 51

Center name: Center for Global Health
Campus/Location: Tempe
Faculty lead: Amber Wutich

Project description

AW4A’s goal is to advance water security in Arizona’s most water-insecure households. Our international, interdisciplinary team works under the leadership of MacArthur Fellow, Dr. Amber Wutich. Based on the premise that it is impossible to create meaningful environmental justice impacts in communities without establishing trust and committing to long-haul connections with those communities, we are building a multi-stakeholder network facilitated through a partnership between Arizona State University (ASU), Northern Arizona University (NAU) and the University of Arizona (U of A) to engage and co-develop projects with water-insecure communities across the state.

At the AW4A network, we expect to create in-person and virtual spaces that allow stakeholders who are experiencing water insecurity to learn from each other, build leadership and advocacy capacity, and enhance existing opportunities for collaboration. Fully integrated into the AW4A team, the Barrett College Fellow will take a leading role in building this collaborative network, developing and implementing the effective relationship building and communication strategies that are vital to its success. This involves hosting workshops and webinars, as well as maintaining newsletters, blogs, graphic creations, and other media tasks to keep our partners and community engaged with our work.

Special skills needed

We are seeking a dynamic student invested in learning how to create and maintain relationships with multiple stakeholders involved in socio-environmental issues (i.e., water security in low-income communities) across Arizona. Skills that are valued are:
Strong written and verbal communication skills that enhance the quality of team and project outputs.
Critical thinking and problem-solving skills to deal with unexpected situations.
A desire to work on complex problems as part of an interdisciplinary team.
Curiosity and learning mindset about stakeholder engagement and community-based research.
Minimum basic understanding of Spanish.
Ability to work with Canva or other graphic design software.
Ability to work with Mailchimp or other newsletter design and distribution software.

Majors

Business, management, marketing, and related support services,
Marketing/marketing management,
Multi-/interdisciplinary studies,
Journalism,
Environmental studies,
Communication sciences and disorders,
Anthropology,
Global Health,
Liberal arts and sciences/liberal studies,
Graphic design,
Digital communication and media/multimedia,
Environmental design/architecture,
Geography,
Environmental/environmental health engineering

Years

First Year Students (new to ASU Fall 2025), 2nd Year Students, 3rd Year Students, ASU Online Barrett Honors Students (fully remote work)

Themes

Cross-listed with the following themes:

Law, Justice, and Public Service, Art, Architecture, and Design, Biological, Chemical, and Physical Sciences, Business and Entrepreneurship, Data Analytics and Mathematics, Education, Engineering, Health and Wellness, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Sustainability

Project # 52

Center name: Human Biometeorology Lab & Heat Ready
Campus/Location: Tempe
Faculty lead: Jennifer Vanos

Project description

We have various opportunities for students to gain experience on projects doing field work that relates to extreme heat. Working in our HeatReady program on schools and neighborhoods, collecting data as part of our integrated urban field laboratory, working with physiological data and models, and working in our thermal chamber with our manikin, ANDI.
The faculty lead would generally be Jennifer Vanos.

Special skills needed

Motivated, good initiative, instrumentation, working with data (statistics, processing, visualizations, GIS), interest in fieldwork in the heat, working with the community and stakeholders

Majors

Geography & Urban planning, Sustainability, Engineering (Built environment), Health Solutions

Years

4th Year Students- Seniors, 3rd Year Students

Themes

Cross-listed with the following themes:

Data Analytics and Mathematics, Engineering, Health and Wellness, Sustainability

Project # 54

Center name: Imaging Informatics Research (JLiang Lab)
Campus/Location: Flexible to remote and/or in-person
Faculty lead: Jianming Liang

Project description

This is a set of projects aiming to develop novel methods and systems in artificial intelligence (AI), artificial general intelligence (AGI), and deep learning (DL) towards multimodal medical foundation models for medicine, imaging, and clinical reports (based on ChatGPT/GPT-4, Gemini/Bard, and LLaMA) to support clinical decision-making and facilitate precision medicine. While my lab is working on the brain, heart, lung, skin, eye, and abdomen diseases across modalities (images, lab tests, reports, videos, and audio) you may choose to focus on one particular condition at one specific modality based on your interest. My lab has the infrastructure to accommodate multiple students in this research direction.

Special skills needed

Skills required:
1) Strong programming skills in Python -- you have taken courses in computer science and programming, and have experience in using GitHub;
2) Good understanding of machine (deep) learning -- you have taken courses in machine learning, and gained experience in training AI models;
3) Determination to pursue majors in computer science, computer engineering, data science and analytics, robotics and autonomous systems, software engineering, biomedical informatics, and biomedical engineering;
4) Deep commitment to conducting rigorous experiments to establish state-of-the-art baselines, and
5) Strong desire to publish a paper at a top conference and turn it into a journal article in your first year with my lab.

Majors

Biomedical Informatics and Data Science;
Computer Science;
Computer Engineering;
Robotics and Autonomous Systems;
Data Science, Analytics, and Engineering;
Software Engineering; and
Biomedical Engineering

Years

3rd Year Students, 4th Year Students- Seniors, ASU Online Barrett Honors Students (fully remote work), 2nd Year Students, First Year Students (new to ASU Fall 2025)

Themes

Cross-listed with the following themes:

Biological, Chemical, and Physical Sciences, Business and Entrepreneurship, Data Analytics and Mathematics, Engineering, Health and Wellness, Law, Justice, and Public Service, Social and Behavioral Sciences

Project # 60

Center name: Project is part of the OpenForest4D, funded by the NSF
Campus/Location: Tempe, Flexible to remote and/or in-person, Fully remote
Faculty lead: Chelsea Scott

Project description

Forests change over time due to a variety of processes, including wildfires, droughts, invasive species, logging, and anthropogenic development. Quantifying these changes is important for understanding biomass loss, biodiversity conservation, fire severity assessment, post-fire regeneration, and soil erosion prevention. This project is part of a larger project that focuses on measuring forest characteristics from remote sensing data and analyzing how forests change following a landscape disturbance.

In this project, the student will analyze remote sensing data like satellite imagery and lidar using GIS (geospatial information system) tools. The student will manually map features like trees and will measure canopy height. The student will then work to compare these manual measurements to measurements derived using automatic workflows. This project contributes to assessing the accuracy of automatic workflows of deriving forest characteristics and understanding how forests change over time.

Special skills needed

Background in geospatial information system (GIS), remote sensing, and/or ecology,
Excited to learn how to map trees from remote sensing data,
High attention to detail (there is a lot of information in the remote sensing data),
Commitment to attending weekly in-person or virtual meetings and discussing progress and challenges

Majors

Earth and Environmental Sciences/ Earth and Space Exploration,
Geography,
Geographic Information Science,
Ocean Futures,
Biological Sciences (Conservation Biology and Ecology),
I would accept other on these themes

Years

3rd Year Students, 4th Year Students- Seniors, ASU Online Barrett Honors Students (fully remote work)

Themes

Cross-listed with the following themes:

Data Analytics and Mathematics, Engineering, Sustainability

Project # 65

Center name: Decision Theater
Campus/Location: Tempe
Faculty lead: Manfred Laubichler

Project description

The Decision Theater is developing innovative decision-support tools to address critical challenges in Arizona's energy and environmental landscape. In examining the future energy landscape, DT is developing a data-driven model that will guide stakeholders in evaluating novel energy sources, including nuclear options, to meet the state’s 20 GW demand from coal and oil closures and new growth, while balancing safety, security, and efficiency concerns. DT also aims to map ozone pollution and risks that may trigger EPA-imposed restrictions on development. Decision Theater will integrate these data streams and models into cohesive visualizations, ultimately, to support decision-making across industry, government, and communities through understanding complex financial, regulatory, environmental, and societal factors.

Special skills needed

This position will assist the Decision Theater staff with subject-matter research and analysis which may include:
Writing briefs,
Briefing colleagues on background for topics,
Researching through complex techniques and procedures, library research, structured
interviews or other project-specific methodology,
Writing and editing material for publication and presentation,
Maintaining research documentation and sources,
Running models and tools for presentations to clients and visitors

Qualifications include:
Demonstrated public speaking experience,
Strong qualitative research skills,
Strong written and verbal communication skills,
Detail-oriented,
Ability to pick up things fast with a strong desire to learn,
Demonstrated leadership experience,
Previous knowledge or skill and/or equivalent experience in Outlook, MS Office Suite,
Word, and Excel, specifically macros and functions,
Experience with collaborative platforms such as Google Docs,
Ability to lift/move heavy furniture with the assistance of a dolly,
Interest in learning how to utilize technology to support decision-making and public policy

Majors

All majors are appropriate but may be best suited for those in Sustainability, Complex Adaptive Systems, Fulton Engineering, School for the Future of Innovation in Society, WP Carey (Business Analytics), Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts

Years

First Year Students (new to ASU Fall 2025), 2nd Year Students, 3rd Year Students, 4th Year Students- Seniors

Themes

Cross-listed with the following themes:

Data Analytics and Mathematics, Engineering, Sustainability

Project # 67

Center name: School of Life Sciences
Campus/Location: Tempe
Faculty lead: Hinsby Cadillo-Quiroz

Project description

This a microbiology and engineering project where, along with PhD student, we seek to test various combinations of microbial cultures to optimize the growth and activity of methanotrophic bacteria and heterotrophic bacteria. Fundamentally, this experiment will be built on physiology and genomic data testing whether metabolic interactions can complement and provide a mixed growth where the limitations of low levels of methane can be alleviated by heterotrophs co-metabolism.
This a computationally assisted (engineering) and bench-driven (microbiology) project, where complementary interactions will allow testing hundreds of permutations testing microbial strains.

Special skills needed

Students that have completed Mic 220 and 205, or MIC 300 level classes will be considered for students focusing in Microbiology component, students who have completed Process or Bioreactor engineering classes (or equivalent) will be considered. Experience in microbiology labs, Arduino systems, or bioreactor system will be highly considered

Majors

Microbiology, Environmental Engineering, Chemical Engineering

Years

4th Year Students- Seniors, 3rd Year Students

Themes

Cross-listed with the following themes:

Biological, Chemical, and Physical Sciences, Engineering

Project # 70

Center name: Active Schools & Communities Lab
Campus/Location: Downtown
Faculty lead: Allison Poulos

Project description

Join Dr. Poulos in the College of Health Solutions and an interdisciplinary research team to support our local communities to make the streets safer for walking, riding, and rolling. On this project, you would assist with data collection including conducting surveys and environmental assessments of street and neighborhood conditions, tallying pedestrian and vehicular traffic counts, data management, and dissemination of results. Our project will measure changes in behavior and attitudes after the installation of protected bike lanes, and provide a great opportunity for hands-on, community-based research with community partners in government and non-profit spaces.

Special skills needed

Interest in health, sustainability, safety, design; Interest in community-based work; Preferred availability on Wednesdays or Thursdays

Majors

Health Education, Health Promotion, Public Health, Population Health, Kinesiology, Health Sciences, Engineering, Architecture, Design, Sustainability, Psychology, Education

Years

First Year Students (new to ASU Fall 2025), 2nd Year Students, 3rd Year Students, 4th Year Students- Seniors

Themes

Cross-listed with the following themes:

Art, Architecture, and Design, Engineering, Health and Wellness, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Sustainability

Project # 76

Center name: Center for Biological Design and Biomimetics
Campus/Location: Tempe
Faculty lead: Petr Sulc

Project description

Have you ever tried to assemble Legos just by shaking the box? Nature does this successfully all the time, and in biomolecular nanotechnology, we try to imitate this process to construct nanoscale machines. We use designed molecules (made out of DNA, RNA, or proteins) as basic building blocks that self-assemble and arrange in 3D to create nanoscale structures and devices, with applications ranging from biomanufacturing to diagnostics and therapeutics. Our group develops design and simulation tools to understand the device assembly and operation, and we are seeking to enhance our tools by AI-driven design component (e.g. training machine learning models to help to automate the design and verification of nanostructure in-silico, integration of chatGPT into the tools, etc). The work will be performed in close collaboration with the experimental section of our lab, and we will aim to experimentally verify some of the AI-generated designs.

Special skills needed

We are seeking students with experience with coding in javascript, python and/or C++. Prior experience with machine learning and training of deep neural networks / LLMs is a plus.

Majors

Computer science, Physics, Math, Engineering

Years

2nd Year Students, 3rd Year Students, 4th Year Students- Seniors, ASU Online Barrett Honors Students (fully remote work)

Themes

Cross-listed with the following themes:

Biological, Chemical, and Physical Sciences, Data Analytics and Mathematics, Engineering

Project # 79

Center name: School of Complex Adaptive Systems
Campus/Location: Tempe
Faculty lead: Enrico Borriello

Project description

A key focus of complexity studies is understanding how interactions within dynamic networks give rise to emergent complexity and behaviors. By joining this project, the student will have the opportunity to explore the fundamental principles of network theory, including key concepts and quantitative metrics for analyzing network properties at both global and local scales. They will apply mathematical models and computational tools to investigate the structure and dynamics of complex systems across a variety of real-world domains, ranging from biological to social and technological networks.

Specifically, the student will gain the tools to identify network motifs associated with the directional transfer of information and uncover how these motifs relate to overall network functionality and behavior. This project provides a data-driven approach to tackling complexity science problems, integrating analytical methodologies with Python-based computational tools.

Special skills needed

Basic understanding of calculus, probability and statistics, and Python.

Majors

Biological, Chemical, and Physical Sciences, Business and Entrepreneurship, Data Analytics and Mathematics, Engineering, Social and Behavioral Sciences

Years

ASU Online Barrett Honors Students (fully remote work), 4th Year Students- Seniors, 3rd Year Students, 2nd Year Students, First Year Students (new to ASU Fall 2025)

Themes

Cross-listed with the following themes:

Biological, Chemical, and Physical Sciences, Business and Entrepreneurship, Data Analytics and Mathematics, Engineering, Social and Behavioral Sciences

Project # 85

Center name: School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment
Campus/Location: Tempe
Faculty lead: Dwarak Ravikumar

Project description

This project will use a combination of computer vision and physics-based models to determine the water use and losses of cooling towers in commercial buildings. The student is expected to conduct and assist in research and writing code on identifying structures in satellite/drone imagery using computer vision. Subsequently, the student will apply principles of physics and thermodynamics to the results of the computer vision analysis and determine the waste loads and losses of cooling towers in Arizona.

Special skills needed

Artificial intelligence and/or Computer vision

Majors

Computer Science Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Sustainable Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering

Years

4th Year Students- Seniors

Themes

Cross-listed with the following themes:

Engineering, Sustainability

Project # 86

Center name: School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment
Campus/Location: Tempe
Faculty lead: Dwarak Ravikumar

Project description

The student will be expected to analyze big data and write code to quantify the amount of human urine that is being generated in commercial buildings in the state of Arizona. Based on the volume of HU generated, the next step will be to determine how can this HU be used as fertilizers for the crops grown in AZ, develop and optimization algorithm to develop and locate the infrastructure required to convert HU to fertilizers and quantify the associated environmental benefits of implement this circular economy from HU to food systems.

Special skills needed

Data analysis, Big data, Python coding, Statistics

Majors

Computer science engineering, Environmental Engineering, Chemical Engineering

Years

4th Year Students- Seniors, 3rd Year Students

Themes

Cross-listed with the following themes:

Engineering, Sustainability

Project # 88

Center name: School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment
Campus/Location: Tempe
Faculty lead: Dwarak Ravikumar

Project description

This project seeks to implement a circular economy from solar panels to Concrete. More specifically, the student will be expected to be part of a team focusing on experimental research and analysis to assess how the properties of concrete change when we add solar glass to it, how to best improve the properties of concrete from glass addition and quantify the associated environmental benefits. The student will help in experimental work, conduction analysis and co-authoring a paper.

Special skills needed

Experimental research relating to preparing concrete samples containing glass and measuring the properties of the said concrete sample. Analysis the results from the experimental research. Quantifying the sustainability benefits from this circular economy.

Majors

Civil engineering, Construction engineering and management

Years

4th Year Students- Seniors, 3rd Year Students

Themes

Cross-listed with the following themes:

Engineering, Sustainability

Project # 98

Center name: SolarSPELL
Campus/Location: Tempe, Fully remote, Flexible to remote and/or in-person
Faculty lead: Laura Hosman

Project description

SolarSPELL is seeking a team of students who are passionate about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to curate regionally-relevant, open-access, educational content for the collections in the SolarSPELL library. Students will review, research, and select high-quality STEM resources that align with the curricula and educational needs of SolarSPELL’s target regions, including countries in the Pacific Islands, East Africa, Northeast Syria, and Southern Africa. Interns will focus on ensuring that materials are engaging, culturally appropriate, and suitable for offline learning environments. This project will also involve identifying gaps in the existing library collections and sourcing innovative content that supports foundational STEM education and sparks curiosity in learners worldwide.

Special skills needed

- Interest in STEM Education: Passion for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics topics.
- Ability to thrive in a team environment and work effectively with others.
- Detail oriented and reliable; a strong and honest work ethic motivates you
- Globally minded; you have a desire to work for a department that serves communities from all over the world

Majors

All majors

Years

First Year Students (new to ASU Fall 2025), 2nd Year Students, 3rd Year Students, 4th Year Students- Seniors, ASU Online Barrett Honors Students (fully remote work)

Themes

Cross-listed with the following themes:

Biological, Chemical, and Physical Sciences, Data Analytics and Mathematics, Education, Engineering, Sustainability

Project # 106

Center name: Biodesign Compact X-ray Free Electron Laser Laboratory
Campus/Location: Tempe
Faculty lead: Nicholas Matlis

Project description

High energy pulses of terahertz radiation (commonly referred to as "THz pulses") in the millimeter-wave band have emerged as a new tool enabling exploration of fundamental properties of materials, development of new telecommunications standards and development of advanced accelerator technologies among other things. For materials science, the low photon energies in THz pulses allow interrogation of collective and quantum dynamics with unprecedented finesse, while for accelerators, the short wavelengths of THz pulses allow manipulation of electrons on small scales inaccessible by standard approaches. World-class infrastructure, both existing and under development, at the Biodesign Institute, including high-energy lasers as well as compact X-ray light sources combined with recent breakthroughs in THz-source technologies present multiple opportunities for unique research projects leveraging the benefits of high-energy THz pulses. Among these are development of new, efficient THz sources in collaboration with international partners; study of the nonlinear response of materials such as lithium niobate (which is ubiquitous across telecommunications technologies) driven by high-intensity laser pulses; and X-ray studies of atomic-scale dynamics of materials driven by intense THz pulses. Up to three students will be accepted for up to three projects with significant overlap to be supervised by Prof. Matlis.

Special skills needed

Strong physics & engineering background. Perseverance, aptitude for hands-on work and ability to leverage physical intuition and mathematical skills is necessary. Knowledge of optics, electromagnetism or lasers is a plus.

Majors

Physics, Engineering, Related

Years

4th Year Students- Seniors, 3rd Year Students, 2nd Year Students

Themes

Cross-listed with the following themes:

Biological, Chemical, and Physical Sciences, Engineering

Project # 107

Center name: LightWorks
Campus/Location: Tempe
Faculty lead: Ivan Ermanoski

Project description

This project aims to develop materials and technologies for thermochemical hydrogen production for fuels, long-duration energy storage, and for chemical feedstocks. The project is predominantly lab-based and includes chemical synthesis, mechanical and electrical design, and experiment-computer interface.

Special skills needed

Interest in renewable energy, and in sustainable fuels and chemicals

Majors

Chemical, mechanical, electrical engineering, chemistry, physics, and related disciplines

Years

First Year Students (new to ASU Fall 2025), 2nd Year Students, 3rd Year Students, 4th Year Students- Seniors

Themes

Cross-listed with the following themes:

Biological, Chemical, and Physical Sciences, Engineering

Project # 108

Center name: LightWorks
Campus/Location: Tempe
Faculty lead: Ivan Ermanoski

Project description

This project is working to develop a renewable alternative to the Haber-Bosch process for ammonia production as an important chemical for the production of nitrogen fertilizers and other critical chemicals. The project is predominantly lab-based and includes chemical synthesis, mechanical and electrical design, and experiment-computer interface.

Special skills needed

Interest in renewable energy, and in sustainable fuels and chemicals

Majors

Chemical, mechanical, electrical engineering, chemistry, physics, and related disciplines

Years

First Year Students (new to ASU Fall 2025), 2nd Year Students, 3rd Year Students, 4th Year Students- Seniors

Themes

Cross-listed with the following themes:

Biological, Chemical, and Physical Sciences, Engineering

Project # 110

Center name: LightWorks
Campus/Location: Tempe
Faculty lead: Ivan Ermanoski

Project description

The goal of this project is to determine the feasibility of edible mushroom cultivation on abiotic substrates. The approach is a sustainable alternative to photosynthetic crops, to decrease the environmental footprint of food production by 100x, while improving nutritional quality and access to food and minimizing food waste. The project is predominantly lab-based and mycelium cultivation, mechanical and electrical design, and experiment-computer interface.

Special skills needed

Interest in in sustainable food systems

Majors

Biology, chemical, mechanical, electrical engineering, chemistry, physics, and related disciplines

Years

First Year Students (new to ASU Fall 2025), 2nd Year Students, 3rd Year Students, 4th Year Students- Seniors

Themes

Cross-listed with the following themes:

Biological, Chemical, and Physical Sciences, Engineering, Sustainability

Project # 113

Center name: Sustainable Critical Minerals and Communities Laboratory
Campus/Location: Tempe, Flexible to remote and/or in-person
Faculty lead: Datu Buyung Agusdinata

Project description

In 2023, wind energy accounts for over 10% of electricity generation in the U.S., making it the country's largest renewable energy source. The U.S. has installed more than 145 GW of wind capacity. Offshore wind, though nascent, is projected to reach 30 GW by 2030.

The project explores the future evolution of wind energy technologies in the United States. In modeling such dynamics, the project will consider factors such as policy incentives, Innovations in turbine design, retirement rate of old turbines, availability of land and critical minerals, and installation and operating costs. The project covers both onshore wind farms and offshore projects. Based on several projections of wind energy capacity and the existing wind farm database, the project will use an Excel spreadsheet to model the retirement and addition of wind turbines for 2025-2050.

Special skills needed

Spreadsheet modeling, statistical and data analysis, basic software coding

Majors

Engineering, Technology, Sustainability

Years

3rd Year Students, ASU Online Barrett Honors Students (fully remote work)

Themes

Cross-listed with the following themes:

Data Analytics and Mathematics, Engineering, Sustainability

Project # 119

Center name: Sustainable Critical Minerals and Communities Laboratory
Campus/Location: Tempe, Polytechnic, Flexible to remote and/or in-person
Faculty lead: Datu Buyung Agusdinata

Project description

Arizona has a long history as a hub for mining, particularly copper. While mining has contributed significantly to the state’s economy, it has also left a legacy of environmental degradation, including water contamination, habitat destruction, and pollution, along with social challenges such as land disputes and the marginalization of Indigenous and local communities. These issues underscore the need for a more equitable and sustainable approach to mining operations.
This project aims to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to support just and sustainable mining practices in Arizona by designing a communication platform/interface to enhance collaboration among stakeholders, including mining companies, government agencies, local communities, and advocacy groups. The AI-powered platform will promote trust-building, transparency, and informed decision-making by facilitating data sharing, real-time monitoring of environmental and social impacts, and conflict resolution.

Special skills needed

AI applications, Data analytics, social and environmental justice

Majors

Computer science, Sustainability

Years

4th Year Students- Seniors, ASU Online Barrett Honors Students (fully remote work), 3rd Year Students

Themes

Cross-listed with the following themes:

Data Analytics and Mathematics, Engineering, Sustainability

Project # 120

Center name: Water Equity Lab
Campus/Location: Tempe, Flexible to remote and/or in-person
Faculty lead: Maura Allaire

Project description

The Water Equity Lab within the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning (SGSUP) is launching a multidisciplinary study of how climate and governance shape access to adequate water and wastewater services. Little is known about the social dimensions of onsite infrastructure or how climate change will impact such systems. Regional modeling will examine the effectiveness of state, county, and local policies; findings can identify practices that enable resilience of wastewater systems under more frequent and extreme precipitation events.

Special skills needed

Strong analysis skills, including statistical modeling and/or spatial analysis. Interest in water infrastructure and/or environmental policy.

Majors

Sustainability, Urban Planning, Civil Engineering, Economics, Business Management, Computer Science

Years

4th Year Students- Seniors, 3rd Year Students

Themes

Cross-listed with the following themes:

Data Analytics and Mathematics, Engineering, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Sustainability

Project # 130

Center name: Online research on honeybee colonies
Campus/Location: Tempe, Polytechnic
Faculty lead: Hong Lei

Project description

As an eusocial species, honeybee colonies are known to demonstrate age dependent behaviors. Young bees take care of the brood; older bees become forager. At any given time, different individuals are performing different behaviors in the hive. Recognizing and quantify these behaviors is important for understanding organizing principles of a society, but this task is challenging because of large number of bees. Could this work be automated by a computerized tracker powered by machine learning?

Special skills needed

Machine learning, Matlab, Arduino, Jetson Nano, computer vision

Majors

Computer science, Biology

Years

ASU Online Barrett Honors Students (fully remote work), 2nd Year Students

Themes

Cross-listed with the following themes:

Biological, Chemical, and Physical Sciences, Data Analytics and Mathematics, Engineering

Project # 136

Center name: Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center
Campus/Location: Flexible to remote and/or in-person
Faculty lead: John Chang

Project description

One of the major issue in AI model development is that supervised training will require some form of labeling. Although unsupervised training has also been applied to train the model to learn imaging features from the unlabeled images, some form of labeling is required to teach the model what is the correct answer. Recent works has combined both into the same model to minimize training of the model which began with a model training on ImageNet data followed by training on labeled specialized imaging data set. This was subsequently trained using unlabeled specialized images to help the model further refine special imaging features. For our work, we want to 1) develop a standard, diverse set of specialized images to guide the model learning, 2) use unsupervised training for the model to learn imaging features, and 3) use the errors from predicting the classes of cases in 1) to guide updates of the model parameters. We will assess the rate of learning, precision, recall, and F1 score of the model after every 10 epochs.

The fellow (Preferrably sophomore or freshman) will work with a current fellow to code the model initially and will train the model using the unlabeled images for unsupervised training. We will also decide how many cases should be trained before checking on the model metric as described above and will assess the peak performance of the model.

Special skills needed

python coding, ai background

Majors

EE, CS, Data science

Years

2nd Year Students, First Year Students (new to ASU Fall 2025), 3rd Year Students

Themes

Cross-listed with the following themes:

Engineering, Health and Wellness

Project # 137

Center name: Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center
Campus/Location: Flexible to remote and/or in-person
Faculty lead: John Chang

Project description

Previously, we have developed a UNET model to help detect colorectal cancer based on images alone. However, the preliminary model produces many false positives which makes the output less useful. Several methods currently exist to reduce the false positives. One is by increasing the number of training cases, which is difficult to produce and requires significant human effort. The other is to use multimodal technique to assimilate different forms of information to reduce the false positive probability. One of the current fellow has employed BERT model to assemble preprocessed information to detect disease diagnosis from clinical charts. Currently, we are working toward using serial charts to predict the likelihood of cancer developing in the next clinical visit (using the BERHT model). We will need a fellow (preferably sophomore or freshman) to learn the current model and to continue the adaptation of the model to integrate serial clinical information to predict the likelihood of developing colon cancer. Our eventual goal is for this model to integrate with an image based model to adapt the a priori risk of cancer so as to help the image model adjust it’s probability threshold. A second goal is to integrate the model into medical charts such that automated colorectal cancer prediction can be done based on the most up-to-date clinical information so that the clinician can provide better advice for preventive procedures.

Special skills needed

python coding, ai model understanding

Majors

EE, CS, Data science

Years

First Year Students (new to ASU Fall 2025), 2nd Year Students, 3rd Year Students

Themes

Cross-listed with the following themes:

Engineering, Health and Wellness

Project # 138

Center name: Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center
Campus/Location: Flexible to remote and/or in-person
Faculty lead: John Chang

Project description

This project is outgrowth from project 2. The goal in this is to take serial clinical chart and produce a concise summary of a cancer patient’s treatment and response to the treatment. This will apply the BEHRT model from project 2 and convert from a decision making model to one that is generative. The intended use is to assist clinicians in generating concise treatment history so that the clinician does not have to search through past charts to gather the history. Rather, the history would be generate in real time and be incorporated into patient’s current visit documentation so that the clinician’s time can be used to focus on the patients. The fellow (preferably sophomore or freshman) would work with the current fellow and learn the model and continue with the project once the current fellow graduates.

Special skills needed

python coding, ai model understanding

Majors

EE, CS, Data science

Years

First Year Students (new to ASU Fall 2025), 2nd Year Students, 3rd Year Students

Themes

Cross-listed with the following themes:

Engineering, Health and Wellness