Research projects will be added to this SIP 2024 research projects page weekly through the month of May.
Total Projects Posted: 120
Anthropology (ANT)
ANT-01: Eating Insects in Silicon Valley: Cultural Gaps Between Food-Tech and Tradition
Primary mentor: Azri Amram
Faculty Advisor: Prof. Azri Amram
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: The consumption of insects by humans (entomophagy) presents a unique intersection of traditional cultural practices and future sustainable food technology. As global demand for protein continues to grow, the potential of insects as a nutritious, environmentally friendly, and efficient protein source is undeniable. However, widespread acceptance and adoption of insect-based foods in Western cultures face significant cultural barriers, despite their common use in various parts of the world. This preliminary research project aims to explore the social and cultural dimensions of insect consumption in the Bay area by analyzing two distinct yet interconnected perspectives: the traditional practices among immigrants from eating insect cultures and the contemporary discourse within the food-tech sector promoting insects as a future and sustainable protein source.
Tasks: Interviews and Fieldwork: assist the mentor with the core research activities, including finding relevant interviewers, scheduling interviews, obtaining necessary permits or permissions, and coordinating with local contacts or communities.
Data Collection: Help the mentor in collecting primary data through online resources and archival research.
Literature Review: Assist in conducting literature searches and reviews related to the project’s focus.
Transcription: Transcribe recorded interviews or other qualitative data, ensuring accuracy and consistency in transcriptions.
Data Analysis: Assist the mentor in organizing and analyzing qualitative data
Administrative Tasks: Assist with administrative tasks related to the project, such as organizing meetings and maintaining project documentation.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
Applied Artificial Intelligence (AAI)
AAI-01: Artificial Intelligence in Self-Driving Cars
Primary mentor: Majid Moghadam
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Gabriel Elkaim
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 4
Project description: Self-driving cars use a stack of multiple sensors to observe the environment and make decisions. Artificial intelligence algorithms in recent years have helped these vehicles to improve their intelligence significantly. In this research project, the SIP interns will learn how self-driving cars see, think, and take actions using AI algorithms. The interns will involve in Python programming tasks to build rule-based and AI agents that drive cars in simulation.
Tasks: The SIP interns will:
1) Learn about how self-driving cars observe, make decisions, and take actions; 2) Learn about the basics of Machine Learning and Deep Reinforcement Learning algorithms; 3) Conduct research about the most common AI algorithms used in self-driving cars and present to the class; 4) Solve the assigned coding challenges in Python and present to the class; 5) Learn how to use a autonomous driving simulation; 6) Create rule-based lane-changing agents using Python in the simulation; 7) Train AI agents and compare
with rule-based models; 8) Present the results to the class.
The interns will need access to a laptop for this research project. Higher resource configuration helps faster AI training, but it’s not required.
The Interns need to know the basics of Python programming.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None, computer programming
URL: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=2U-z5IAAAAAJ&hl=en&authuser=1
AAI-02: Model Compression
Primary mentor: Sathyaprakash Narayanan
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Jason K. Eshraghian
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: The overall proposal is to make Neural Network models faster, efficient in terms of energy, memory and computation.
In order to achieve this, we will have to introduce a few changes to the existing snnTorch models.
Prune the Spiking pre-trained model and make it less expensive by all means
Leverage on the unpruned structure of the model and make the model sparse efficient
Once we have a sparse model that is performing as close as the original dense model
Inputs are also sparsified to make an end-to-end sparse model
Sparsify the whole operation such that the FLOPs leverage the sparsity of the Spiking Neural Networks
Make a Comparison Metric to showcase the prowess
4. Package the whole setup into a package if possible (Future Milestone)
Tasks: Learn about Neural Networks, Make the sconce model better
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
URL: https://sconce.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
AAI-03: Autoencoders in Space Optical Communications
Primary mentor: Abdulaziz Alatawi
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Zouheir Rezki
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: Autoencoders are neural networks that can learn a compressed representation of the input data, called the latent code, through unsupervised learning. This code is a summary or compression of the input that can be used for a variety of tasks, such as image generation, anomaly detection, and dimensionality reduction. This research project focuses on autoencoders. The SIP interns will use Python libraries like PyTorch and TensorFlow to study research papers and reproduce results. This will help the interns gain practical experience in implementing end-to-end performance systems in wireless communication systems and understand other applications of autoencoders. Additionally, the interns will receive a good introduction to the Python programming language and space optical wireless communications. The SIP interns will periodically present their progress to ensure a good learning process.
Tasks:
To start, the SIP interns will receive a specific schedule for the first two weeks to learn Python programming. The coursework will entail completing exercises, watching videos, and receiving a comprehensive introduction to wireless communications. Additionally, the interns will be asked to submit daily progress reports on their assigned tasks. The interns will also be required to read the mentors’ published GLOBECOM paper to understand the system model right from the beginning.
Starting in week #3, the SIP interns will be taught how to implement autoencoders in wireless communications and create plots for (Bit Error Rate) BER results and constellation diagrams presented in the GLOBECOM paper. Through reading technical papers, the interns will focus on improving the published research work by introducing security constraints and improving BER results compared to state-of-the-art models. In addition, the interns will explore different fading channel scenarios and develop a system that can function effectively not only in specific channel conditions but also in various channel scenarios. Additionally, it would be valuable to compare the proposed autoencoder solutions for various channel conditions with the federated learning approach.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: Computer Programming
URL: https://sites.google.com/view/zouheir-rezki-lab/home/
AAI-04: LLM-Coordination: Developing Coordination Agents with Large Language Models
Primary mentor: Saaket Agashe
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Xin Eric Wang
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: Large Language Models (LLMs) are revolutionizing the way we think about AI’s capabilities. They are no longer limited to language processing applications but have found uses in real-world decision-making problems that require extensive reasoning and planning abilities, such as Robotics, Code Generation, and Gaming. The LLM-Coordination project invites interns to delve into the expanding realm of LLM applications, particularly focusing on multi-agent coordination and cooperation—a key component in our everyday interactions and a critical area for advancing AI utility.
This project presents a unique opportunity for those interested in the intersection of AI and collaborative systems. Interns will explore how these powerful models can be optimized to work alongside humans and other AI agents, enhancing safety and productivity across various domains. By participating in this initiative, interns will not only contribute to cutting-edge research but also develop practical skills in AI development and application.
Tasks:
- Learning the Fundamentals: Begin with a comprehensive overview of LLMs—understanding their architecture, how they are trained, and their broad range of applications.
- Practical Application and Development: Move from theory to practice by designing and programming LLM agents. These agents will be tested in simulated environments where the focus will be on fostering effective collaboration among multiple agents. (Present your work to)
- Innovative Scenario Design: Take on the challenge of developing new game-like scenarios that will serve as test beds for assessing the adaptability and effectiveness of LLM agents in varied and unpredictable conditions. (Present and Discuss your work)
- Critical Analysis and Problem Solving: Evaluate the performance of LLM agents, identifying any limitations or challenges encountered in multi-agent settings. Interns will use their insights to propose novel solutions and improvements, pushing the boundaries of what AI can achieve.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: Computer Programming
AAI-05: UNet and GANs in Medical Images
Primary mentor: Nahid Nasiri
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Gabriel Elkaim
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: UNet is a convolutional neural network architecture that expanded with few changes in the CNN architecture. It was invented to deal with biomedical images where the target is not only to classify whether there is an infection or not but also to identify the area of infection. On the other hand, medical images suffer from lack of enough images for deep learning purposes. To compensate this problem, we will study Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) which is one of the vital efficient methods for generating a massive, high-quality artificial picture. GANs is a class of generative models that was introduced by Goodfellow et al. It is one of the most-cited papers in computer science (nearly 26000 at the time of writing of this proposal), which proves this method’s popularity and importance in the machine learning and deep learning fields. Yann LeCun, who is a pioneer in the modern revolution in deep neural networks, declared GANs as “the most interesting idea in the last 10 years in machine learning.” For diagnosing particular diseases in a medical image, a general problem is that it is expensive, usage of high radiation dosage, and time-consuming to collect data. Hence GAN is a deep learning method that has been developed for the image to image translation, i.e. from low-resolution to high-resolution image, for example generating Magnetic resonance image (MRI) from computed tomography image (CT).
Tasks: The SIP interns’ tasks will include: (1) Python programming every week; (2) machine learning frameworks such as TensorFlow and Keras; (3) data collection and augmentation; (4) the most advanced topics in deep learning — i.e., UNet and GANs; (5) critical reading of research papers; and (6) being familiar with machine learning for medical purposes.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: Computer Programming
AAI-06: Exploring Bias in AI-generated Content
Primary mentor: Dhanishtha Patil
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Leilani Gilpin
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 4
Project description: This research project investigates bias in AI-generated images, focusing on how AI reacts to different demographic traits specified in prompts, such as race, gender, age, or cultural representation (Eg. GPT-4 might generate images of men in leadership roles, such as male executives while depicting women in more supportive or domestic roles, such as female secretaries or homemakers, even if the prompts do not specify gender roles.) The study aims to detect and analyze patterns of bias by inputting varied descriptions, prompt engineering and observing how the Gen AI models like GPT-4 generates or modifies images in response to requested edits. The goal is to understand these biases’ implications and inform the development of more equitable AI systems. Findings from this project will contribute to improving fairness in AI technologies, ensuring they serve all communities effectively.
Tasks:
- Understand how AI models generate images based on text prompts.
- Study the impacts of biased data on AI outputs.
- Gain hands-on experience with Python programming and its libraries.
- Create and manage diverse datasets for AI training.
- Experiment with different data to analyze bias.
- Visualize and analyze data for different biases
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
Art, Culture, and STEM (ACS)
ACS-01: Computational Narrative Cinema
Primary mentor: Allen Riley
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Soraya Murray
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: This research project will be a good fit for SIP/TSIP interns who are interested in art and technology. During the summer, the interns will work together in a studio setting and learn how to use tools such as large language models, natural language processing, computer-controlled cameras and video mixers, and command-line video editing to create videos with a narrative storyline. The SIP mentor and interns will explore a science fiction premise that presents a fantastical reimagining of the history and future of communication technology, and will research and adapt methods from conceptual art, Fluxus, and social practice art. By doing so, the research group will examine how art can be used as a means of social critique and collaboration.
Tasks: The SIP/TSIP interns will develop skills in media production, collaboration, and critical thinking by reflecting on these representations of technology and engaging in collaborative, computationally-assisted video production. The research project will emphasize the importance of technical skills and imaginative narrative storytelling, as well as the role of activity design and participation derived from contemporary art practices. Interns will need to have full administrative access to their laptops. Interns will need to install and use VS Code to access and interact with a project server.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
URL: https://www.allen-riley.com
ACS-02: Visual Storytelling Through Archives, Research, and Design
Primary mentor: Saul Villegas
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Jennifer Parker
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 15
Project description: This research project is designed to provide students with an in-depth look at the environmental issues facing California’s Central Valley. Through the use of digital tools, the SIP interns will explore the scientific, artistic, and cultural aspects of the region’s unique environment. The interns will learn about the area’s natural resources, the impact of human activity, and the current efforts to protect and conserve these resources. The project will incorporate research and digital world-building to give the interns an up-close look at the region’s unique flora and fauna. Additionally, the interns will learn the basics of digital media production to create their own projects that address a unique approach to creative research processes. Through this research project, the SIP interns will develop an appreciation for the environment and its role in the lives of all living organisms. At the conclusion of the research project, the interns will produce a final exhibition of their works, providing an interactive platform to engage with the Central Valley’s ecology. Students will have the opportunity to include research appropriate for their geographic area with an emphasis of environmental issues.
Tasks: The SIP interns will develop research assets such as speculative design and learn to create digital assets for virtual 3D world-building to be viewed on a computer browser, phone, or tablet. Speculative design, sometimes called critical design or design fiction, asks us to zoom out beyond user-centered design and ask what the effects of our designs could be on future societies. Outcomes from this research will be published as a virtual exhibition through the OpenLab Collaborative Research Center. Creating a virtual hub on Mozilla Spoke will allow for active participation in exhibiting their research for a diverse community while investigating virtual spaces that reimagine the cultivation practices as both sustainable and not sustainable. Students will use their phone devices to capture the environment through photography and video processes.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
URL: https://www.modernobysaulvillegas.com/projects
ACS-03: Gender, Cyberspace, and Art Practice
Primary mentor: Jingtian Zong
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Jennifer Parker
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 5
Project description: The research project focuses on the entanglements between gender and cyberspace since the 1950s and examines genderless techno-utopias in theories and artworks. Taking Cyberfeminism(s) as an anchor point, interns will critically engage with a set of shared research questions: Could we escape gender in cyberspace? How do gender expressions and the Internet shape each other? How does contemporary technology fulfill or fail feminist and queer dreams? Through readings, discussions, art critique, collaborations and hands-on making, the project will introduce interns to key concepts at the crossroads of gender, technology, and media art and help them develop a unique artistic voice in these topics.
Tasks: The SIP interns will: (1) engage with existing artworks and critical theories of gender and cyberspace; (2) develop skills in one or multiple digital mediums of their interest, such as web art, audiovisuals, generative AI, game, and physical computing; (3) develop an independent or collaborative artistic research and/or digital art project in their chosen socio-cultural context – topics include but are not limited to cyberfeminism, online representations, queer performativity, digital activism, algorithmic bias, and technological surveillance; and (4) build a collective archive and/or a platform that documents the research process and outcomes.
ACS-04: Drawing Agroecology: Illustration and Sequential Art for Sustainable Food Systems
Primary mentors: Raty Syka
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Jennifer Parker
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 5
Project description: This research project explores the way that illustration, comics, and other forms of sequential art can be used to convey experiential learning related to agriculture and climate crisis. Interns with an interest in arts education, drawing, sustainable agriculture/agroecology, food system studies, comics, book and zine arts, and immersive field research will find this to be a good fit. Together, the group will investigate varied modes of using illustrative narrative to convey qualitative data and address broad public audiences. Interns will be encouraged to choose their own sub-area of focus (ex: heirloom vs. GMO seeds, fruit tree pruning, compost biology, etc).
Tasks: Over the course of the 10 week internship, interns will utilize various UCSC resources to develop archival and participatory research skills. Students will be encouraged to reflect on the role of personal experience in field research, and to utilize approaches from creative nonfiction writing, illustration, graphic design, and storytelling to address insights about food and climate.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
Astronomy and Astrophysics (AST)
AST-01: Identification of Faint Quasars via Spectroscopy of Distant Milky Way Halo RR Lyrae Candidates
Primary mentor: Prof. Raja GuhaThakurta
Secondary mentor: Yuting Feng
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: RR Lyrae, a class of pulsating stars that exhibit a characteristic pattern of periodic brightness variations, are important tracers of the structure, substructure, dynamics, chemical enrichment, and accretion history of the stellar halo of our Milky Way (MW) galaxy. The mentor’s research group has used the Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey (NGVS) time-domain photometry data set to identify some of the most distant RR Lyrae candidates in the MW halo and some of the most robust/promising RR Lyrae candidates at these large distances. Other recent time-domain photometric surveys such as Pan-STARRS-1 (PS1), Dark Energy Survey (DES), and High-cadence Transient Survey (HiTS) have also identified distant MW halo RR Lyrae candidates. At faint apparent magnitudes however (i.e., for RR Lyrae samples at large distances), background quasars are a significant source of contamination, given the relatively sparse cadence of these time-domain photometric surveys. The mentor’s research group has obtained spectra of distant MW halo RR Lyrae candidates using the ESI instrument on the Keck II 10-meter telescope on Maunakea on the Big Island. This research project will involve the application of novel data analysis techniques to these Keck ESI spectra in order to identify background quasars.
Tasks: The SIP/TSIP/CSIP interns research tasks will include the following: (1) using the best-fit pulsational parameters of each RR Lyrae candidate to predict its g’-band brightness at the time of the spectroscopic measurement; (2) measuring the spectral continuum level of the Keck ESI spectrum of each RR Lyrae candidate within the g’ band and using it to derive a spectrum based g’ apparent magnitude on an arbitrary instrumental magnitude system; and (3) comparing these two measures of the g’ magnitude for each RR Lyrae candidate in our Keck ESI spectroscopic sample to identify outliers with respect to the 1:1 line defined by true RR Lyrae.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
URL: https://app.ubinum.com/lab/raja-uco-lick-observatory
AST-02: Distant Milky Way Halo RR Lyrae Candidates in the Subaru HyperSupremeCam Database
Primary mentor: Yuting Feng
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Raja GuhaThakurta
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: RR Lyrae stars are pulsating variables known for their distinctive patterns of periodic brightness fluctuations. These stars serve as crucial tools for tracing the multi-dimensional structure and accretion history of the Milky Way’s stellar halo. The mentor’s research group has leveraged the Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey (NGVS) time-domain photometry dataset, despite its relatively few observing epochs, to identify some of the most distant RR Lyrae candidates within the Milky Way’s halo. Interestingly, several of these candidates also appear in the Subaru Hyper Supreme Cam (HSC) survey, and their densely sampled light curves within the HSC database offer us a great opportunity to significantly enhance the identification and characterization of these variable stars. This research project is set to employ advanced astronomical data processing methods on raw Subaru HSC images. The goal is to develop a comprehensive photometry system and analyze the time-domain characteristics of distant RR Lyrae stars.
Tasks: The interns’ research tasks include the following: (1) crossmatching and locating NGVS RR Lyrae candidates in HSC images; (2) using python tools to measure the apparent brightness of these variable candidates, together with nearby bright stars; (3) building up a instrumental time-series photometric system with the bright star measurements; (4) use machine-learning techiniques to analyse the pulsating features of RR Lyrae candidates.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
URL: https://app.ubinum.com/lab/raja-uco-lick-observatory
AST-03: Keck DEIMOS Coadded SBF Spectroscopy of M81 Dwarf Satellite Galaxies
Primary mentor: Shreyanshi Garg
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Raja GuhaThakurta
Secondary mentor: Aparajito Bhattacharya
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: The Local Volume of galaxies is an excellent laboratory for the study of galaxy formation and evolution. Messier 81 (M81) is a Milky Way analog in the Local Volume. The Hubble Space Telescope has been used to study the resolved stellar population of low surface brightness dwarf satellite galaxies of M81. At the distance of 3.6 Mpc, individual red giant branch stars are too faint for spectroscopy with even the world’s most powerful telescopes and spectrographs. The mentor’s research group has developed a technique that involves spectroscopy of positive surface brightness fluctuations (“hot spots”) — i.e., partially resolved stellar population — in low surface brightness dwarf galaxies in the Local Volume. In this research project, this coadded SBF spectroscopy technique will be applied to three M81 dwarf satellite galaxies for the first time.
Tasks: The SIP interns tasks will include the following for each M81 dwarf satellite galaxy:
(1) Color-magnitude diagram analysis of Hubble Space Telescope photometry of the resolved stellar population;
(2) Coaddition of Keck DEIMOS spectra of SBF hot spots; and
(3) Measurement of line-of-sight velocity and Ca II triplet based metallicity.
Time permitting, a comparative analysis will be carried out of the properties of these M81 dwarf satellite galaxies and other known dwarf satellite galaxies in the Local Volume.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
URL: https://app.ubinum.com/lab/raja-uco-lick-observatory
AST-04: Exploring the Kinematics and Substructure of M31 and M32: A Comparative Analysis of SPLASH and DESI Surveys
Primary mentor: Aaditya Bhattacharya (Juniata Coll.)
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Raja GuhaThakurta
Secondary mentor: Rohit Raj (Juniata Coll.)
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: The Andromeda galaxy (M31) and its satellite galaxy M32 are two of the closest and most studied galaxies in the sky. However, there is still much we don’t know about their formation and evolution. This research project offers a unique opportunity to compare two cutting-edge astronomical surveys: the SPLASH and DESI surveys of M31 and M32. By comparing the kinematics and substructure of these galaxies as measured by these two surveys, the mentor and SIP/TSIP interns will gain insights into the history of these two galaxies, their merger and accretion events, and the distribution of dark matter in their halos. This research project is ideal for SIP/TSIP interns who are interested in galaxy formation and evolution, spectroscopic techniques, and data analysis. The interns will work with real data and learn how to manipulate, analyze, and interpret large datasets, while contributing to our understanding of the Universe.
Tasks: The SIP/TSIP interns on this research project will carry out the following data analysis tasks: (1) use existing source photometry and astrometry catalogs derived from PHAT and PHAST survey Hubble Space Telescope images asking with the ground based seeing FWHM to determine the fractional contribution of each star to each Keck/DEIMOS slit in the SPLASH survey and each DESI fiber; (2) compare the predicted (HST) vs. observed (SPLASH and DESI) spectral continuum strength; and (3) compare the SPLASH and DESI spectra.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
URL: https://app.ubinum.com/lab/raja-uco-lick-observatory
AST-05: The Kinematics, Physical Conditions, and Chemical Abundances of Ionized Gas in the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) and a Comparison to the Triangulum Galaxy (M33)
Primary mentor: Aparajito Bhattacharya (St. Xavier’s Coll.)
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Raja GuhaThakurta
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: The space between stars within galaxies is filled with interstellar medium (ISM), a cocktail of various gases and cosmic dust. In the vicinity of massive stars, and in star-forming regions, these gases get ionized and give off characteristic ISM spectral emission lines. The Andromeda galaxy (M31) and the Triangulum galaxy (M33) are spiral galaxies in the Local Group with active star forming regions. They provide an excellent opportunity to study the dynamical properties, physical conditions (e.g., density, temperature), and chemical composition of the ISM, through emission lines.
Tasks: The SIP interns will use data from the DEIMOS spectrograph of the Keck II 10-m telescope collected by the mentoring team as part of the Spectroscopic and Photometric Landscape of Andromeda’s Stellar Halo (SPLASH) survey and the Triangulum Extended (TREX) survey. The kinematics of the ionized gases due to rotational dynamics of the galactic disk, and any deviation from it, will be measured using the Doppler shift of ISM emission lines. The SIP interns will also study the chemical abundances of various components of ISM, and look for rare emission lines In the Keck spectra (RELIKS). The interns will develop and refine the necessary algorithms for these tasks.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
URL: https://app.ubinum.com/lab/raja-uco-lick-observatory
AST-06: Hubble Space Telescope, Keck Adaptive Optics Imaging, and Keck Spectroscopy of Variable Stars in Andromeda Star Clusters
Primary mentor: Steven Umbarger (UC Merced)
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Raja GuhaThakurta
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 6
Project description: The Andromeda galaxy (M31), a galaxy similar to our own, is rich with star formation in globular and open clusters. Due to the vast amount of data on these star clusters, this project has three main focuses: processing raw adaptive optics images, comparative analysis of Keck adaptive optic images and Hubble images and visualization of data products and results. The mentor’s goal is to formulate a joint analysis between Hubble images and Keck adaptive optics images along with visualizing the data in both 2D plots using python code and the creation of 3D models.
Tasks: The SIP interns will be working on one of the following tasks:
(1) Process raw adaptive optic images from Keck.
(2) Make a comparative analysis of Keck adaptive optic images and Hubble images. Interns will be looking at both Keck spectroscopy and Hubble data to get an analysis
(3) Work on presentation of high level data products working in two parts. (3a) Creating a webpage of plots created using python code
(3b) Creation of 3D models
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
URL: https://app.ubinum.com/lab/raja-uco-lick-observatory
AST-07: Investigating Rare and Unusual Stars in M31 and M33
Primary mentor: Rohit Raj (Juniata Coll.)
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Raja Guha Thakurta
Secondary mentors: Olivia Gaunt (Tufts U.), Aparajito Bhattacharya (St. Xavier’s U.)
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: M31 (the Andromeda Galaxy) and M33 (the Triangulum Galaxy) are two prominent members of the Local Group of galaxies, offering a unique opportunity to study a diverse range of stellar populations. This research project aims to investigate rare and unusual stars within these galaxies through spectroscopic analysis. Specifically, the project will focus on identifying Wolf-Rayet stars in M33, luminous blue stars with broad H-alpha emission lines (Be stars) in M31/M33, and symbiotic stars (SySts) in M31.
The properties of Wolf-Rayet stars in M33 in a lower-metal environment can challenge current models, revealing crucial details about the pre-supernova phase of massive stars.
Studying the behavior of Be stars in M31/M33 offers insights into the evolutionary pathways of massive stars and the formation of these remarkable objects.
Comparing previously identified symbiotic stars with those found in Keck data can reveal new insights into the behavior of stars and their evolution within binary systems.
Tasks: The SIP/TSIP/CSIP interns research tasks will include the following: (1) spectral analysis techniques to identify the unique signatures of our target stars. (2) Analyze spectral features to determine the properties and evolutionary status of the identified rare/unusual stars. (3) Conduct statistical analysis for comparative studies to gain insights into the behavior and evolution of these stellar populations.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
URL: https://app.ubinum.com/lab/raja-uco-lick-observatory
AST-08: Building a Browser to Facilitate Multi-Dimensional Studies of the Resolved Stellar Populations of the Andromeda and Triangulum Galaxies
Primary mentors: Max Kogan
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Raja GuhaThakurta
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: Over the last couple of decades, the mentor’s research group has gathered a rich and vast data base of measurements of the resolved stellar population of two of our galactic neighbors, Andromeda (M31) and Triangulum (M33). This data base includes images obtained by the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in ultraviolet, visible, and infrared light and spectra obtained with the Keck II 10-meter telescope on the summit of Mauna Kea on the Big Island in Hawaii and the DEIMOS instrument. The SIP interns are expected to use Python and Jupyter notebooks to create visualizations of the low- and high-level data products from HST and Keck DEIMOS. The interns will use and develop software tools that will constitute a browser that is of practical use to those studying the stellar populations of M31 and/or M33, along with potential additional applications. The primary goal of this research project is to create a browser that will allow researchers to identify patterns in and verify the quality of existing data. For the sake of clarity, low-level Keck DEIMOS spectral data products include 1D spectra, 2D spectra, and parameters of the slit, while low-level HST imaging data products include single filter black-and-white images and multi-filter color images. High-level Keck DEIMOS spectral data products, on the other hand, include the velocity/redshift of observed stars, chemical composition/anomalies, and stellar type classifications, while high-level HST imaging data products include a catalog of stellar positions, brightnesses, and colors. The tasks outlined below deal with low- and high-level spectral and imaging data products, as well as their intersection.
Tasks: The SIP interns’ tasks will include: (1) making 1D, 2D, and 3D plots based on high-level data products from HST and Keck DEIMOS; (2) classify foreground stars from these data; (3) overlay Keck DEIMOS slit outlines on HST images; (4) compare HST images to the derived source catalogs to identify discrepancies; and (5) validate accuracy of the velocity measurements by identifying blended sources.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
AST-09: Testing the Performance of an RR Lyrae Light Curve Template Fitting Algorithm
Primary mentor: Tannuvi Agarwal
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Raja GuhaThakurta
Secondary mentor: Yuting Feng
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: RR Lyrae stars are horizontal branch stars that overlap with the instability strip in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. Each RR Lyrae follow a periodic and characteristic pattern of radius, temperature, and luminosity variations. The fact that their time-averaged luminosity obeys a tight period-luminosity relation makes them excellent standard candles and sensitive tracers of the structure and extent of the stellar halo of our Milky Way galaxy. Recently, the mentor’s research group analyzed time-series Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) MegaCam photometry from the Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey (NGVS) and discovered some of the most distant RR Lyrae known in the halo of the Milky Way out to R ~ 300 kpc. These NGVS RR Lyrae were characterized using a template fitting algorithm based on well sampled empirical SDSS Stripe 82 RR Lyrae light curves. In the course of that NGVS RR Lyrae study, completeness tests were carried out using a few thousand synthetic RR Lyrae light curves. This research project will carry out other tests of the same template fitting algorithm using the same set of synthetic RR Lyrae light curves.
Tasks: The SIP interns tasks will include analysis of the following aspects of the synthetic RR Lyrae light curves: (1) analysis of the input (true) and output (measured) phase distributions of the observation epochs; (2) comparison of the input (true) versus output (measured) pulsational parameters such as period, ugiz amplitudes, colors, and phase (phi_0). This analysis will reveal any biases that are being introduced by the light curve template fitting algorithm.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
Biomolecular Engineering (BME)
BME-01: Exploring Hydrogels: A Journey into Bioelectronics
Primary mentor: Niloofar Asefi
Secondary mentor: Prof. Narges Asefifeyzabadi
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Marco Rolandi
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: Exploring hydrogels unveils their transformative potential in healthcare and bioelectronics, an area ripe for innovation. These materials, characterized by their flexibility and high water content, closely mimic the properties of biological tissues, making them ideal for integration with human systems. Hydrogels are paving the way for advancements in stretchable electronics, capable of conforming to the body’s contours as seamlessly as a second skin, and sophisticated sensors for real-time health monitoring. The applications extend to healing enhancements, where bioelectronic devices expedite recovery, and to diagnostic tools that offer unprecedented precision in health assessment. For interns embarking on a career in biomedical engineering or related fields, understanding the role and capabilities of hydrogels could be crucial. The exploration of hydrogels not only offers insights into their current applications but also encourages innovative thinking about their future possibilities in medicine and technology, highlighting the potential for groundbreaking developments in healthcare solutions.
Tasks: Tasks delving into the intersection of healthcare and bioelectronics, understanding these challenges is pivotal. They will learn the importance of developing robust fabrication processes and improving hydrogel properties to enhance device integration. This knowledge not only underscores the potential health applications of hydrogels, from advanced wound healing mechanisms to precise health monitoring bioelectronic devices, but also highlights the critical areas of research needed to overcome existing limitations. Engaging with these challenges, interns are poised to contribute to innovative solutions that bridge biology and electronics more effectively, opening up a spectrum of possibilities for future healthcare technologies.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
BME-02: Benchmarking Gene Annotation Tools
Primary mentors: Prajna Hebbar
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Benedict Paten
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: The human genome refers to all the DNA of the human species. Human DNA consists of 3.3 billion base pairs and is divided into more than 20,000 protein-coding genes onto 23 pairs of chromosomes. The human genome also includes noncoding sequences of DNA. Locating these protein-coding and noncoding genes is done through the process of gene annotation. There are many softwares to annotate genomes of different species to find the locations of various genes on them. The Comparative Annotation Toolkit (CAT) is one of them, which I am working on improving. The project entails running the other annotation tools that are publicly available on different genomes to compare their performance against our tool CAT.
Tasks: Read and learn about different aspects of comparative genomics and gene annotation specifically. Install and run various tools and analyze the results of running these tools on various input genomes. Compare and visualize the results across tools.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: Computer programming
URL: https://cglgenomics.ucsc.edu/
BME-03: Neural Sensing Devices for Live Cell Imaging in Human Brain Organoids
Primary mentors: Asia Anderson
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Tal Sharf
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: Combining industry-leading graphene device engineering with advanced human organoid models, this research aims to develop an innovative multimodal mapping platform. The seamless electrical recording and live cell imaging enabled by the transparent graphene transistor arrays will open new avenues for studying neurodevelopmental processes, modeling diseases, and bridging structure-function relationships in human neuronal systems at unprecedented resolution.
Tasks: Clean room device fabrication, neural cell cultivation, and imaging with microscopes. Mac or Windows laptop will suffice for research.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: Lab work
Chemistry and Biochemistry (CHE)
CHE-01: Designing Porous Materials for Carbon Capture
Primary mentor: Nathan Delaney
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Yat Li
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: Carbon Dioxide and methane atmospheric concentrations are rapidly rising, warming the planet. Capturing Carbon Dioxide and Methane from exhaust sources before it enters the atmosphere will help to reduce the carbon concentration in the atmosphere and global warming. Porous materials that can not only capture Carbon Dioxide and Methane, but separate them from other components of exhaust gasses are needed to reduce carbon emissions. Interns will: help synthesize samples for carbon capture, test the uptake of samples, and 3D print components for experimental set ups.
Tasks: The SIP interns will: (1) Read literature to review the challenges and opportunities of using porous materials for carbon capture. (2) Design a porous material for carbon capture. (3) Test the methane and carbon dioxide uptake capabilities of the material. (4) Fabricate and 3D print experimental apparatus to test the materials.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
URL: https://li.chemistry.ucsc.edu/
CHE-02: Designing High-Energy-Density Rechargeable Zinc Batteries
Primary mentor: Xinzhe Xue
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Yat Li
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: Aqueous zinc batteries (AZBs) are considered to be one of the most attractive candidates for the new generation of energy storage, due to their high capacity and safety. To date, different kinds of cathode materials, electrolytes, and structurally engineered electrodes have been exploited to achieve higher energy density. It is critical to review the state-of-the-art AZB systems, identify the fundamental questions that limit the device’s performance, and design materials to tackle these scientific and technological challenges.
Tasks: Interns will:
(1) Read the scientific literature to review the challenges and opportunities of aqueous zinc batteries, and understand the mechanisms and design principles of high energy density AZBs.
(2) Learn to design and prepare electrode materials and electrolytes for AZBs.
(2) Learn to design experiments, conduct electrochemical tests and cell assembly.
(4) Learn the data analysis/processing after getting the testing data and data interpretation.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
URL: https://li.chemistry.ucsc.edu/
CHE-03: Structural-Engineered Electrodes for Alkaline Water Splitting
Primary mentor: Qiu Ren
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Yat Li
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: Alkaline water splitting (AWS) stands as a promising technology for hydrogen production. To achieve industrial-scale hydrogen generation, AWS needs to be operated at a high current density. However, the excessive formation of gas bubbles on catalytic electrodes restricts the maximum current density, thus impacting AWS efficiency. This project aims to address this challenge by constructing architected electrodes that facilitate bubble generation, detachment, and release, along with ion diffusion during high-rate AWS. The project involves designing and fabricating novel catalytic materials, conducting electrochemical measurements, and analyzing data. Students will acquire fundamental knowledge in electrochemistry and catalysis, while also engaging in the design and synthesis of new catalytic electrodes, utilizing electrochemical workstations for data collection and processing.
Tasks:
- Conduct literature reviews to understand the challenges and opportunities of AWS in hydrogen production, the significance of addressing bubble-related issues, understanding ion diffusion, and acquiring basic knowledge in electrocatalysis.
- Design and synthesize catalytic electrode aimed at enhancing bubble generation, detachment, and release, while also facilitating ion diffusion within the AWS system.
- Fabricate and evaluate of the designed electrodes, ensuring thorough testing to validate their effectiveness.
- Perform structural characterization and analyze electrochemical data collected from experiments.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: Lab work
URL: https://li.chemistry.ucsc.edu/
CHE-04: Efficient Electrocatalysts for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction
Primary mentor: Bingzhe Yu
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Shaowei Chen
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: With the expanding global population and rapid industrialization, energy crisis has emerged as a significant concern in the twenty-first century. To mitigate this pressing issue, researchers are going to develop renewable and sustainable energy sources. Hydrogen energy, deemed as “fuel of the future” stands out as one of the most promising green energy sources. However, the limitations such as energy-intensive production, costly storage and transportation are waited to be addressed. Electrolysis of water can be a solution driven by using renewable energy such as solar or wind power Hydrogen evolution reaction, as a half reaction of water splitting, requires appropriate catalysts to improve its sluggish electron-transfer kinetics. In this project, we are about to develop novel and cheap catalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction.
Tasks:
- understand the basic principles of hydrogen evolution reaction
- learn and assist mentor for the preparation of the catalysts
- master simple skills of electrochemical measurements
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
URL: https://chen.chemistry.ucsc.edu/
CHE-05: Transition Metal Dichalcogenides (TMDs) for Electrocatalysis
Primary mentor: Tianchen Cui
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Shaowei Chen
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: With the ever-increasing need of energy and the rapid depletion of traditional fossil fuels, hydrogen gas (H2) has been considered as one of the most promising green energy resources. Due to the efficient and stable properties, noble metal materials such as Pt, Ru, and Ir are used for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). But noble metal catalysts are expensive and scarce, which limits the large-scale industrial applications Transition Metal Dichalcogenides (TMDs) represent a diverse and intriguing class of materials that have garnered significant attention for their potential applications in electrocatalysis. Composed of transition metals (such as Mo, W, Ti, etc.) and chalcogen elements (S, Se, or Te), TMDs possess unique layered structures that facilitate efficient charge transfer and high surface area, making them ideal candidates for catalytic applications. The SIP mentor and interns will work on the synthesis, characterization and electrochemical test of TMDs.
Tasks: In this research project, the SIP interns will work on :
- Learning of Lab safety
- Read references
- Learn some basic experiment skills
- Synthesis of nanocatalysts
- Test on electrochemical station
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
URL: https://chen.chemistry.ucsc.edu/
CHE-06: Advanced Supercapacitors for Energy Storage
Primary mentor: Ella Davidi
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Yat Li
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: 3D printing of advanced energy storage devices for developing supercapacitors utilizing carbon and oxide materials. By leveraging the conductivity and surface area of carbon alongside the pseudocapacitive properties of oxide materials, we can maximize energy storage capacity. In this research project, the SIP mentor and interns will use 3D printing techniques to print carbon and oxide materials for energy storage applications.
Tasks: 3D printing of composite electrodes
Making electrolyte solutions.
Setting up electrochemical cells.
Preforming electrochemical measurements.
Analyzing results of experiments.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
CHE-07: Nanocatalysts for Electrochemistry
Primary mentor: Dingjie Pan
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Shaowei Chen
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: The recent hydrogen production in industry still depends on natural gas. Water constitutes 71 percent of the earth but the high energy barrier for water splitting has limited the extent of its application. The project aims to develop a cost-effective catalyst for electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) by exploring ruthenium/copper alloy nanoparticles. The goal is to overcome the high cost and limited availability of platinum, which is currently the commercial benchmark for this reaction. The SIP interns will spend this summer to learn how to design, synthesize, and analyze new electrocatalysts for water splitting.
Tasks:
Conduct Electrochemistry Experiments: Perform electrochemical tests including linear sweep voltammetry (LSV), Tafel plots, stability tests, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS).
Prepare Samples for Characterization: Utilize the samples for structural characterization. Prepare the samples according to the requirements of the characterization techniques, such as TEM and XPS.
Plot and Analyze Data: Organize the collected electrochemistry data into graphs and plots. Analyze the data to evaluate the electrocatalytic performance of the ruthenium/copper alloy nanoparticles. Interpret the results in comparison to the benchmarks, such as platinum catalysts. Summarize the findings and draw conclusions based on the analysis.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: Lab Work
URL: https://chen.chemistry.ucsc.edu/
CHE-08: Purification of Proteins Involved With Cell Cycle Control
Primary mentors: Vanessa Mariscal
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Seth Rubin
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: Understanding mechanisms of cell cycle control requires a detailed molecular picture of protein-protein interactions and how these interactions regulate enzymatic function and cellular architecture. The Rubin lab seeks to elucidate the biochemical determinants of protein interaction affinity and specificity and how these factors are affected by regulatory modifications to protein composition and structure. We apply a variety of structural and biochemical techniques to learn in molecular detail how structural changes and chemical modifications affect biological function.
Interns will learn how to express and purify proteins involved with cell cycle control.
Tasks: The SIP interns will learn how to use instrumentation for purifying recombinant proteins. Culturing of bacterial cells, cell lysis, gravity column chromatography, fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC), gel electrophoresis.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
URL: https://rubinlab.sites.ucsc.edu/research/
CHE-09: Catalytic Materials for Water Purification
Primary mentors: John Tressel
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Shaowei Chen
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: Water contamination can come from chemical or biological sources and is still one of the leading causes of death globally. This can be combated via direct water disinfection. Metal can carbon based material catalysts have shown to be highly effective at energy efficient water disinfection. In this project SIP interns will be designing, synthesizing, and analyzing new electro and photo catalysts for water disinfection.
Tasks: Learn and practice lab safety. Learn how to breakdown and apply information from other papers. Conduct simple experimental operations. Learn how to synthesize nanomaterials. Learn how to use an electrochemical station. Learn how to determine optical properties via UV-Vis spectroscopy and photoluminescence
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
Computational Media (CPM)
CPM-01: Game Creation Tool Design
Primary mentor: Jared Pettitt
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Nathan Altice
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: There are many different tools used to produce different kinds of video games, from casual tools like Twine, to professional tools like Unity 3D. These tools have, built into their design, certain affordances or expectations that shape what people tend to make using them. The mentor is working on research regarding game-making software, and the goal of this research project is to design and develop a prototype interface for a game creation tool, using JavaScript. If the SIP interns are interested in making games, in software engineering, or in interface design, this will be an interesting project to work on.
Tasks: Interns will use game creation tools in order to analyze their design, apply human-computer interaction ideation techniques to work out a design to implement, and finally, will use JavaScript and other web frameworks to implement the design.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
CPM-02: Interactive Dashboards as a Tool for Participatory Analytics
Primary mentor: David M. Torres-Mendoza
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. David Lee
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: This project is centered around creating data dashboards to enhance a course named CMPM 15 by using feedback collected from students. The dashboards, developed with tools like FigJam and Qualtrics, are designed to visually present the feedback in a clear and engaging way. The aim is to facilitate discussions among students and educators about how to improve the course curriculum. By focusing on an easy to follow UI and interactivity using widgets/plugins, the mentor hopes to make these discussions more interactive and engaging. This initiative not only seeks to use the insights gained from the dashboards to continually refine and advance the course experience, but also to give students more autonomy and agency in their education.
Tasks: Iterate on the design and layout of the dashboard, propose and try out new ways of visualizing data, learn how to form engaging discussion prompts, learn how to use the Figma API to develop widgets and plugins, learn basic data analysis and wrangling skills
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
CPM-03: Design for Large-Scale Collaboration and Online Communities
Primary mentor: Kehua Lei
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. David Lee
Location: UCSC Main Campus – Mentor Online
Number of interns: 3
Project description: The goal of this research project is to explore novel user experience (UX) design for communication and collaboration with a large group of people. The mentor’s research group now has two research directions. The first is building an online survey platform that blends qualitative and quantitative data collection. It also allows users to collaborate and build on others’ responses. The second one is building a platform for expressing gratitude in online communities.
Tasks: There is a wide range of tasks for the SIP interns to engage in, including the following: (1) web development: HTML, CSS, Javascript, Angular web framework, and Google Firebase; (2) UX design and research: UI design in Figma, designing and conducting user surveys and interviews, analyzing qualitative data; and (3) research: scoping out a research idea – articulation of ideas, reviewing related work, etc. Prior experience is certainly a bonus, but isn’t required as the mentor will be teaching the interns all the skills they need.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
URL: https://tech4good.soe.ucsc.edu/
CPM-04: Educational Technologies and Research Ideation
Primary mentor: Dustin Palea
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. David Lee
Location: UCSC Main Campus – Mentor Online
Number of interns: 3
Project description: Over the summer we’ll be working on two potential projects. The first project asks: How might we design systems that scale experiential learning? To investigate this question, we’re working on building a crowd annotation platform called Annota. This web application introduces learners to the qualitative coding process by allowing them to make annotations on interview transcripts. Importantly, they are not only practicing their annotation skills but they are also producing valuable data that can then be used to help other learners i.e. learnersourcing. Rather than teaching only through traditional methods which can be costly and thus limited (e.g. apprenticeship learning), our hope is to provide more opportunities to learners who can instead rely on technology and their peers, especially to provide more personalized feedback. The second project, related to the first, is called Pathways. We observe that despite the vast amounts of educational materials available online, novices still struggle to navigate and effectively utilize them. The Pathways web application aims to better support learners in self-directed learning by generating personalized learning pathways based on learner preferences. Further, as learners progress through their pathways they will naturally generate valuable data (e.g. edits to the pathway, resources they found helpful, questions and answers) which we will feed back into the system to provide additional support and improved learning pathways over time for future learners (i.e. like Annota, we’re leveraging learnersourcing). This project is in its earlier stages, meaning that it’s a great opportunity to learn how researchers generate and evaluate ideas (important for those interested in potentially going to grad school and/or contributing to scientific research).
Tasks: There is a wide range of tasks for interns to engage in, including the following: 1) Web development: HTML, CSS, Javascript, Angular web framework, Google Firebase, 2) Generative AI: OpenAi APIs, GPT models, prompt engineering, vector databases for similarity search, 3) UX Design and Research: UI design in Figma, designing and conducting user surveys and interviews, analyzing qualitative data, and 4) Research: scoping out a research idea – articulation of ideas, reviewing related work, etc. Prior experience is certainly a bonus, but isn’t required as we will be teaching interns all the skills they need.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
URL: https://tech4good.soe.ucsc.edu/
CPM-05: Designing Technologies for Facilitating Youth Career Exploration and Identity Formation
Primary mentor: Hayat Malik
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. David Lee
Location: UCSC Main Campus – Mentor Online
Number of interns: 3
Project description: Starting career assessment and exploration early is critical for youth and students. To support youth in their career journey, we employ multiple methods that leverage social media and online platforms to assist youth in self reflection of their aspirations and seek out in-depth information about potential career options. We design technologies that aim to bridge the disconnect between youth with their parents and mentors and encourage them to develop their vocational identity.
Tasks: The SIP interns can partake in a variety of the following tasks:
(1) Research work — scoping out prior research work, analyzing qualitative or quantitative data, designing user studies (surveys/interviews), and designing usability/evaluation studies of certain platforms;
(2) UI design —designing user interfaces on Figma, and sketching/brainstorming possible design decisions for platforms; and
(3) Web development — developing user interfaces (HTML/CSS), and developing a platform (Angular/Firebase).
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
URL: https://tech4good.soe.ucsc.edu/
CPM-06: Training the Trainers: Creating Educational Materials for Facilitators Wishing to Run EduLarp STEM Camp
Primary mentor: James Fey
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Katherine Isbister
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: This project involves the iteration and publication of a set of training materials meant to be used by educators to get up to speed on the skills needed to host an informal learning STEM camp called the Anywear Academy. This camp combines social wearable design and educational live action role play to increase confidence in technology and design thinking skills for middle school students. Through prior research, we’ve found that training facilitators is essential to the success of the camp and through a series of workshops we’ve identified key skill areas in need of support. As part of this project, interns will work with the with researchers to create and evaluate a set of activities and support materials for use in training these trainers. This project will be primarily done online with the option for in person workshops as needed.
Tasks: Interns will be tasked with creating video guides to support training. Converting existing training material to a more engaging and user friendly format. Evaluating educational materials with experts and iterating based on feedback.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
URL: https://sites.google.com/UCSC.edu/anywear-academy
CPM-07: AI-Based Game Design through Game AI Metaphors
Primary mentor: Kyle Gonzalez
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Noah Wardrip-Fruin
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: Although there are a few concrete examples of AI-based game design, we do not yet have a methodology clearly showing how to do Game AI research in a way that directly leads to novel, interesting game designs. This project develops a framework for doing AI-based game design centered on creating novel metaphors which allow us to make sense of an AI technique in new ways while also being suggestive of how to engage with the materials of game design. We use a multidisciplinary approach combining technical system-building, design, and humanistic theory. By developing novel game AI metaphors, bringing those metaphors to bear in concrete game designs, and then analyzing the resultant design space, we realize an approach to Game AI research as game design research.
Tasks: With support from the mentor, interns will ideate and prototype metaphors for AI techniques, use them in an iterative game design process, and analyze the resultant design space. Interns will read research literature, learn methodology, and participate in discussion to support execution of these tasks.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
CPM-08: Situating Non-Human Actors in Nature Based Recreational Apps
Primary mentor: Bhavani Seetharaman
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Norman Su
Location: UCSC Main Campus and Silicon Valley Extension Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: Many nature based recreations often embrace mobile applications that aid in finding new hiking trails, ideal beaches for surfing, etc. In doing so more individuals are able to access a wider array of natural resources. However, due to this access there are large shifts in the local wildlife behaviors and the biodiversity of the region. Due to which there needs to be another model of design that enables engagement in these spaces without affecting the local wildlife population. The interns will aid the mentor in literature reviews, survey creation, data collection, data analysis, and UI/UX design approaches to build possible prototype solutions for these issues.
Tasks:
- Literature Review
- Survey Creation and Dissemination
- Qualitative Data Analysis
- UI/UX Prototyping in Figma
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
URL: https://authentic.soe.ucsc.edu/
CPM-09: Designing Metaphoric Interactive Applications for Supporting Emotional Communication
Primary mentor: Chen Ji
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Katherine Isbister
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 8
Project description: Metaphors have demonstrated their power in conveying nuanced meanings in emotional communication. For example, representing anger as fire, or life as a journey, etc. By translating abstract and fuzzy feelings and thoughts into something concrete, we might be able to communicate more accurately. This summer project will follow a complete design cycle: (1) Reading about the historical use of metaphors in linguistics and psychology (e.g., Metaphors We Live By); (2) Design concept: selecting metaphors to express the emotional messages they intend to convey; (3) Exploring implementation modalities: students will discover how to express metaphors through graphics, text, sound, and music; (4) Adding interaction: students will be guided to use programming to make all graphics, text, sounds, and music interactive. The Unity engine (https://unity.com/) will be used, and students can choose to have their interactive applications compiled for mobile or desktop platforms; (5) In the last week, students will present their projects in front of the class.
Tasks:
- Concept design: we will follow the process of brainstorming session, ideations, research, concept discussion, and final concept selection.
- Design Implementation: using figma, or Adobe design suit to implement the graphics aspects of the concept; using Logic pro X or Audacity to make the sound or music aspects of the concept.
- C# programming: programming unity to make the graphics and sound interactive in UNITY engine.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
URL: https://setlab.soe.ucsc.edu/
CPM-10: Automated Playtesting for Video Games
Primary mentor: Jason Xu
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Adam Smith
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: Playtesting newly designed levels is a crucial component to video game production process and important for discovering bugs in map exploration or collision detection. Machine playtesting offers various ways to enhance and optimize playtesting quality and time especially for solo developers or small studios. The Design Reasoning lab explores the usage of search algorithms and machine learning techniques in creating tools to help students or indie game developers playtest their newly created 3D levels and mechanics.
Tasks: The Mentor will work with SIP interns to use games engines such as Unity3D or Unreal 5 to design and create small 3D levels over the course of the summer, and then write a little bit of code in order to playtest their levels for design or movement bugs. Interested interns should not worry about being able to program or have made games previously, but just be interested in game design, programming or love video games. SIP interns will learn a little bit about game engine architecture and good level design, as well as some simple exploration algorithms.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None/Computer Programming
CPM-11: Player Engagement and Interactions in Interactive Narrative Games
Primary mentor: Shweta K. Sisodiya
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Elin Carstensdottir
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 4
Project description: This summer, we will focus on two main projects designed to enhance our understanding of player engagement and interaction within interactive storytelling games.
The first project aims to examine how the design of interactions influences player engagement and their comprehension of narratives in these games. To explore this, we will conduct a comparative study using two games developed in our lab. Our approach includes recruiting participants, executing the study, collecting data, and refining our game prototypes based on participant feedback to inform future research.
The second project seeks to delve into the ways players engage with interactive storytelling games. We will develop and distribute surveys and questionnaires to gather insights. This will involve formulating the survey content, disseminating it to participants, and then analyzing the qualitative data collected to better understand player experiences.
Tasks: There are a variety of opportunities for the SIP interns to work on this research project based on their interests and expertise. These opportunities include: (1) Work on game prototypes, using development and design tools to build and refine games based on research insights. This involves testing research hypotheses through game design.
(2) Participate in usability testing and controlled experiments, which includes setting up, conducting, and analyzing study results.
(3) Analyze qualitative data using data analysis tools, code interviews and survey responses, and employ statistical software for quantitative data assessment.
(4) Perform comparative studies of interactive narrative games, documenting design patterns, narrative structures, and player engagement techniques.
(5) Contribute to the research effort by synthesizing literature, documenting research, and creating visualizations to display findings.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: Computer Programming, Statistical Data Analysis
URL: https://www.interactiondynamicslab.com/
CPM-12: Social Media and Healthy Eating
Primary mentor: Ariel Wang
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Christina Chung
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: With the growth of social media and algorithms used on the platforms, it is important to understand how people’s use of social media influences their health. In our research, we look into how people self-reflect on their healthy eating behaviors through social media use with qualitative research methods (e.g., interviews, codesign sessions, or diary studies). We will also focus on online communities formed around short-form video social media content, such as TikTok videos.
Tasks: Interns will identify eligible research participants, conduct qualitative studies to understand how teens use social media for reflection on their health, and analyze collected data. Interns will learn about human-computer interaction research methods, and learn about the designs of digital tools.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
CPM-13: AI assistants for digital boundary communication and management
Primary mentors: Yihe Wang
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Kate Ringland
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 4
Project description: In today’s interconnected world, the invasion of technology through constant notifications and digital alerts severely impacts individuals’ mental health due to an always-online lifestyle. This research proposal aims to design and develop an AI assistant focused on helping establish, manage, and communicate digital boundaries. Possible functionalities include prioritizing and filtering notifications based on the contextual importance and user preferences. Our primary goal is to strengthen users’ control over their digital interactions, promoting a healthier balance between connectivity and personal well-being.
Tasks: Review HCI literature; ideating on future AI assistants for digital boundary management and communication; design and prototyping
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: Computer Programming
URL: https://kateringland.com/; https://wongyihe.github.io/; https://engineering.ucsc.edu/departments/computational-media/
CPM-14: Designing Inclusive Research Methods for/with Marginalized Populations
Primary mentors: K Kritika
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Kathryn Ringland
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: We are interested in exploring the use of mystical metaphors and elements in the research process to better engage with marginalized participants. In this project, we start with studying tarot readings as a research tool to engage deeply with neurodivergent participants and learn about their experiences with using assistive technology.
Tasks: Interns would be assist with:
- Scoping out the research space, through literature reviews, content analysis, etc.
- Designing print materials using tools, such as Figma, Canva — to design cards and other prompts.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
URL: https://www.misfit-lab.com/
CPM-15: 360 Video VR Game for Socio-Emotional Learning
Primary mentors: Diana Yee
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Sri Kurniawan
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: The overarching goal of the proposed work is to understand how 360-degree video-based VR games can be used to provide a realistic and practical learning environment for adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), promoting transfer of skills from the virtual environment to real life scenarios they regularly encounter, thus providing effective social- emotional skill training with minimal to no support from behavioral
specialists. This research project will also provide insight to the use of gaze tracking and object selection in 360- degree video-based VR environments, which has yet to be implemented in existing research in this type of media for individuals with ASD. The completed game will be available for no cost in the App Store for those who work with individuals with ASD on social-emotional skill training, as well as for individuals with ASD themselves who want to practice skills independently.
Tasks: The SIP interns’ tasks will include: (1) 3D design and asset creation; (2) Creating 3D scenes in Unity; (3) Game psychology research and storyboard creation; and (4) Coding and debugging in C#.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None/Computer programming
Computer Science/Computer Engineering (CSE)
CSE-01: Unveiling the Power of Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) and Their Practical Applications
Primary mentor: Saeed Kargar
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Faisal Nawab
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 4
Project description:
Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) have emerged as a pivotal concept in the realm of machine learning and deep learning. Introduced by Goodfellow et al., GANs have garnered immense attention and acclaim, with more than 70,000 citations, highlighting their significance in the field. Revered figures like Yann LeCun have hailed GANs as one of the most compelling ideas in machine learning, owing to their ability to generate data instances that closely resemble real-world examples. By employing a dual model approach—comprising a generator and a discriminator—GANs learn to generate synthetic data indistinguishable from genuine samples. This adversarial training process, where the generator attempts to fool the discriminator and vice versa, underpins the effectiveness of GANs.
The applications of GANs span a wide array of domains, offering solutions to diverse problems. From generating cartoon characters to performing image-to-image translation, text-to-image translation, and semantic-image-to-photo translation, GANs demonstrate their versatility and utility. Other notable applications include face frontal view generation, generating new human poses, photograph editing, face aging, super resolution, video prediction, and 3D object generation, among others. These applications showcase the potential of GANs to address complex challenges and create realistic outputs across various fields.
This summer, the mentor’s research group will delve into the intricacies of GANs and their practical implementations. Interns participating in the Summer Internship Program (SIP) will gain a comprehensive understanding of GANs, learning both the theoretical foundations and practical aspects of implementation. Utilizing tools such as the Keras library, pre-trained models like the VGG19 network, and platforms like Google Colab, interns will develop proficiency in implementing GANs from scratch. Additionally, they will hone their skills in critically analyzing research papers and translating theoretical concepts into code, paving the way for innovative contributions in the field of machine learning.
Tasks: The SIP interns will gain proficiency in a range of valuable skills, including: 1. Python programming. 2. Utilizing machine learning frameworks like TensorFlow and Keras. 3. Collecting data from various online resources. 4. Mastering advanced topics in deep learning, notably Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs). 5. Enhancing their ability to critically analyze and comprehend research papers. 6. Collaborating effectively within a team-based research environment.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: Computer programming
URL: https://users.soe.ucsc.edu/~saeedkargar/
CSE-02: Building Intelligent Android Agents to Complete Tasks with Instruction Guidance
Primary mentor: Lei Ding
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Yi Zhang
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: This project aims to help students build real agents on Android that can finish specific tasks with high-level instructions. These agents have the reasoning capacity to figure out steps that can be executed on Android from high-level plans and take action on devices accordingly. In our case, agents use large language models (LLMs) or multimodal vision language models (VLMs) with execution information (UI Screen and instructions, current status of execution) to do reasoning and track task progress. We will first guide students to understand the overview of this research (the state-of-the-art model and the gap between research and down-to-earth applications), then show them our current research status on the MagicWand platform (how data collecting and task execution can be finished on this platform). With a clear big picture, they will be guided to build Android agents using LLMs and VLMs. They will learn Python programming to build action prediction models to predict TODO-action using current UI screens and instructions. And they will also learn how to make those actions executable on Android. For those agents, we will guide them to evaluate them for real user cases: such as map navigation, shopping, event booking, etc. Last, I will help them summarize the current research’s cons and pros and determine the future direction for further improvements. If students have their own Android devices, they can deploy and run their agents on devices. Otherwise, we can set up their own Android emulators on the MagicWand platform.
Tasks: Interns will explore current agents solution and compare pros and cons (similar to a literature review). Interns will utilize the MagicWand platform to understand how data collecting processes look like and what a target android agent looks like (data collecting and target result). Interns will use GPT4V to build an action prediction model based on one of the synthetic datasets and help them understand how GPT4V works. Additionally, the project will inspire them to explore how to manage follow-ups if they need to build the model by themselves. Interns will summarize statuses and point out the gap between what they did and the state-of-arts.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: Computer programming, Statistical data analysis
CSE-03: Medical Image 3D Reconstruction using Neural Radiance Fields
Primary mentor: Utkarsh Gupta
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Razvan Marinescu
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: This project aims to build a 3D reconstruction model for medical image datasets. 3D reconstruction has always been challenging; given a few images, the job is to create a model to generate novel views of a 3D scene. The research community has done a significant amount of work in the domain of 3D reconstruction for natural scenes using NeRF (Neural Radiance Fields). Still, the same idea has yet to be explored much in the domain of Medical Imaging. Therefore, we will build 3D models for Brain CT scans in this research project. The motivation to perform this work in the healthcare domain is that it will reduce the X-ray scan dosage for the patient. In other words, the X-ray detector in the CT scanner has to only collect rays from far lesser points because our project will apply NeRF to create novel X-ray scans. This will also reduce scanning time and support patient health in critical conditions.
Tasks:
Literature review: Thoroughly research existing work on 3D reconstruction using NeRF for natural images. Also review any similar techniques applied to medical images.
This will provide a strong foundation.
Dataset collection: Obtain datasets of medical CT scans to use for training and testing. Brain CT scans would be ideal, but any volumetric medical scans could work. Ensure there are multiple views of the same anatomy.
Preprocessing: Preprocess the datasets – this may involve steps like formatting, cleaning, annotation, normalization etc. Medical images often need careful preprocessing.
Model design: Design a NeRF architecture suitable for volumetric medical data. Refer to papers on NeRF for natural images, but modify for medical data properties.
Training: Train the NeRF model on the medical datasets in an end-to-end manner.
Evaluation: Evaluate both quantitatively and visually. Metrics like SSIM, PSNR are relevant.
Deployment: Package the trained model and create easy interfaces for medical researchers/practitioners to generate 3D reconstructions from limited scan data
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: Computer Programming
CSE-04: PedAnalyze – Pedestrian Behavior Annotator and Ontology
Primary mentor: Golam Md Muktadir
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Jim Whitehead
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 4
Project description:
Developing safer autonomous vehicles necessitates extensive testing of pedestrian behavior, particularly in atypical situations. Existing datasets lack consistent annotations, with text-based explanations and per-frame annotations causing redundancy and obscuring temporal relationships.
To address these issues, we propose PedAnalyze, a Python-based annotator that focuses on pedestrian and vehicle behavior and facilitates structured datasets with predefined tags. Our approach allows for both single-frame and multi-frame annotations, which reduces the number of repetitive tasks. In addition, we focus on curating datasets from dash-cam videos on platforms such as YouTube, capturing valuable and rare pedestrian-vehicle incidents.
We aim to create a comprehensive pedestrian behavior ontology and dataset to advance autonomous driving system research and development.
Tasks:
- New features to the PedAnalyze tool
- Tutorial development
- Identifying interesting pedestrian behavior on Youtube videos and develop dataset
- Analyze the dataset and build queries for research (stretch-goal)
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
URL: https://github.com/adhocmaster/ped-behavior-annotator
CSE-05: Vision-Based Indoor Localization via Smartphone Sensors for the Blind and Visually Impaired
Primary mentor: Yunqian Cheng
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Roberto Manduchi
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: Welcome to our summer project on Vision-Based Indoor Localization via Smartphone Sensors! This project is designed to introduce high school interns to the exciting field of computer vision, with a particular focus on indoor spatial understanding and localization. Through a combination of lectures, exercises, and participation in a real research, interns will gain a comprehensive understanding of the fundamental concepts and techniques involved in this area.
In the first module of the project, interns will learn about edge detection, projective geometry, image processing, as well as data collection and analysis. They will also gain exposure to popular tools like Python and OpenCV. The lectures will be followed by hands-on exercises that will enable interns to put their newly acquired knowledge into practice.
In the second module of the program, interns will contribute to running experiments. Which include collecting and labeling data that will be used to train machine learning algorithms for indoor localization or 3D scene understanding.
Throughout the program, interns will be encouraged to explore their interests and apply their newly acquired skills to real-world problems. In addition, interns will practice communicating and presenting their research.
By the end of the program, interns will have a deeper understanding in computer vision and will be able to apply their skills to tackle real-world challenges related to scene understanding and image analysis. They will also have developed valuable skills in problem-solving, critical thinking, and collaboration that will serve them well in their future academic and professional pursuits.
Tasks: Data collection, data cleaning, literature review, write python scripts, use existing deep learning tools, run algorithm analysis, produce research progress reports, project management
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: Computer Programming
URL: https://583482035.wixsite.com/home
CSE-06: The Beginning of a New Era: Towards Visible Light Communication for Indoor Wireless Network Connection
Primary mentor: Firouz Vafadari
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Katia Obraczka
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: In our era, Wi-Fi is a widely used wireless communication medium for indoor network connection and internet access. The future says different: As predicted by academia and industry, wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) technology suffers from the limited radio frequency (RF) spectrum issue. That being said, with this massive growth in Wi-Fi-connected devices and high demand for downloading large data packets, such as AR and VR applications, Wi-Fi will no longer be able to provide a good Quality of Service (QoS). Hence, Wi-Fi technology and contention-based links, where clients need to compete to gain an RF channel and register on the network, will no longer be the answer to indoor wireless communication.
As a result, we will inevitably need to discover a different wireless medium to complement Wi-Fi while also offering benefits that make switching to the other option worthwhile. As of now, the industry introduces a new version of Wi-Fi every few years while adding a new FFC-approved RF spectrum, such as 5 GHz and 6 GHz (Wi-Fi 7), to mitigate this issue. This trend will no longer continue as free (unlicensed) RF spectrums are limited, and link interference will occur. Our solution would be to use optical wireless communication (OWC) and light fidelity (Li-Fi) to assist with Wi-Fi and address contention-based link issues. We use visible light communication (VLC), a subset of Li-Fi, as the core of our design; with this approach, we have bandwidth freedom and can send data at any frequency we desire. This means we can simultaneously send data at any frequency we wish, including 2.4GHz and 5GHz, which can potentially achieve data rates 100x faster than Wi-Fi in theory. Additionally, we won’t face many content-based link challenges.
This project aims to focus on the challenges of designing a Li-Fi system by re-building the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer and Physical Layer (PHY), employing modulation techniques that can provide a high data rate with low Signal Noise Ratio (SNR)—eventually, writing the code to send a binary packet over our testbed equipment.
Tasks: If you’re eager to contribute to the forefront of wireless communication research, this is your chance. Interns will not only be introduced to the basics of computer networks and the science behind Wi-Fi technology but also delve into the fascinating world of Optical Wireless Communication that is needed for this research. This is an active research that will guide the students on how to start reading academic papers, understanding the state-of-the-art, and afterward, developing their first code using Python (but C is preferred) to send a binary data packet over light using On-Off Keying (OOK) or Chirp Spread Spectrum (CSS) modulation technique and will be guided on how to use testing hardware such as an Oscilloscope and seeing the results of their code. They will eventually send packets over light!
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: Computer Programming, Lab Work
URL: https://inrg.engineering.ucsc.edu/
CSE-07: Accelerating LLM Inference Through Draft Model
Primary mentor: Yifan Hua
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Chen Qian
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: LLM has been a very novel and potentially industrial changing subject in current computer science research field. The cost of LLM inference is the crucial both for widen the users base of current AI technology. There is already some insights about reducing the cost of LLM inference. This work is focused on reducing the cost of LLM inference in large scale which could potentially benefit all current and potential users of AI technology.
Tasks:
1) Understanding how large language model works.
2) Deploying a large language model application which can serve users’ requests.
3) Improving the large language model service in terms of latency and throughput.
This involves data gathering and analyzing, as well as assisting experiments.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: Computer Programming, Statistical Data Analysis
CSE-08: Implementing Neural Network from Scratch to Using Library
Primary mentor: Pooneh Safayenikoo
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Andrew Quinn
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: Deep learning is the next wave of Artificial Intelligence (AI). it has a wide range of applications from image classification and speech recognition to natural language processing. Deep learning has also garnered a lot of attention recently in the context of small devices such as phones, robots, and self-driving cars. Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are used to solve highly non-linear problems like recognition, classification, and segmentation. The solution is mostly obtained using a network of deep convolutional and/or fully connected layers with many filters in each layer.
Tasks: In this research project, the SIP interns will learn how neural networks work and how they can implement a simple neural network in Python. The interns will also learn how to build and deploy a real-world deep learning model (like LLM) application this summer. To achieve this goal, the interns will learn about numerous deep learning ideas and tools, such as the PyTorch libraries, pre-trained models from the small networks like LeNet-5 to bigger networks like ResNet, popular datasets like MNIST, and CIFAR datasets, and the use of GitHub and Jupyter notebooks to tackle programming challenges. The interns will also learn how to read research papers and put them into practice. Please don’t send any email to my advisor, as he is not involved in this project, and feel free to send me an email if you have any questions.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
CSE-09: Improving Channel Access with Transmission Queues, Collision Resolution, and Learning
Primary mentor: Sheideh Homayon
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. JJ Garcia-Luna-Aceves
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: This research is about a new way to control how devices share data over a network. It’s called Queue Sharing Multiple Access Collision Resolution (QSMA CR). Instead of the usual methods like CSMA or ALOHA, QSMA-CR uses queues and techniques to deal with data collisions.
In QSMA-CR, devices on the same network create and manage a line for sending data. This creates cycles where devices take turns to send data without bumping into each other, followed by a period where new devices can join. Unlike other methods, QSMA-CR doesn’t need fixed time slots or complicated setups to reserve time for sending data.
When new devices want to join, QSMA-CR handles it using techniques to deal with multiple requests and potential collisions. And it does all this without needing fancy tricks at the physical level to decide when devices can send data.
Tasks: Conduct a literature review on existing MAC protocols.
Develop simulation models to compare QSMA-CR with other MAC protocols.
Implement a prototype of QSMA-CR in a simulation environment or on hardware.
Analyze the performance of QSMA-CR through simulations or real-world experiments.
Optimize QSMA-CR’s design and operation for improved performance.
Document the design, implementation, and performance of QSMA-CR.
Prepare presentations or reports on the research findings.
Collaborate with team members on project tasks and goals.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None/Computer Programming
CSE-10: Building Secure Distributed Applications in Haskell
Primary mentors: Priyanka Mondal
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Owen Arden
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: Haskell is a purely functional programming language known for its strong type system and lazy evaluation strategy. Haskell monads provide a structured way to sequence computations and manage side effects within the purely functional paradigm. Haskell’s expressive syntax and emphasis on monads (immutability) make it a popular choice for developing reliable distributed software systems.The goal of this project is to build a Haskell API for secure distributed applications where every computation is done inside a monad. The API will ensure fault tolerance, safe information flow, and deadlock freedom — key considerations in the development of any secure distributed system.
Tasks: The job of the interns would be to help in the following tasks:
- Implement fault tolerance mechanisms such as replication and consensus in Haskell.
- Enhancing the security features of the Haskell API by incorporating information flow control policies to maintain integrity, confidentiality and availability of the data.
- Design and implement custom monads tailored to specific computational requirements in a distributed computation setting.
- Explore strategies for managing concurrent computations within the monadic context to prevent deadlocks and ensure deterministic behavior of the program
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: Computer Programming
URL: https://priyanka-mondal.github.io/
CSE-11: Chess and Explainable AI as Teaching Tools
Primary mentors: Aaja Ouellette
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Leilani Gilpin
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: Explainable AI (XAI) is a set of techniques that allows AI to dynamically explain the reasoning behind the specific actions it takes. In educational settings, the idea of applying XAI methods to programming assessments has the potential to allow students to learn directly with the support of a program that can look at student errors (and even directly at their source code!) to detect mistakes and explain to the student where they’re getting stuck. The mentor is interested in contributing to a set of chess-based assignments and teaching demonstrations for an AI class and in developing an explainable autograder that can interface with these.
Tasks: The interns will work in Python Jupyter Notebooks (any kind of computer or laptop should be fine) and help to augment an existing chess interface that benchmarks different AI algorithms by (1) designing chess exercises aimed at assessing various AI techniques; (2) creating AI agents that make use of classic AI algorithms; (3) creating an explainable autograder that dynamically responds to submissions and offers targeted advice in response to errors.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: Computer programming
CSE-12: FloraGuard: Building a 3D-Printed Camera System with Raspberry Pi for Object Detection in Pollinator Research
Primary mentors: Carlos Isaac Espinosa Ramirez
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Gabriel Elkaim
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: The FloraGuard project integrates computer engineering with environmental monitoring by developing a low-cost, Raspberry Pi -based camera system to observe local pollinators such as hummingbird and bees. This system utilizes object detection models optimized for the computational constraints of embedded devices, aiming to streamline data collection for ecological research.
Tasks:
Mechanical Design and Prototyping:
Intern’s Role: Enhance the current design of the 3D-printed enclosure to ensure the camera system is both weather-resistant and optimized for field deployment (https://github.com/caiespin/PiCam_4_Pollination).
Expected Learning: Use of CAD tools, iterative prototyping, and environment testing.
Machine Learning Model Deployment:
Intern’s Role: Adapt and optimize existing object detection models to run efficiently on the Raspberry Pi Zero, focusing on accurate detection of pollinators.
Expected Learning: Machine learning principles, TensorFlow Lite for model optimization.
Software Integration and System Testing:
Intern’s Role: Develop software that integrates the object detection model with the camera hardware.
Expected Learning: Python programming, integration of software with low-power hardware, and basic data handling and visualization.
Field Deployment and Data Collection:
Team: Deploy the camera system within the UCSC campus, monitor system performance, and collect data for further analysis.
Expected Learning: Deployment strategies and real-world troubleshooting.
Required Skills for Interns Prior to Acceptance:
knowledge of Python or familiarity with 3D modeling software.
Enthusiasm for learning about embedded systems.
An interest in DIY projects, especially those involving 3D printing and hardware assembly.
Work Environment:
Interns will experience a mix of laboratory work for system development and outdoor activities for system deployment and monitoring within the UCSC campus, providing a holistic view of the development and application of environmental monitoring technologies.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None/Computer Programming
URL: https://asl.soe.ucsc.edu/
CSE-13: Exploring Neural Architectures
Primary mentors: Brian Mak
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Jeffrey Flanigan
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: In this project interns will learn about the mathematical and programming foundations of neural networks. They will create and train their own language model and experiment with novel modifications to the transformer architecture.
Tasks: For the first half of the program interns will be asked to study the basics of neural networks and familiarize themselves with the python libraries needed to implement them. The interns will then be asked to implement and train a baseline transformer language model. Once this has been completed, several experiments will be carried out to determine the effectiveness of various novel modifications to the transformer architecture. Interns will require a laptop of any kind for participation in this project.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: Computer programming
URL: https://jflanigan.github.io/
CSE-14: Question Answering with Large Language Models
Primary mentors: Geetanjali Rakshit
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Jeffrey Flanigan
Location: UCSC Silicon Valley Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: With the current breakthrough in Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, natural language processing (NLP) has garnered interest from people from all walks of life. NLP is about making computers learn language. It encompasses a lot of exciting problems like algorithms to teach a computer to translate input from one language to another, for example, English to Spanish (machine translation), have a computer predict if a product review written by a user is positive or negative (sentiment analysis), and so on. The goal of this research project is to build automated question-answering models grounded in semantics. The project will include using Large Language Models (LLMs) as a question-answering model, as well as a data annotator and evaluator.
Tasks: The SIP interns working on this research project will help with generating data and running models for question answering/reading comprehension tasks. The focus will be on analyzing this data, creating automated tests to check the quality of data, annotating data, and using this data to train new models. The interns will learn to program in Python, work with real-world datasets, understand relevant concepts from natural language processing, and see these concepts in action by running state-of-the-art models. Based on the level of interest and preparedness of the interns, the mentor and interns may also learn to train/finetune Large Language Models.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
Digital Arts and New Media (DAN)
DAN-01: Feminist Methods for Place-Based Media Art: Corporeality, Phenomenology, and the Everyday
Primary mentor: Nena Hedrick
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Irene Gustafson
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: This research focuses on a lineage of Feminist artistic methods based in place, the body, and the everyday. Interns will look at and reflect on a selection of contemporary (1960s-now) feminist performance and media works chosen by the mentor and interns, with the goal of defining a methodology that addresses current and future feminist interventions in performative and place-based media art.
With a focus on sensory experience, movement, and mobile media technologies, this project will examine the artistic possibilities of place-transmissions beyond representation. This research is situated within the fields of elemental media, feminist filmmaking, and performance, addressing the interactions between these three modes of practice. Interns will reflect on the respective boundaries of temporality, corporeality, and materiality in place-based and site-specific art practice.
Tasks: Together with the mentor, interns will create and carry out a collaborative, site-specific performance with mobile media technologies, learning image and sound recording, editing, and methods of experimental documentation. Interns will also gain experience in analysis and critical writing on film and art.
Interns will need to have access to a laptop and a smartphone with a camera.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
DAN-02: Environmental Art Methods for Expanded Cinema, Sonic Practices and Meteorological Art
Primary mentors: Gonzalo Galetto
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Jennifer Parker
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: This research project focuses on contemporary artistic methods and methodologies within environmental art and elemental media practices. It is a project about artistic methods that enable a unique understanding of the atmosphere and make possible the reorientation of our perception toward climatic conditions.
Interns will be exposed to research on a variety of artistic methods at the intersection of environmental art, elemental media, as well as expanded cinema, sound art, performance art, and installation art. They will conduct research on artworks selected by the mentor and the interns beginning from the 1960’s when environmental art emerges as a form of practice, considering its context, theories and debates, but will also conduct research on contemporary forms, such as elemental media and recent environmental debates. Central to this research is an inquiry into artistic methods that are responsive to the environment, understood as place-specific relations from the ecological to the atmospheric.
Tasks: Interns will contribute to academic research on environmental art methods and conduct arts field research work on campus to generate their own observations of weather and the immediate environment. They will collaborate with the mentor in creating a place-specific and weather-dependent artwork that explores modes of sensing and relating to atmospheric conditions by implementing methods and materials originating from the fields of environmental art, elemental media, as well as expanded cinema, sound art, performance art, and installation art.
Among the questions that interns will be conducting research on are:
What are the methods employed by environmental artists? What are the sites and materials with which they work? How are these artistic practices responsive to the environment? How is this art practice maintained and studied? In what ways are these practices ethical and sustainable? To what art historical and social context are they connected to? What aspects of there practices are still relevant and adaptable for current artists working and engaging with the current planetary condition? What kinds of understanding does environmental art enable? How can artistic methods emerge from place? How do environmental artists engage with media, technologies and scientific instruments?
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
Earth and Planetary Sciences (EPS)
EPS-01: Selective Extinction of Decapods during the Cretaceous
Primary mentor: J. Fearon
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Matthew E. Clapham
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: The late Cretaceous had one of the warmest oceans during recorded geologic history. Intervals known as Ocean Anoxic Events stratified the water column, creating low-oxygen dead zones in the middle of the water column and provoking mass extinctions in the oceans. In the present day, oxygen deficient zones are spreading due to ocean warming. It is important for basic evolutionary biology and potential conservation applications that we know how anoxia affects selective extinction. This study asks: were Decapods (arthropods such as crabs and shrimp) more or less likely to go extinct based on where they lived in the water column?
Tasks: This project uses the Paleobiology Database to aggregate previously published data to calculate extinction rates for 3 ecological groups of decapods that live in different areas of the water column. Interns will input data from published papers into the database, and in the process learn how to read a scientific paper and wrangle data. If there is time, interns may learn to operate a light microscope to study microfossils. Interns will gain skills in data manipulation, data wrangling, statistics, and commonly used methods in invertebrate paleontology. No previous experience is required, just consistent access to the internet.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
URL: https://slugsites.ucsc.edu/jfearon/
EPS-02: The Optical/XRF Record of Changing Ocean Conditions Over the Past 5 Million Years
Primary mentors: Daniel Gaskell
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. James Zachos
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: Sediment slowly accumulating on the seafloor records ocean conditions from millions of years ago up to the present. By reconstructing these ocean conditions across past warm and cold intervals, we can gain important insights into how the ocean/atmosphere/climate system will behave under future global warming. This project aims to improve techniques for reconstructing past climates using the large amount of bulk scanning data (optical photography and XRF, or X-ray fluorescence) that exist from deep-sea drill cores. As an initial target, SIP interns will help construct a 5-million-year global mapped record of the marine carbonate compensation depth (CCD), a measure of ocean acidification, as well as identifying the most promising methods for reconstructing other aspects of the ocean’s past.
Tasks: SIP interns will compile and analyze X-ray fluorescence and optical color data from deep-sea drill cores; construct a synthesized data product showing change in sediment chemistry over time and space; and compare these results with other fossil and geochemical records to determine how changing climate conditions have altered ocean circulation, pH, and plankton ecology.
The SIP interns should have a laptop with Excel installed. Prior programming and statistics experience are useful for some project tasks, but specific skills will be taught as needed.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None, Computer programming, Statistical Data Analysis
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB)
EEB-01: The Role of Oxytocin in Social Competence
Primary mentor: Megan Molinari
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Suzanne Alonzo
Location: UCSC Coastal Sciences Campus
Number of interns: 4
Project description: Oxytocin is a hormone that is involved in social interactions across diverse animal groups including fish, amphibians, birds, and mammals. Despite being very important in social interactions, the way oxytocin works is still debated due to the differing effects oxytocin can have on animal behavior- sometimes increasing cooperation while in other cases increasing aggression towards other individuals. One theory behind the influence of oxytocin is that it may help animals pay attention to the social cues of their peers, allowing them to make the appropriate social decision. This project will test the impact of oxytocin on the behavior of a fish species with complex social behavior, the ocellated wrasse (Symphodus ocellatus), in order to better understand how oxytocin evolves.
Tasks: Interns will learn how to use a behavioral coding software BORIS to quantify the behavior of animals. They will use this knowledge to analyze a set of videos of fish behavior collected by the mentor in the field. They will then learn the programming language R to perform statistical analysis on the behavioral data collected and visualize their results. The project will focus on analyzing animal behavior, in an effort of understanding how it evolves. Interns will learn to communicate and present this work at the end of the program.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
URL: https://alonzo.sites.ucsc.edu/
Economics (ECO)
EC0-01: Temperature and Temporary Migration in India
Primary mentor: Moumita Das
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Alan Spearot
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: Climate-induced migration is one among many profound consequences of climate change for lives and livelihoods everywhere. In South Asia, a climate-vulnerable region with substantial agriculture dependence, a 2018 World Bank study estimates that there could be 40 million internal climate migrants by 2050. This research project lies at the intersection of development economics and environmental economics – it aims to study the impact of rising temperatures on internal migration patterns in a large developing country. It combines novel data from a large-scale household survey in India with a spatial economic migration model to predict migration flows under various IPCC climate scenarios.
Tasks: The intern would be expected to contribute to the following:
- Conduct a literature review and classify readings thematically. Create short notes for important papers. The mentor will provide a list of readings and will help with classification.
- Analyze data, create summary statistics, and output them in a publishable format. This will require the use of R software (free) and the mentor will help with code-writing.
- Calculate distance and travel time metrics between various locations using Open Street Maps or Google Maps API. Might require the use of software like R/Python (also free!), and the mentor will help with code-writing.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
EC0-02: Effect of Uncertainty in Different Markets
Primary mentor: Sajad Tahavori
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Ajay M. Shenoy
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: In this research project, we investigate the effects of uncertainty on various markets by leveraging social media data. Our study aims to understand how economic and financial uncertainties manifest across different sectors. We collect data from platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook to analyze the correlation between uncertainty indicators and market performance. By scraping relevant information from social media, we gain insights into market sentiment, investor behavior, and potential risk factors. The findings will contribute to a deeper understanding of how uncertainty influences market dynamics and guide informed decision-making.
Tasks: The SIP interns tasks will include: (1) collecting data from platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook; and (2) analyzing the correlation between uncertainty indicators and market performance.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
ECO-03: Measuring Effects of Climate-Related Disasters on Infrastructure Using Satellite Imagery
Primary mentors: Bhavyaa Sharma
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Galina Hale
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: Due to the increasing frequency and severity of climate-related disasters, such as flooding and wildfires, large sums of public and private funds are spent on rebuilding. Yet the equity of access to such funding is in question, as is the effectiveness of policies directed at resilience. Financially vulnerable communities might not have the ability to rebuild in a way that is consistent with adaptation needs. Our project will document how of new infrastructure construction and rebuilding in California changes after natural disasters. We will use the a time series of satellite imagery of geographic locations affected by natural disasters using Planet.com, and using image classification and machine learning techniques quantify the effect of natural disasters in terms of impact on infrastructure (residential buildings, farms, and access to roads) and the state of infrastructure recovery 1-5 years after the disaster. This dataset will be tied with the empirical analysis continuing in a CCCR pilot-funded project with Dr. Galina Hale, where we determine the role of access to information and income and wealth factors in determining the state of recovery after a disaster. The results of the project will be a part of a policy and academic paper.
Tasks:
- Collect and categorize satellite imagery from Planet.com by location-month (We have access to it until 2025)
- Create a panel of images with x-months before the disaster (1-24) and x-months after the disaster (1-36)
- Comparison of scale of disaster damages using Machine-Learning techniques for Geospatial analysis in Python and R (some resources: https://university.planet.com/page/open-courses)
- Corroborate the numbers using damages data from SHELDUS (Data is cleaned and ready to use)
- Use the pre-disaster quality as a benchmark and compare post-disaster recovery as a distance between the image after the disaster and the benchmark images
These steps also involve reading and understanding the literature around using GIS for measuring resilience against physical climate risks. The mentees will read 3-4 papers chosen by me and prepare a list of key-takeaway from the methods that render the analysis useful or not useful. This will introduce the mentees to literature review and method implementation before they venture into analysis of structured data.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: Computer programming
URL: https://climateresilience.ucsc.edu/projects/pilot-grants/
Electrical Engineering (ELE)
ELE-01: Learning-Based Framework for Heart Disease Identification
Primary mentor: Xinyi Wu
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Zouheir Rezki
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: Computer-assisted test interpretations have efficiently supported doctors in addressing early diagnosis of heart disease during routine examinations. In particular, an electrocardiogram (ECG), one of the most popular cardiac tests, is a quick and painless tool for early diagnosis. It presents the status of the patient’s heart condition, depending on precision of test interpretation. The objective of this research project is to substantially enhance heart disease identification via a comprehensive learning-based framework leveraging physical tests such as ECG test, cardiac stress test, etc.
Tasks:
This research project will be conducted using Python programming software. The SIP interns will:
(1) Gain knowledge about an electrocardiogram (ECG);
(2) Learn about signal processing methods, machine learning, and deep learning;
(3) Develop a detection model for ECG signals;
(4) Develop a multi-label classification model based on deep learning methods; and
(5) Develop a multivariate forecasting model based on deep learning methods.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: Computer programming, Statistical data analysis
ELE-02: Simulation of Electrical Circuits
Primary mentor: Parisa Aghaei
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Sarah Loerch
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 4
Project description: In this project, interns will use simulation software to explore electrical circuits. They’ll learn circuit basics and design virtual circuits, analyzing their behavior and optimizing performance. This hands-on experience connects to broader engineering goals, developing valuable skills applicable across STEM fields. Interns work closely with mentors, gaining insights into electronics, power systems, and communications. By simulating circuits and presenting findings, interns build a strong foundation for future studies and careers in engineering.
Throughout the project, interns will explore different circuit components and configurations, learning how to design circuits for specific purposes and simulate their behavior under various conditions.
Tasks:
- Circuit Design: Interns will learn to design electrical circuits using simulation software, exploring components like resistors, capacitors, and transistors.
- Simulation and Analysis: Interns will simulate designed circuits, analyzing voltage, current, and performance characteristics under different conditions.
- Optimization Challenges: Interns will tackle circuit optimization challenges, refining designs for efficiency and functionality.
- Troubleshooting: Interns will troubleshoot simulated circuits, identifying and resolving issues to ensure optimal performance.
- Presentation and Documentation: Interns will present their circuit designs, analyses, and solutions, developing communication and documentation skills.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
ELE-03: How to Fabricate Solar Cells
Primary mentor: Hamid Mirzanezhad
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Shiva Abbaszade
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 4
Project description: This project offers interns an in-depth exploration into the fascinating world of solar energy, focusing on the instruments and different processes used in solar cell fabrication. Under the mentor’s guidance, interns will explore the various stages of fabricating solar cells, from materials and instruments to testing.
They’ll learn about different types of solar cells and their real-world applications, gaining insights into how solar energy plays a critical role in sustainability. This research project aims to inspire curiosity about renewable energy while contributing to broader research goals in advancing solar technology and its implementation. It’s an exciting opportunity for interns to connect with cutting-edge technology and understand its impact on the future.
Tasks: To implement this research project, the interns will learn various skills, tools, and concepts such as (1) exploring the fabrication process of solar cells, (2) understanding instruments used in solar cell production, like chemical vapor deposition machines and wafer cutters, (3) examining different types of solar cells, including monocrystalline, polycrystalline, and thin-film, (4) analyzing real-world applications of solar cells in residential, commercial, and industrial contexts, (5) researching emerging technologies in solar energy, such as perovskite solar cells and bifacial panels, and (6) discussing the role of solar energy in sustainability and climate change. The SIP interns will also gain experience in reading technical articles and applying theoretical knowledge to real-world scenarios, culminating in a final presentation showing their findings and innovative ideas for the future of solar power.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
ELE-04: Multidimensional Time Series Characterization of mmWave Motion Primitives
Primary mentors: David Kooi
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Gabriel Elkaim
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: Robotic perception deals with perceiving the world electronically. There are many ways to do this and one of those is through mmWave radar sensors.
Millimeter-wave (mmWave) sensors operate in the extremely high frequencies of the radio spectrum. For example: 76 – 80 Ghz for common single chip radar sensors. These sensors sense the positions and velocities of objects by rapidly transmitting and receiving short wavelength radar pulses (~4mm). Phase difference between pulses is processed to provide real-time 3D point cloud data.
One shortcoming is that the 3D point cloud data is sparse and without interpretation. This project aims to collect data from various motion primitives in order to create a model that classifies motion for decision making in AI systems.
Students will assist in developing a mmWave radar motion capture system for the purpose of studying features in radar data profiles.
Tasks:
- Software design of a mmWave sensor recording device
- Setup of a software defined recording system
- Data collection of motion primitives such as – Horizontal plane towards/away -Angular plane towards/away
- Data analysis of this motion data
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: Computer programming, Statistical data analysis, Field work
ELE-05: A Unified Guidance Navigation and Control (GNC) Framework for Autonomous Ground Vehicle Navigation in Unstructured Environments
Primary mentors: Haitham Alsaade
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Gabriel Elkaim
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 6
Project description: Autonomous systems have efficiently supported the transportation either of a ground vehicle or An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). In particular, Autonomous Ground Vehicle Navigation in Unstructured Environments. One of the most important takes is when the ground vehicle in Unstructured Environments that have dense trees and changing terrain goes up and down, with the navigation system signal being lost sometimes. The objective of this research project is to substantially enhance mapping and localization identification via a comprehensive learning-based framework leveraging lidar, depth camera, etc..
Tasks: This research project will be conducted using Python programming software. The SIP interns will:
1- Gain knowledge about autonomous systems and mechatronics.
2- Learn about the main parts of the Autonomous Ground Vehicle, Electric circuit learning, Mechanical learning, and Python software learning.
3- Design a small robot with Python software.
4- Develop the small robot and do a simulation by Rviz.
5- Develop the skills to connect the software and hardware to drive the robot.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
ELE-06: Enhancing Biomedical Connectivity: Exploring the Technology Behind Near-Field Communication (NFC) Systems and Their Influence on Biosensing Applications
Primary mentors: Gamze Onuker
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Ahmet Ali Yanik
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: Near Field Communication (NFC) technology is a constant presence in our everyday routines, facilitating quick transactions with credit cards, personal verification, and commercial ease. However, do we grasp the effectiveness of this wireless sensor network in connecting biosensors with caregivers? Recently, an increasing number of wireless sensors are being utilized for medical applications. This trend is driven by the advantages they offer, such as significant reductions in device weight, volume, and thickness, attributed to the benefits of a battery-free power supply method. The goal of this summer internship is to provide an overview on NFC technology, covering the electronic design, computational processes, and existing research on systems that integrate NFC with biosensors for biomedical applications. Interns will begin by mastering the skill of effectively reading and understanding academic papers related to the field. The mentor will oversee their progress through the stages of literature review, followed by the development of a very basic simulation system that models the communication between two Near Field Communication (NFC) devices.
Tasks:
The interns will
(1) do a literature review on biosensors and their applications that utilize NFC
(2) investigate the basic circuit designs for this wireless communication technology
(3) be introduced to a programming platform called MATLAB and use it to develop the basic simulation model
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
ELE-07: Investigation of Porous Metallic Nanostructures for Enhanced Sensitivity of Plasmonic Biosensors
Primary mentors: K B M Rakib Hasan
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Ahmet Ali Yanik
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: This project aims to explore the potential of porous metallic nanostructures in improving the sensitivity of plasmonic biosensors. Plasmonic biosensors utilize the interaction between surface plasmons and target biomolecules for highly sensitive detection. By incorporating porous metallic nanostructures, we intend to enhance the performance of these biosensors by increasing the surface area available for molecular binding and optimizing the plasmonic properties for enhanced sensitivity. To achieve this goal, we will employ the Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) method for numerical analysis of the biosensor structures. The FDTD method offers a powerful computational approach for simulating electromagnetic phenomena with high accuracy and efficiency. We will utilize MATLAB and Lumerical FDTD software for the simulation and analysis of the optical properties and sensing performance of the porous metallic nanostructures. The outcomes of this project will contribute to advancing the field of plasmonic biosensors by providing insights into the design and optimization of novel nanostructures for improved sensing performance. The enhanced sensitivity offered by porous metallic nanostructures holds great potential for various applications in biomedical diagnostics, environmental monitoring, and food safety.
Tasks: The project will involve the following key steps:
1) Design and optimization of porous metallic nanostructures with tailored plasmonic properties.
2) Numerical simulation of the optical response and electromagnetic field distribution using the FDTD method.
3) Evaluation of the biosensing performance, including sensitivity, detection limit, and figure of merit.
Comparison of the performance of porous metallic nanostructures with conventional plasmonic biosensors.
4) Investigation of the underlying mechanisms governing the enhanced sensitivity of the porous metallic nanostructures.
The intern will do literature review and learn using MATLAB and Numerical FDTD for simulation, analysis, and optimization of the biosensor structures.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
ELE-08: Basics of Medical Imaging
Primary mentors: Mohammadreza Mohseni Ferezghi
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Shiva Abbaszadeh
Location: UCSC Main campus
Number of interns: 5
Project description: In this project, interns will delve into the fascinating world of medical imaging technologies, gaining a foundational understanding of the physics and applications of devices such as MRI, X-ray radiography, Sonography, PET, and SPECT. The program is designed to introduce high school students to the basic principles underlying each imaging modality, exploring how they are used in medical diagnostics to visualize various structures of the human body. This educational experience will connect theoretical physics with practical healthcare applications, fostering an appreciation for the intersection of science, medicine, and technology. Interns will work closely with mentors who are experts in medical imaging, gaining insights into the operation of these devices, their design considerations, and the safety protocols involved. By learning about these technologies and their impact on modern medicine, interns will build a strong foundation for future studies and potential careers in healthcare and biomedical engineering.
Tasks:
- Understanding Imaging Technologies: Interns will learn about different medical imaging devices, focusing on their physical principles and the type of images they produce.
- Physics of Imaging: Interns will explore the basic physics behind imaging technologies, including the properties of X-rays, magnetic fields, ultrasound waves, and radioactive isotopes.
- Applications in Medicine: Interns will learn about the clinical applications of each imaging device, understanding how they help in diagnosis and treatment planning.
- Safety: Interns will discuss the safety measures associated with each technology.
- Presentation and Outreach: Interns will prepare presentations on a specific medical imaging technology, explaining its operation, applications, and importance in medical diagnostics to a lay audience.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
ELE-09: Spike Sorting: Basis and Implementation
Primary mentors: Jinghui Geng
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Mircea Teodorescu
Location: 3
Number of interns: UCSC Main Campus
Project description: Electrophysiology in neuroscience is a way to study the electrical properties of cells and tissues. The spiking activity in neuronal cells reveals critical information, such as complex spatiotemporal patterns and persistent population activities. Spike sorting is a standard tool to detect neuronal activities from electrophysiological data. In this project, interns will understand how spike sorting works and run sorting on neural recordings. They will further analyze the result to extract statistical features and visualize the data in time series. Interns will have the freedom to explore spike sorting algorithms, discover neural network transitions, and use machine learning to characterize the neuronal cells.
Tasks: In this program, interns will write Python scripts to interface with the electrophysiology recordings. They will (1) load the raw data, (2) run spike sorting algorithm to get the single unit activity, (3) apply manual and auto curation and (4) make figure/animation to visualize the data. Interns will read research papers and replicate the computational methods using Python functions.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None/Computer programming
ELE-10: Performance Analysis of Plasmonic Biosensors for Early Disease Diagnosis
Primary mentors: Reefat Inum
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Ahmet Ali Yanik
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: The integration of specific biological elements with sensors creates a specialized analytical tool known as a biosensor. These devices are pivotal in detecting various target analytes. Biosensors are not only utilized in diverse applications such as environmental monitoring and drug discovery but also stand out as cost-effective and highly efficient instruments for early disease diagnosis. Among the various biosensing techniques available, Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) based optical biosensors are particularly noteworthy. They offer label-free detection, boast high reliability, provide ultrasensitive measurements, and enable real-time monitoring of target particles. The principle behind SPR-based sensing involves the generation of a surface wave at the interface between a metal and a dielectric material. This interaction leads to a characteristic dip in the intensity of reflected light at a specific resonance angle. Importantly, this angle shifts in response to the mass deposited on the sensor’s surface, enabling precise detection of analytes.
Currently, the mentor’s research group is focused on the development of a custom-built SPR setup to conduct these sensing experiments. As part of this endeavor, the interns will engage in preliminary simulation analyses under the mentor’s guidance. This step is crucial for optimizing the parameters of experimental protocol, ensuring that the undertaken research is not only academically robust but also leads to practical and impactful advancements in the field of biosensing.
Tasks: The SIP interns will work on i) reviewing the literature related to SPR based biosensing , ii) developing understanding of the relevant concepts related to plasmonic biosensor, and iii) utilizing the theoretical knowledge to design, simulate and analyze an SPR based biosensor. In the process of simulating the biosensor, the interns will also learn the basics of MATLAB programming and Lumerical software.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
URL: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=V3woP9sAAAAJ
ELE-11: Optical fiber-based Surface Plasmon Resonance Biosensor’s performance analysis and application
Primary mentors: Kamrun Nahar Shushama
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. A. Ali Yanik
Location: UCSC Main campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: Biosensors are the device that are very important for many industry applications, such as medical diagnostics like Covid- 19 detection, enzyme detection, food safety, environmental monitoring etc. Fiber optic sensor is a kind of sensor that enjoys the advantages of compactness, light weight, high sensitivity and remote sensing, etc. Fiber-optic surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor utilizes the surface plasmon waves (SPW) at the interface of metal and dielectric to probe the interactions between biomolecules and sensor surface. The interns will learn about SPW and basic simulations of fiber optic-based surface plasmon resonance biosensor. They will do performance analysis of fiber optic sensor for different configurations.
Tasks: The interns will: (1) will do literature review (2) learn the basics of optical fiber ; (3) learn about Surface Plasmon Resonance ; and (4) develop a Surface Plasmon Resonance biosensor using MATLAB/COMSOL software (5) will do performance analysis
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
ELE-12: Integration of Circuit Technology and DC/DC Converters in Renewable-based Microgrids
Primary mentors: Saeed Aliamooei Lakeh
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Keith Corzine
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: As renewable energy sources like solar and wind become increasingly integral to our power systems, the role of microgrids in enhancing grid resilience and sustainability is becoming more critical. Microgrids, localized energy grids that can operate independently or in conjunction with the main power grid, are pivotal in integrating renewable energies. This proposal expands on the conventional microgrid framework by integrating advanced circuit technologies and DC/DC converters to optimize the energy management and efficiency of these systems.
Microgrids enhance energy security and operational efficiency, particularly in integrating fluctuating renewable energies. To further improve their performance and interaction with electric vehicles (EVs), this proposal suggests the incorporation of sophisticated circuit designs and DC/DC conversion technology. These elements are crucial for refining the flow and storage of energy within the microgrid, ensuring stability amid variable renewable energy production.
The integration of circuit technology and DC/DC converters is expected to significantly enhance the operational efficiency and stability of DC microgrids. This approach not only maximizes the utilization of renewable energy but also improves the overall sustainability and resilience of the power infrastructure.
Tasks:
DC/DC converters circuit and control Systems for Microgrids: For efficient energy conversion
– Development of advanced circuit configurations tailored for renewable energy integration.
– Integration of DC/DC converters to improve the voltage regulation and power quality within microgrids.
– Design and simulation of control systems that leverage circuit enhancements and DC/DC conversion to manage energy distribution and stability.
– Utilizing advanced simulation tools to model the behavior of microgrids with integrated circuit technology and DC/DC converters.
– Evaluating the performance and resilience of microgrids under various operational scenarios to optimize energy distribution strategies.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: Computer programming
Environmental Studies (ENV)
ENV-01: Investigating Historical Solar Energy Opposition: California vs. San Bernardino County
Primary mentor: Charlie Chesney
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Brent Haddad
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description:
California is adopting more solar energy to combat climate change. While people all over California reap the benefits from solar energy, people who live near solar energy facilities experience changes to their community and ecosystem. San Bernardino County, which is home to many solar facilities, wants to stop the state from building more.
This project investigates if San Bernardino County’s solar energy opposition is only based on protecting communities, or if there are some other motivations stemming from historical events unrelated to solar energy. The project also investigates what compromises might motivate San Bernardino County to agree to solar development.
Tasks:
Interns will:
(1) Learn about California’s renewable energy policy, social opposition, San Bernardino county history, and qualitative data analysis methods;
(2) Transcribe interviews in English recorded with San Bernardino County board members, community representatives, and California State agency employees;
(3) Collaborate to build a code book to analyze historical documents and interview transcripts. Interns will use the codes to identify themes and draw conclusions;
(4) Use Google Drive and Discord to organize documents and share research progress;
(5) Create a presentation showcasing their research and findings.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
ENV-02: Integrated Aquaculture-Agriculture for Soil-Borne Pathogen Suppression in Strawberries
Primary mentor: Danielle Klawitter
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Michael Loik
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: This project aims to evaluate the potential for aquaculture fish effluent to be used as a fertilizer and soil-borne pathogen suppressor for strawberries. We will conduct a lab study, greenhouse study, and field study where we apply the fish effluent and collect data to determine plant health and pathogen suppression. This research project aims to address the following research questions: How effective is aquaculture effluent as fertilizer for strawberry production? What are optimal effluent application rates for strawberries? Does aquaculture effluent suppress common soil-borne pathogens in strawberries?
Tasks: Interns will help to apply treatments to the plants. This will involve collecting the fish effluent at the UCSC farms and transporting to the experiment sites for application. Interns will also assist with data collection, which may include leaf fluorescence, leaf chlorophyll content, total leaf area, fresh and dry biomass, number of fruit and leaves, and nutritional content of the fruit. Interns will also assist with lab analyses of effluent composition (nitrogen, phosphorus, etc.) and pathogen presence in soils and on plant samples.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
History (HIS)
HIS-01: History of Consciousness, History, Disability Studies, Social Theory, Sociology, Feminist Studies, Health and Human Sciences
Primary mentors: Jen Ham
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Carla Freccero
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: “To be radical is to grasp things by the root, but for man the root is man himself.” -Karl Marx
In order to labor, one first requires a certain degree of health. However, under capitalism, in order to attain a certain degree of health, one is also required to labor. For, the food, shelter, clothes, medicines, etc. that keeps one healthy can only be purchased with the wage one has earned from working. It is in this sense that health can be understood as a commodity, yet as a result of financialized capitalism, it is one that is becoming increasingly difficult to afford. Even though capitalism hinges on labor which hinges on health in turn, there is a continued tendency for capitalism to deteriorate the conditions necessary for the reproduction of health. The goal of this research project is to trace the development of financialized capitalism in the United States from the post-World War II Era to the Neoliberal Era in an effort to understand how and why this is possible. SIP interns will assist the researcher in conducting an analysis of the economic, political, social, and cultural forces from the 1940s through 2008 to historicize the tension between capitalism, health, labor, and disability.
Tasks:
The SIP interns will:
- Receive a grounding in Marxist disability literature and historical materialism.
- Read primary and secondary sources from post-World War II through the 2008 Financial Crisis on the intersection between disability, health, and labor in the United States.
- Learn how to navigate digital archives to identify and retrieve relevant and reliable scholarly articles and archival artifacts.
- Write critical summaries and use the findings from those summaries to develop a collective power map that represents the historically shifting relationships between economic, political, social, and cultural forces as they contribute to the construction of labor, health, and disability.
By the end of the project, interns will be familiar with and capable of working with digital archives, primary texts and artifacts, standard citation practices, conjunctural analysis, historical materialism, and interdisciplinary research topics.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
HIS-02: Access to Quality US History Instruction for English Learners Project
Primary mentors: Carla Suarez Soto
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. George Bunch
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: This project aims to investigate the accessibility, quality, and equity of high school US history instruction for English Learners (ELs), essential for their education and language development. Prior research has focused on math and science, but ELs, often from immigrant families, require quality history instruction, especially amid current social and political challenges. Through surveys, interviews, and site we will explore ELs’ history instruction in selected schools, informing future research. Drawing on sociocultural perspectives, the project seeks to enhance ELs’ academic success without simplifying content and instead encouraging students’ language development by engaging them in challenging conversations.
Tasks: SIP interns will read literature related US History courses tailored for students labeled as English Learners. They will practice finding credible research articles, reading academic papers, summarizing content, and writing comprehensive literature reviews. Additionally, they will acquire skills in qualitative data analysis by assisting the mentor in qualitative coding. There will also be opportunities for the SIP interns to sit in on other research projects with Dr. Bunch’s team. We will also practice creating presentations about research and talking about research to support interns in their development as researchers.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
Latin American and Latino Studies (LAL)
LAL-01: The Histories and Economies of Colombia’s Surf Cyberscape
Primary mentor: Brianne Cotter
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Cecilia Rivas
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: This project analyzes the patterns, tropes, references, politics, surfers, and sponsors that characterize the popularization of surfing and surf history in Colombia. This research will perform content analysis on the Instagram reel interviews of surf enthusiast @elpalosurftrips_interviews, and also analyze the Instagram pages of US brands (@vanscolombia, @roxycolombia.oficial, @oneillcolombia, and @billabongcolombia.oficial) to examine the sponsorships between US corporations and Colombian surfers, identifying the discourses, images, strategies and influencers of US surf industry expansion into the Colombian market. Overall, this project seeks to understand how the cyberscape of Colombian surfing offers insight into surfing’s histories, economies, and audiences.
Tasks: Interns will perform digital media research: media analysis and transcription. For the first four weeks, interns will focus on the Instagram account @elpalosurftrips_interviews, which posts weekly interviews with a different Colombian surfer each week. Interns will focus on one interview each day, reporting first a basic summary, then more detailed notes and partial transcripts based on patterns and areas of interest we define in a daily collaborative meeting. For the remaining weeks, interns will focus on the brands sponsoring Colombian surfers (Vans, Roxy, O’Neill, Billabong), identifying trends in their brand profiles, and the prominent Colombian surfers associated with each brand.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: English/Spanish bilingual interns
LAL-02: Mapping Social-Emotional Learning: A Systematic Review of Social-Emotional Learning Programs and Curricula
Primary mentors: Karina Ruiz
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Jessica K. Taft
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: Interns will participate in gathering metadata on Social-Emotional Learning approaches, programs, and curricula. Beginning with trainings and readings on U.S. paradigms of teaching and learning, and systems of U.S. education, interns will develop deep knowledge of contemporary schools and the history of their design. Critical approaches to education in the U.S. are adopting a “whole child” model, supplementing their traditional curriculum with Social-Emotional Learning curricula. To conduct a meta analysis of programs, approaches, and outcomes, interns will participate in this project and analyze trends of this emerging area of education.
Tasks:
- Reading, annotating, and analyzing articles
- Developing written annotations and literature review
- Gathering data on Social-Emotional Learning programs and curricula from across the U.S.
- Systematic tracking and monitoring of data collection
- Daily lab meetings
- Presentation development and execution
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
Linguistics (LIN)
LIN-01: Nasalization in Punjabi and Mankiyali
Primary mentors: Jonathan Paramore
UCSC faculty contact: Ryan Bennett
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 4
Project description: Linguistics is concerned with the scientific examination of human language. In order to better understand the extent which all languages are similar and the exten to which they are different, many linguists conduct fieldwork to explore understudied languages around the world. Phonetic fieldwork typically includes collecting data about specific words, sentences, and grammatical constructions in order to analyze the specific speech properties of a language. This project explores the physical realization of a group of sounds in two languages of Pakistan (Punjabi and Mankiyali) that, when replaced, change the meaning of a word. Punjabi is the first language of more than 78 million people in Pakistan and more than 100 million people worldwide. Mankiyali, on the other hand, is spoken by less than 500 people that live in two remote mountainous villages in northern Pakistan. Data on the two languages was collected in summer 2023. In both languages, producing a vowel while simultaneously forcing airflow out of the nose results in a change in meaning compared to producing the same vowel without forcing airflow through the nose. This contrast in meaning is very similar to how exchanging /b/ at the beginning of the word ban with /m/ changes the meaning of the word to man. The contrast generated by nasal airflow is called nasality, so Punjabi and Mankiyali both use vowel nasality as a contrastive feature to differentiate between words. An interesting fact about nasality on these vowels is that the contrast in meaning does not apply when vowels occur before sounds like /m/ and /n/ in Mankiyali and Punjabi. The goal of this research project is examine the physical production of vowels before sounds like /m/ and /n/ in these two languages to determine what this can tell us about how speakers store these sounds mentally, and if it is different than other types of vowels that appear in the language.
Tasks: SIP interns will assist the mentor with annotating and analyzing audio recordings collected from 36 native speakers of Mankiyali and 36 native speakers of Punjabi. This will consist of the interns learning: (1) how to segment audio into meaningful parts using Praat (a free phonetic speech analysis software); (2) measure meaningful acoustic information, and (3) how to perform statistical analyses on speech data using R (a statistical programming language) that visualizes the speech patterns clearly. While completing these tasks, the interns will learn about specific research questions that linguists hope to answer, the acoustic properties of speech, how languages around the world differ from each other, and how researchers go from data collection, to annotation, to analysis.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None, Statistical data analysis
Literature (LIT)
LIT-01: Uncovering the “Hidden Inventory” of Jujutsu Kaisen
Primary mentor: Zoë Sprott
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Renée Fox
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 4
Project description: When did the Gothic tradition begin in Japan? How is the Japanese Gothic different from more Western versions of the Gothic? And why is manga/anime in particular a genre and medium so closely associated with the Japanese Gothic? This summer, we will approach these questions and more by focusing on one of the most popular anime series of the 21st century, Jujutsu Kaisen, and explore Japanese approaches to folklore, myth, aesthetics, ethics, genre, gender, and (in)humanity.
Tasks: For the first three weeks of the program, the interns will watch the series alongside their mentor and hold discussions while watching. During independent working time, interns will compile observation notebooks, effectively conducting close readings, as well as research Japanese folklore and myth as connected to the series. As the program progresses, interns will develop their own research interests related to the series, and work closely with their mentor to develop a research plan that will entail close reading, historicization and contextualization, and a robust theoretical framework. No language fluency outside of English is required, but Japanese language learners are especially encouraged to apply. A laptop is necessary for the work we will do; there are no specifications other than ability to connect to the internet.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
URL: https://campusdirectory.ucsc.edu/cd_detail?uid=zsprott
LIT-02: Written in Stone: Culture and the Lithic Imagination
Primary mentor: Shane Baker
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Carla Freccero
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: At the intersection of nature and culture, this project is ultimately interested in the future of religion and spirituality in an era of anthropogenic climate change. But there is a metaphysical issue at the heart of any such speculation: The (in)separability of spirit and matter. This duality has structured much of Western thought for millennia, from philosophy to the major Abrahamic faiths. A religious tradition or spiritual system capable of addressing/redressing our unfolding ecological crises would allow for spirit and matter to be convivial, to sit cozily together. This project considers the cultural history of stone: As the hardest and crudest material substance, stone provides a limit case for the intermingling of spirit and matter, and indeed has long been a category of theological, philosophical, and literary reflection. From the abacus to stone tools to the graphite we now use for writing, the very etymology of “lithic”––meaning both “relating to stone” and “relating to calculus”––suggests that stone has always provided the material support for human thought. But the calcium in our bones also indicates that the hardness of mineral and stone acts as the material support for our very lives. Ultimately, these are borrowed materials that are given back to the earth upon our death, and those left to mourn us will write our names, of course, in stone. But death is only the beginning of our wondering: In a scientific age, the sheer scale of geologic (or “deep”) time has become its own wellspring of spiritual feeling. The animal and the vegetable pass before us, but the mineral abides; stones are the solid objects the very age of which gesture towards that unsolid thing called eternity. Our group’s task will be nothing less than wringing meaning from rocks.
Tasks:
Interns will 1) search for and aggregate the appearance of stones in various texts by utilizing the library database, 2) learn how to write a summary (“précis”) of research findings, 3) be led on a tour through the UCSC Campus Natural Reserve, where they will observe, identify, and document rocks and geological formations, and 4) read and discuss many selections from literary and some non-literary texts that depict stones.
You are not an innocent bystander! Your mentor is completing the final chapter of his dissertation, and intern tasks are designed so that you will be helping your mentor complete his dissertation research. This is not a drill; this is real research 🙂
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
LIT-03: Women or Witches?: Mining Witchcraft Archives for Biographical Information
Primary mentor: Kristen E. Nelson
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Micah Perks
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 4
Project description: Throughout human history, women have been persecuted for being witches, but according to the historical context of a particular trial, the definition of “witch” and “witchcraft” varies. During the witch-craze in Early Modern Europe, hundreds of thousands of women were tortured and killed. However, there are historical records of laws against magic and witchcraft dating back to 358 CE, and women who are accused of witchcraft are still tried and murdered today. This research project takes a multi-disciplinary approach to understanding the lives and activities of individual women who have been accused of witchcraft. Research questions include: How are the terms witch and witchcraft being defined in the context of the individual trial? What do we know about the life of an accused witch from archival material? What kind of activities was a woman engaging in during a particular time and location that warranted an accusation of witchcraft?
Tasks: Each intern will work with the mentor to develop a research agenda that includes reading and analyzing archival documents such as trial transcripts, theoretical texts, personal artifacts such as letters, and literature and movies based on these trials to understand the lives of women who were tortured and killed under accusations of witchcraft. To foster independent research skills, each intern will choose a selection of trials and associated documentation to analyze and consider. With assistance from the mentor. Interns will develop interdisciplinary research skills, as well as strengthen their technical reading and writing skills.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
LIT-04: Deconstructing the Narrative of Villainy and Victimhood in Fictional Representations of Facial Difference
Primary mentor: Ariane Farris
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Kimberly Lau
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 4
Project description: Facial differences in fiction, which I define as scarred, “disfigured,” or “monstrous” faces are one of the most common tropes used to visually mark villains or victims in fiction. Like forms of coding that use race, gender, sexuality, religion, or other types of disability, these portrayals have a reciprocal relationship to real world stigmas. This project explores how fictional representations can create, reinforce, or even challenge the stereotypes and stigmas associated with scarred or “disfigured” faces.
Tasks: The SIP interns will analyze representations of facial differences in fictional characters. To support this research, they will read some of the critical literature that informs this project, and will discuss these ideas with their peers and mentor. They will then select several texts that feature characters with facial differences, take detailed notes on the text, and answer a series of questions about the appearance of the characters and the specific ways in which their facial differences are represented within the text. Interns will have the opportunity to deepen their understanding of the relationship between media representation and stigma and develop their own related project using the research skills they’ve developed.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
LIT-05: Unearthing Emily Dickinson’s Neglected Poems: Exploring the Unnoticed
Primary mentor: Lena Thai
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Sean Keilen
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: Although Dickinson has written nearly 2,000 poems, it is frequently the same pieces and themes that are given an ample amount of attention and analysis. Why the same ten or twenty, and not her other hundreds of poems? Dickinson’s pearl, for instance, is repeatedly charged with sexual symbolism and is seldom simply ornamental, occurring sixteen times in her poems. But what of other precious crystals and gemstones? Although amber appears in Dickinson’s poems twenty three times, there is more interest in the poet’s pearl imagery. In addition to well known works about Death as a mannerly friend, marriage as a haunted house, and a hope that perches on the soul, it is a wonder what else Emily wrote about, and why. By digging into Dickinson’s more obscure poems, this project aims to answer those questions and bring more of Dickinson’s oeuvre to the fore.
Tasks: Alongside the mentor, the interns will conduct close readings of Dickinson’s most popular poems to start to familiarize themselves with the poet’s form, idiosyncrasies, punctuation, style, syntax, and themes, as well as learn about her life and literary influences. Each intern will maintain a commonplace notebook, a collection and compilation of analyses, ideas, and observations as close reading of the poems are conducted in groups and independently. While working closely with their mentor, interns will develop their own research interests as the program progresses. These interests will be based on recurring patterns or themes they discover in Dickinson’s less popular poems.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
URL: https://literature.ucsc.edu/
LIT-06: Understanding U.S. Multicultural Subjectivities through Literature
Primary mentor: Paulina Cardenas
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Kirsten Silva-Gruesz
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: This research project will engage with the fictional works of Latinx writer, Kali Fajardo-Anstine, in order to understand the role of narrative in the construction of U.S. cultural subjectivities. The project aims to examine the relationality between place, historical context, and subjectivity as represented by the setting, plot, and characters in Fajardo-Anstine’s works. Questions driving this project include: How do certain sociopolitical contexts shape Latinx subjectivities, including facets like gender and age? What role does ancestry have in preserving culture? What is the relevance of culture for subjectivity and Latinx identity? In closely examining the nuances of subject-formation in Fajardo-Anstine’s works, interns will be able to think more broadly about multiculturalism’s role in the construction of U.S. subjectivities.
Tasks: SIP interns will ground their thinking through the creation of a personal narrative in which they will reflect on their understanding of their own cultural subjectivities. Interns will begin the program by developing a deeper understanding of relevant terminology (subjectivity, identity, gender, culture, ethnicity) that will ground the rest of their work. Leading to their personal narrative writing, students will be asked to read Fajardo-Anstine’s novel Woman of Light incrementally, paying particular attention to Fajardo-Anstine’s characterization strategies. Interns will each select a character to examine and map out the role of external factors that lead to the subject-formation of their chosen characters. Interns will then collaborate with one another to find points of relation among each of their chosen characters, paying particular attention to the ways Latinx culture manifests in each character’s subject-formation. Through this engagement with subject-formation analysis, interns will complete their tasks for the project by producing a personal narrative in which they think about their own subject-formation in relation to culture.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
LIT-07: The Invention of Shakespearean Gothic
Primary mentors: Abbie O’Hara
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Rodrigo Lazo
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: As evidenced by blockbuster horror franchises persistent success in theaters, the Gothic remains intensely relevant. This project seeks to trace the roots of the Gothic to an unexpected source: 18th century imaginations of Shakespeare. As Anne Williams and Christy Desmet claim, the origins of gothic literature roughly coincided with the elevation of Shakespeare to the status of Britain’s national poet in the late eighteenth century, such that ‘Shakespeare’ and the gothic were ‘born together’. Together we will research aspects of 18th century gothic that still haunt us today.
Tasks: This project will expect students to read Ann Radcliffe’s The Romance of The Forest, along with about two scholarly essays per week. Each class the student is expected to bring a typed reflection (1 page minimum, MLA formatting) containing notes, summaries of readings, questions they have, or whatever else they find important from their assigned reading materials.
We will meet for 1.5 hours Monday through Friday from 10AM–11:30. This will ensure mentees have appropriate outside-of-class time to complete the reading schedule and typed reflections. Classes can be lecture based or sometimes flexible enough to provide time for independent work overseen by me.
Objective: We will read The Romance of The Forest with a fine tooth comb, especially noting appearances of major themes such as Shakespearean allusion, gender dynamics, state power, or landscape descriptions. What do these themes entail? How do they reflect British politics and history? How do these themes reveal information about our OWN social and political institutions of today?
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
Mathematics (MAT)
Microbiology and Environmental Toxicology (MET)
MET-01: The Association Between Environmental Enteric Dysfunction and Inflammatory Biomarkers with Telomere Shortening
Primary mentor: Md Ziaur Rahman
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Audrie Lin
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: Telomeres, the repetitive DNA sequences, and protein complexes shielding the ends of chromosomes, shorten during normal cell division. Telomere shortening can lead to chromosome instability and cell agedness. The highest rates of telomere length (TL) attrition, growth, and development happen throughout the first 2 years of life. Environmental enteric dysfunction (EED), a contributor to growth faltering, is a form of gut dysfunction that includes elevated local and systemic inflammation. Elevated systemic inflammation is associated with decreased leukocyte TL. We observed from a cross-sectional analysis nested within a randomized controlled trial (the WASH Benefits study) that longer TL in early life could be associated with improved growth. This secondary observational analysis aims to investigate the potential associations between EED and inflammatory biomarkers with telomere length using data from the WASH Benefits trial. In this observational analysis, the interns will gain exposure to molecular epidemiology and public health research through critical thinking and basic biostatistical analysis.
Tasks: The interns will be involved with literature review, data cleaning, data analysis, statistical analysis, helping their mentor in the interpretation of results, creating figures and tables, and outlining a scientific manuscript.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology (MCD)
MCD-01: Neuronal DNA Damage in Aging and Disease
Primary mentor: Stefan Abreo
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Yi Zuo
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: The project will explore how the molecular mechanisms that control homeostasis of DNA damage in mouse neurons are affected by aging and disease. Interns will learn skills at the lab bench, how to read and present research papers, critical thinking, lab etiquette, and image analysis.
Tasks: Immunohistochemistry, confocal microscopy, FIJI image analysis, data analysis and statistics.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
MCD-02: Determining the Impact of the GAPLINC Complex on Immune Response Genes
Primary mentor: Valeriya Smaliy
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Susan Carpenter
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: Over 85% of the genome is transcribed, but less than 3% of these transcripts are protein coding. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) make up the largest class of non-coding RNAs – statistics from Human GENCODE show nearly 20,000 genes annotated to date. They are known to be involved in multiple pathways and diseases, and they can regulate gene expression through interactions with protein, DNA, RNA and chromatin remodeling complexes, either at epigenetic, transcriptional, or translational levels. This project will explore a specific lncRNA, GAPLINC, within the context of immunity.
Tasks: SIP interns will gain experience with RNA purification, RT-qPCR, western blots, data analysis, reading primary literature, and more. Interns are expected to have good time-management skills and when in doubt, ask plenty of questions!
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
URL: https://sites.google.com/a/ucsc.edu/carpenter-lab/research?authuser=0
MCD-03: Tuning of Functional Networks in Neural Organoids
Primary mentors: Ariana Cisneros
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Tal Sharf
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: At the intersection of biology, engineering and computational science, projects at the Sharf Lab will involve learning how to generate neural organoids from stem cell to spiking activity. Interns will learn fundamentals of tissue culture, method development, and computational analysis. Project will include organoid generation, immunohistochemistry, some microfabrication, and computational methods to asses spiking activity in the formation of functional networks.
Tasks:
-Learn how to sort spiking activity in neural Organoids with Phy and Python
-Learn tissue culture, immunohistochemistry, and neural organoid generation.
-learn statistical methods to asses spiking dynamics.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
URL: https://sharflab.ucsc.edu/
MCD-04: Effects of Stress on Behavior and Neural Activity in Mice
Primary mentors: Shaorong Ma
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Yi Zuo
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: Stress, intrinsic or extrinsic stimulus that evokes a biological response, can cause various structural and functional changes in the central nervous system. Stress not only affects how people make decisions but is a risk factor of various psychological disorders including anxiety, depression and substance abuse. My project focuses on elucidating how chronic stress affect mouse behavior across different behavioral models, and neuronal activity change across various brain regions.
Tasks: The SIP interns will gain experience in PCR genotyping, mouse behavioral protocols and annotation, neural tissue preparation, immunofluorescence, image collection, and data analysis. The interns are expected to be patient and meticulous, have good communication skills, and have the motivation to explore scientific knowledge.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
Music (MUS)
MUS-01: Interactive Digital Transcription for Indian Music
Primary mentors: Balakrishnan Raghavan
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Dard Neuman
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: None
Project description: This project provides an opportunity for interns to work with the Interactive Digital Transcription Platform (IDTP), Prof. Dard Neuman’s brainchild, which is a web-based application that allows for the digital archiving, precise transcribing, sharing, and analyzing of audio recordings of oral melodic traditions, with a first focus on Hindustani music. The IDTP system is at the forefront of digital humanities, and interns will engage in transcription and documenting oral traditions that don’t often come under the purview of conventional notation systems. Interns will transcribe 3 to 5 songs from the extensive digital archive, contributing significantly to the analysis of these tracks. This phase of the project will focus on transcribing specific songs across musicians from both the North Indian and South Indian ‘classical’ traditions of music. By transcribing these songs, interns will help to build a vital dataset and data visualizations that will support enhance our understanding of cultural, social, and musical traditions. This project challenges the Eurocentric bias prevalent in music transcription and offers an opportunity to engage with alternative musical notations that more accurately reflect the nuances of non-Western musical idioms. Interns will play a crucial role in this research, contributing to a more inclusive and diverse understanding of global music traditions. This experience promises to enrich interns’ research skills, cultural competence, and technical proficiency in digital transcription, making a lasting impact on their academic development.
Tasks: The interns of the transcription project will transcribe 10 to 15 tracks across the two ‘classical’ systems of Indian music, Hindustani and Carnatic, over a seven-week period. Each intern will work on three to five tracks of lengths varying from three to seven minutes. The transcribed tracks will be used to analyze how the musicians in both traditions negotiate aspects of lineage, style, improvisation, and authenticity. Through the seven weeks, the interns will familiarize themselves with the transcription tool and begin transcribing with hands-on training and in the four weeks, engage in active transcription culminating in a week of documentation and presentation. Here’s the weekly schedule.
Week 1) Introduction to the project, orientation and training. Introduction to the two musical styles.
Week 2) Deep dive into the selected tracks to be transcribed. Listening with the mentor, transcribing short segments, and practicing transcribing with the mentor.
Week 3) Active transcription of North Indian Music Tracks I: Start with shorter tracks with help from the mentor.
Week 4) Active transcription of North Indian Music Tracks II: Feedback on the transcriptions and gradually move to longer and more complex tracks.
Week 5) Active transcription of South Indian Music Tracks I: Start with shorter tracks.
Week 6) Active transcription of South Indian Music Tracks II: Feedback on the transcriptions and gradually move to longer and more complex tracks.
Week 7) Documentation and Presentation.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
MUS-02: Exploration of Music’s Influence on Film Narrative
Primary mentors: Nina Barzegar
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Ben Leeds Carson
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: This project explores the impact of music on film narrative. The mentorship aims to deepen interns’ understanding and empower them to create impactful sonic designs for one-minute videos, whether original videos or selected scenes from existing films. Throughout the project, interns will learn composition techniques, software (Logic Pro) proficiency, and sound editing, emphasizing how sonic elements contribute to the overall narrative and audience experience. Collaborative discussions and exercises will support interns to experiment and refine their designs. Ultimately, interns will apply their acquired knowledge and analytical skills to create three distinct music and sonic designs for the one-minute short video.
Tasks:
Exploring concepts of music, films, and storytelling through various examples.
Creating or selecting a one-minute video for their project.
Learning the fundamentals of film music composition, including understanding the influence of harmony and instrumentation on film music.
Acquiring basic proficiency in Logic Pro, a music software designed for Mac systems.
Crafting their music and sound project using Logic Pro, integrating video and sound components.
Presenting their finalized video projects.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
Ocean Sciences (OCS)
OCS-01: Future Projected Changes in the Distribution and Variability of Ocean Chlorophyll in Climate Simulations
Primary mentor: Dongran Zhai
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Claudie Beaulieu
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: Global climate change increasingly affects marine ecosystems, altering their physical, chemical, and biological environment. The concentration of chlorophyll-a (CHL) in the ocean is an important proxy for primary production at the base of the food web. Changes in CHL distribution, as well as its variability and extreme, as a response to anthropogenic climate change, are key to understanding climate change impacts and developing adaptation strategies. This project will analyze changes in variability and extremes of future chlorophyll projections based on a range of scenarios for greenhouse gas emissions representing different levels of mitigation, to quantify changes expected and identify safe emission pathways.
Tasks: The SIP mentor and interns will assess whether the changes detected over the satellite record are reproduced in historical simulations, and investigate whether the observed changes are caused by human activities. In addition, quantify future changes in ocean chlorophyll distribution in model projections over a range of scenarios. This project uses quantile regression models to assess changes in ocean chlorophyll distribution in model simulations. This work will be conducted using the R computing software. The interns will: (1) learn the skills of data analysis and visualization; (2) gain experience about deal with coupled model simulations; and (3) master R computing software.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: Computer Programming
Philosophy (PHL)
PHL-01: Pragmatism in the Philosophy of Science and Language
Primary mentor: Matthew Smith
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Massimiliano Tomba
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: “Pragmatism” is a philosophical school that originated in the United States in the late nineteenth century. After receiving an initially skeptical reaction from British philosophers, pragmatism overcame this skepticism to secure a pivotal place among philosophy faculties at Oxford and Cambridge in the United Kingdom, as well as in the United States. Pragmatist philosophers from Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) to J.L. Austen (1911-1960) and Huw Price (1953- ) have undertaken to address central questions in modern philosophy about truth in scientific method and the meaning of everyday language. While philosophers and intellectual historians now generally agree that pragmatism has an important role to play in the philosophy of science and language, the nature and extent of that role is still contested, as are the contributions of the philosophers who have shaped pragmatism into a discrete set of philosophical ideas.
The “Pragmatism in the Philosophy of Science and Language” project will invite student researchers to engage with and take a position on the evolving philosophical and historical debate about pragmatism’s place in the philosophy of language and scientific method. Researchers will be asked to prepare a concise historiographical research paper based on independent research into the reception and interpretation by intellectual historians and philosophers of a pragmatist philosopher chosen by the researcher, with the advice and consultation of the research coordinator. The research papers will address the following questions:
How have historians of philosophy understood the place of the researcher’s chosen philosopher in the pragmatist tradition? How has the historical understanding of the philosopher’s position changed over time? What are the major points of controversy in historians’ understanding of the philosopher’s role in the pragmatist tradition, and, indeed, in historians’ understanding of what is distinctive about pragmatism as a philosophical school? What does the researcher conclude about how these disagreements could be resolved?
By participating in the project, student researchers will learn fundamental skills for college-level research in the humanities and social sciences, including learning how to write a literature-review essay and how to identify and interpret secondary sources addressing a common body of material. The research program will be particularly attractive to students with an interest in the history of philosophy, the philosophy of science, and the philosophy of language. Substantively, students will become familiar with important, contemporary debates about how to understand the development of an influential, yet controversial, philosophical school, whose position in the philosophy of science and of language is actively debated by philosophers and historians today.
Tasks: (1) Identify a philosopher in the pragmatist tradition whose work interests the researcher.
(2) Compile a bibliography of works addressing the philosopher’s contributions to the philosophy of science and language.
(3) Prepare an outline of a historiographical/literature-review essay based on the research.
(4) Write a historiographical/literature-review essay addressing questions identified in consultation with the research coordinator about the interpretation among historians of philosophy of the chosen philosopher’s contributions to the philosophy of science or of language.
Researchers will need to have access to a word processor and have basic familiarity with how to perform internet searches. More specific research techniques on the relevant literature will be introduced by the research coordinator.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
PHL-02: History of Philosophy
Primary mentors: Theresa (Terri) Peszle
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Janette Dinishak
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 4
Project description: This project will focus on investigating the philosophical question, “What is Love?” It will involve engaging in readings written by ancient, classical, and contemporary philosophers (some of whom work collaboratively with cognitive scientists and biochemists) on what Stephen Darwall calls the “attitudes of the heart,” that include love, remorse, trust, gratitude, personal anger, jealousy, and others. Students will investigate the changing views on how philosophers see the roles that these attitudes play in mediating personal relationships, attachment, and connection.
Tasks: The SIP interns’ tasks will include:
(1) Academic Literature – The interns will be introduced to readings and extracts written by philosophers from several time periods in the history of Philosophy, with a focus on contemporary views. The interns will learn the skill of ‘reading closely’ how to annotate and summarize academic articles. In particular, the interns will learn and practice the approach analytic philosophers take when reading academic literature, to note down inconsistencies, lacks of clarity, and questions that emerge while reading.
(2) Discussion – The interns will engage in discussion, in seminar style, guided by the mentor, and learn the important skills of listening, and responding to the differing interpretations of others in the discussion group, charitably, even when disagreeing with them.
(3) Presentation – The interns will be given the opportunity to present a summary of their view(s) of what love is to the mentor and the other interns, by the end of the summer instruction period.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
Physics (PHY)
PHY-01: Study of Two-Dimensional Semiconductor Devices
Primary mentor: Carlos Gonzalez
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Aiming Yan
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: Recent experimental studies of two-dimensional (2D) materials, otherwise known as van der Waals heterostructures, have shown promising results for the creation of new devices that exhibit exciting electronic, magnetic, and optical properties. One such group is the transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) family which can manifest as either conducting or semiconducting. Semiconducting TMDs show promise to replace silicon as the semiconductor in electronic devices, allowing for smaller and more flexible electronics. In this project, we will be fabricating stacks of 2D materials to further study the properties of TMDs through various methods.
Tasks: In this research project, the SIP interns will get the opportunity to get hands-on experience in a research lab. They will learn fabrication of 2D materials, such as scotch-tape exfoliation and material synthesis. These materials will then be characterized through different methods to observe their physical properties, observing first-hand the miniscule size of the materials that are studied. Finally, these materials will be fabricated into devices to observe the electronic/magnetic properties exhibited. Research into assigned papers on 2D materials will assist the understanding of the methods and observations in the lab.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
URL: https://ayanlab.sites.ucsc.edu/
PHY-02: Structural Characterization of Few-Layer Chromium Trihalides Using 4D STEM
Primary mentor: Hem Prasad Bhusal
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Aiming Yan
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: Recently, chromium trihalides (CrX3; X = Cl, Br, I), air-sensitive two-dimensional magnets, have attracted significant interest in the field due to having a unique opportunity for exploring novel magnetic phenomena in two-dimensional limits. Magnetic properties in chromium trihalides are intimately related to stacking order. In this project, we use the electron microscopy technique, particularly four-dimensional scanning transmission electron microscopy (4D-STEM), to characterize crystal structure, including various stacking sequences of few-layer chromium trihalides. We fabricate few-layer chromium trihalides samples on quantifoil TEM substrate and study them under TEM. In CrX3, structure dictates the magnetic ordering. Therefore, this study is a crucial step toward controlling the magnetic properties of few-layer chromium trichlorides.
Tasks: This research project mainly involves experimental work in the lab. The first step in the experiment is to prepare the sample for the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) study. The SIP interns’ help during sample preparation is crucial. For this project, the interns will perform the mechanical exfoliation (using scotch tape) of bulk chromium trihalides and bulk graphites to get few-layer flakes. In the next step, the interns will use the optical microscope to characterize the thickness and size of the obtained flakes. Furthermore, the interns will learn and help in Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) characterization to estimate the layer numbers of the flakes. Finally, the interns will learn how to transfer flakes to make heterostructures and then stamp down the heterostructure onto a TEM substrate. Then, the sample will be ready for TEM study for structural characterization.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
URL: https://ayanlab.sites.ucsc.edu/
PHY-03: Computer Modeling of Electronic Behavior of Graphite Electrodes in Sea Water Electrolysis and its Effects on the Electrochemistry of Electrolyzed Sea Water
Primary mentors: Soren Tornoe
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Nobuhiko Kobayashi
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: Hydrogen poises itself to be an effective green alternative to coal and oil with the benefit of being one of the most abundant elements on our planet, while also only producing water as a byproduct in a hydrogen fuel cell. Hydrogen and oxygen gas can be efficiently extracted in large quantities from sea water via high current density electrolysis [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2022.11.053]. Sea water poses some challenge however, as halogen by products such as chlorine and fluorine are produced as a part of the process alongside the more desirable oxygen gas. This process is significantly impacted by a number of variables including the applied voltage and current across the electrodes, as well as the material and geometry of the electrodes. The goal of this project is to model the electronic properties of graphite electrodes under various electrical stimuli and the impact it has on the overall electrochemistry of the sea water electrolysis process. Time permitting, the system will then be optimized to suppress the production of halogens and maximize oxygen production.
Tasks: Interns will perform 2D modeling of the electric field generated by graphite electrodes in sea water at given current densities. The distribution of these electric fields will then be used to model the effects of the graphite electrodes on the electrochemistry of the sea water. In particular how the consumption of the electrode over a single 10-minute electrolysis run impacts the production of anodic gasses. The modeling will be written using programming languages such as MATLAB/GNU Octave. The mentor will teach the basic electronic behavior and the electrochemistry occurring during electrolysis. Programming experience is strongly recommended but not required.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
URL: https://nectar.soe.ucsc.edu/home, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2022.11.053
PHY-04: Electrolysis Of Seawater
Primary mentors: Andy Surin
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Nobby Kobayashi
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: Hydrogen fuel is an alternative green fuel source that generates H2O as a byproduct, unlike conventional fossil fuels which emit CO2. However, the electrolysis of water to produce hydrogen faces challenges of cost and efficiency. While seawater is easily accessible in large quantities and provides a more economical alternative, it is not without its fault. When this process is done with seawater, the chlorine evolving reaction (CER) overpowers the oxygen evolving reaction (OER) and results in the generation of harmful chlorine gas. A new approach aims at enhancing hydrogen production rates while suppressing the CER by employing electrical current densities that are larger (Jc >10 Acm−2) than the conventional 1 Acm-2 used in current hydrogen electrolysis. As our intern you are helping us with the physical experimentation and data collection with the end goal of finding an optimal point where the CER is suppressed and OER enhanced.
Tasks: The interns will be expected to set up the electrolysis experiment, record data, run ion chromatography, make artificial sea water, run general system operations, and aid in data analysis.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
Psychology (PSY)
PSY-01: Electrophysiological Correlates of Attention and Cognitive Control
Primary mentor: Ashley Rosenfeld
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Megan Boudewyn
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: This project investigates the underlying neural mechanisms of cognitive control using cognitive neuroscience methods to analyze brain activity. SIP interns will work with electroencephalography (EEG) data, which derives from electrical activity from cortical parts of the brain recorded by electrodes placed on the surface of the scalp. The experimenters are primarily interested in analyzing the time-locked event-related potentials (ERPs) and wave oscillations associated with attention and comprehension (both auditory and visual). Interns will learn how to read and analyze EEG data, recognize neural patterns associated with different cognitive functions, and conduct cognitive neuroscience research at different stages.
Tasks: SIP interns will be assigned a combination of tasks, including the following: (1) shadow experiments and data monitoring; (2) data collection and processing; (3) stimuli creation for current and future research; and (4) literature reviews on related research.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
URL: https://sites.google.com/ucsc.edu/boudewynlab
PSY-02: The Effects of Brain Waves and Imagination on Visual Perception
Primary mentor: April Pilipenko
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Jason Samaha
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: In visual experiments, participants can be shown many trials that contain either static noise or stripes embedded in static. When asked to report whether a trial was noise or stripes, they sometimes report stripes when only static had been presented. This project is interested in understanding how brain waves (which are recorded through EEG) might help explain when and why participants wrongfully report stripes as well as understand how imagination might be playing a role in these reports. This research will help our understanding of conscious visual perception.
Tasks: Interns will learn about EEG research and better understand how EEG data is analyzed, interpreted, and collected. Interns will also learn the basics of MATLAB programming language and practice their coding in group projects. For this, any laptop with MATLAB will be required.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
URL: https://samahalab.ucsc.edu/
PSY-03: Remembering and Forgetting of Online Information Using the Directed-Forgetting Paradigm
Primary mentor: Melissa Chen
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Benjamin Storm
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: Increased accessibility to the internet has allowed people to consume information about the news with ease. Although this can be advantageous, it has also led to a rise in the spread of misinformation and fake news. Corrections to misinformation may reduce the misinformation effect, however, some have found that the misinformation effect still persists over time. The importance of understanding how misinformation impacts memory increases as we move towards the digital age.
Tasks: Interns will be conducting literature reviews to gain a better understanding about the concepts relating to the project such as the mechanisms behind the directed forgetting paradigm. They may also be asked to present some research articles. They will learn about what goes into an experimental design. There will be weekly group meetings. They will also help with experimental design and shadow data collection.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance:
URL: https://people.ucsc.edu/~bcstorm/research.html
PSY-04: Coding Collective Temporal Thought Survey Responses
Primary mentor: Barry Yao
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Jeremy Yamashiro
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: If you’re fascinated by American history and curious about the collective outlook on America’s future, consider joining this project on American collective temporal thought. Collective temporal thought (CTT) explores the ways in which groups remember past events and envision future ones within the public domain. CTT is vital for (re)shaping a community’s identity and ensuring its cultural cohesion and social unity. This study explores the extent of Americans’ recollection and foresight regarding public events (temporal distance), as well as their perceived connections to these events (level of construal). The findings will reveal insights into how Americans conceptualize their country (e.g., between different ethnicities and generations) and identify broader patterns in collective temporal thought.
Tasks: The SIP interns will famaliarize themselves with research related to collective temporal thought. They will gain experience with softwares like Excels and OpenRefine through data coding. We collected survey reponses on the events people remember about American history and events that they imagine to happen in America’s future. The interns task is to code the approximate year each event happened/will happen, and the level of construal (i.e., specific, general, or abstract) of those events. The interns may learn how to conduct statistical analysis through Jasp and/or Jamovi.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
URL: https://yamashiro.sites.ucsc.edu/
PSY-05: Testing Speech and Error Monitoring Models Using Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation
Primary mentor: Nathan Caines
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Megan Boudewyn
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: This project is at the intersection of language and cognitive neuroscience, it involves using several techniques such as EEG and non-invasive brain stimulation to better understand the relationship between the brain and its general processes in regards to language production and comprehension. Specifically focused on how we are able to monitor and correct our own speech errors.
Tasks: Interns will learn how to set up, monitor and operate EEG and tDCS brain stimulation, assist in the data gathering and potential analysis of data.
Outside of lab work, interns will utilize literature reviews to gain an understanding of the surrounding research that makes our work possible, in addition to helping build upon our previous work and refining our experimental parameters.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
PSY-06: Motivation and Memory Convergence: The Role of Relational and Epistemic Motives on Memory Influences in Socially Distributed Rehearsal
Primary mentor: Edward Pashkov
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Jeremy Yamashiro
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: Remembering is a task often done in the context of others. Remembering with others can reshape what we remember long after the interaction. In order to understand how this reshaping occurs, we investigate how the kind of exposure (i.e., repeated/distributed) to information from social others influences what we remember after the interaction. Specifically, this project manipulates the motivation listeners have to attend to speakers during either distributed or repeated social rehearsal and how that affects what is and isn’t remembered after the interaction. Understanding how these social rehearsal dynamics operate in social interactions can help us understand how groups converge onto similar representations of the past, present, and future.
Tasks: Interns can expect to gain experience at various stages of conducting research in cognitive psychology: reading primary source literature, preparing data for analysis, and communicating about research in poster format. Reading primary source literature involves conducting a literature review on a topic related to the project. Preparing data for analysis involves data wrangling and coding participant memory protocols. Communicating about research in a poster format will involve creating a poster presentation combining what Interns have worked on in the previous sections. Interns can expect a collaborative and supportive learning environment.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
URL: https://yamashiro.sites.ucsc.edu/
PSY-07: Conversational tools: Bilingual parent and 3-5 year old children’s conversations during everyday activities
Primary mentors: Gabriela Sierra
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Maureen Callanan
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 4
Project description: Bilingual speakers often use translanguaging, which is the mixing of languages, but little is known about how young children engage in translanguaging with their parents during everyday interactions. The mentor looks at Spanish-English bilingual parent-child conversations within a naturalistic context in order to inform our understanding of how these families use their full linguistic repertoires to participate in shared activities. This study explores Latine Spanish-English bilingual parents’ and their 3- to 5-year-old children’s translanguaging during shared book reading. One goal is to characterize the complexity of bilingual parent-child conversations while they are engaging with books as resources.
Tasks: To learn more about family conversations, interns will learn to transcribe video files verbatim using CHAT conventions in the software system ELAN. Interns must be Spanish-English bilinguals. Interns will learn how to use a coding scheme developed by the mentor and faculty advisor to capture different types of translanguaging that families use. Interns will learn how to use Excel to both code the data and prepare it for analysis. They will practice coding and then attempt to obtain inter-rater reliability with other team members. The team will also read and discuss articles related to bilingualism, family conversations, and translanguaging, relating them to their own language experiences.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: English/Spanish bilingual interns
PSY-08: Bilingual Translation Bias
Primary mentors: Daniel Pfaff
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Liv Hoversten
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: When a bilingual individual translates between their languages, they must settle on a single translation, but oftentimes a word can have multiple translations available. This project wants to understand how Spanish-English bilinguals decide on a translation by using context to push participants towards a specific translation of a word. SIP interns will learn about current psychological theories of bilingualism, and use PsychoPy (a python-based code for experimental psychology) to code this experiment! Then SIP interns will run their study on a pilot sample of Spanish-English bilinguals, and learn how to analyze this data.
Tasks: Under the guidance of their mentor, SIP interns will learn about psycholinguistic theories of bilingualism, and will learn how to code their own experiments from scratch using the program PsychoPy. Then, SIP interns will get a chance to collect data using the experiment they coded, and analyze the initial results if time permits.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: English/Spanish bilingual interns
URL: https://sites.google.com/ucsc.edu/interpret-lab-ucsantacruz
PSY-09: An Eye Tracking Study of Emotion Recognition Across Autistic Traits
Primary mentors: Golnoosh Soroor
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Nicolas Davidenko
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: This research aims to explore individuals’ emotion recognition performance using eye tracking technology. We will assess autistic traits to understand how people with varying levels of these traits detect emotions from facial expressions and identify which strategies are most beneficial for them in recognizing emotions. A novel computer-based method will be used to evaluate its effectiveness in improving participants’ emotion recognition skills. Additionally, MATLAB software will be employed for task design and data analysis, and eye tracking analysis will be done for exploring emotion recognition patterns as well.
Tasks: Interns will cooperate in collecting data and run participants with eye tracker, analyzing eye tracking data and behavioral data in Matlab, and reading papers for the purpose of the project.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
URL: https://davidenko.sites.ucsc.edu/
PSY-10: Latine/x LGBTQ+ TikTok Narratives, Critical Consciousness, and Social Identity Development
Primary mentors: Gloriana Lopez
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Saskias Casanova
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: This research project explores TikTok as a platform where Latine/x LGBTQ+ youth and young adults can access and create learning communities where they can affirm and support the construction their intersectional identities, and where they can learn ways to cope with intersectional forms of marginalization. Furthermore, this project explores ways in which Latine/x LGBTQ+ youth and young adults are using TikTok to challenge and transform social norms within white LGBTQ+ communities and Latine/x communities.
Tasks: Interns will engage in systematic observations of TikTok as a platform, and systematic observations of TikTok videos. Interns will engage in the transcription of videos, as well as describing TikTok videos. With the goal to understand how Latine/x youth and young adults are using TikTok to foster the development of a positive social identity.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
Sociology (SOC)
SOC-01: Sex Education for Latinx Communities
Primary mentor: Michelle Parra
UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Julie Bettie
Location: UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 3
Project description: In this project, students will examine research written about sex education in schools as well as in non-profits. Students will conduct a literature review addressing the following questions: What sex education is available to low-income Latinx students? What sex education and programming is available for adult Latinx immigrants? Additionally, research interns will begin to identify methods for studying the sex education of Latinx immigrants in California. Students in this project can expect to acquire qualitative research skills such as retrieving and reading peer-reviewed articles and writing a literature review. They will also learn about various social science methods. Students will have an opportunity to practice their public speaking and writing skills through assignments.
Tasks: Students will retrieve articles on the topic of sex education. Based on these articles, students will write annotations and prepare weekly presentations for the remainder of the research team in which they summarize the article.
Additionally, students will read about various methods and identify potential ones to conduct a study examining the sex education of adult Latinx immigrants.
The research interns will conclude the program by presenting their research to SIP.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None