Weiling Xia is a senior Materials Science & Engineering student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee who will be graduating in Spring 2023. She has been working under the guidance of Dr. Xiaoli Ma on various projects since March 2021. Weiling started working in the lab by assisting with an ongoing project to study the performance of covalent organic framework membranes in single-dye separation. Her research has been funded by the Office of Undergraduate Research since the summer of 2021 through the SURF program. After gaining a deep understanding and hands-on skills from membrane projects, she started working on her own project about β-ketoenamine-linked COF membranes for water treatment and desalination under Dr. Ma’s supervision, with a focus on examining the synthesis-structure-property relationship. During her time as an undergraduate researcher at UWM, she presented her research findings at various symposiums and national conferences including the North American Membrane Society annual meeting, UWM Undergraduate Research Symposium, and College of Engineering & Applied Science Symposium. As a SERA recipient, she intends to continue work on this project and apply a variety of materials characterization techniques to elucidate the structure characteristics of resulting COF membranes. She aspires to continue studying for a master’s in material engineering after graduation. Eventually, Weiling hopes to work in the field of membrane filtration and help to contribute the development of wastewater treatment.