Outsourcing and Artificial Intelligence
Avik Chakrabarti, Economics
Outsourcing has traditionally involved moving jobs to relatively low-cost labor markets that allow businesses to reduce expenses without compromising productivity. However, the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming the outsourcing landscape: AI outsourcing includes delegation of tasks to AI systems rather than human workers, with the goal of improving efficiency, enhancing accuracy, and cutting costs. The main objectives of this project include an assessment of the effectiveness of AI outsourcing across industries by examining its impact on productivity, operational efficiency, and overall business performance. Students will independently undertake field work to distinguish the “hypes” from the “facts” by documenting outsourcing activities at a dis-aggregated (company) level based on surveys of industry professionals actively engaged in the evolution of AI and outsourcing. Tasks include scientific management, modeling, and analysis of reproducible data.
Fabrication and Characterization of a Phosphorus Sensor for On-site Water Quality Test
Woo Jin Chang, Mechanical Engineering
This research focuses on phosphorus contamination in water and aims to develop a portable and low-cost phosphorus sensor. The objectives are to create an accurate, precise, and rapid detection system that can operate across diverse water sources while removing the need for extensive training or laboratory instruments. The methodology uses a novel nanocomposite material for electrochemical detection that increases the sensitivity and precision of phosphorus measurement. Open circuit voltammetry is used to measure phosphorus levels by correlating the potential response to concentration. The student will fabricate sensors following established procedures and measure their responses across different concentrations and temperatures to develop a formula that converts measured voltage and temperature into phosphorus concentration. The student will analyze the collected data to evaluate precision and accuracy, validate the sensor performance using water samples from various sources, and support experimental tasks under the guidance of graduate students and the principal investigator. The student will also participate in regular team meetings for collaborative learning and maintain accurate documentation of experiments, findings, and observations throughout the project.
Protein Kinases: Drug Targets for Multiple Human Diseases
Madhusudan Dey, Biological Sciences
Protein kinases phosphorylate and activate multiple substrates to regulate a range of physiological responses, including cell growth, differentiation, and stress responses. Aberrant activation of protein kinases is implicated in many human diseases including cancer. Our research focuses on understanding the cellular functions of several key protein kinases in both yeast and human cells. We investigate molecular mechanisms of their activation and substrate recognition to better understand their role in health and diseases.
Effects of Estrogens on Learning and Memory in Mouse Models of Menopause and Alzheimer’s Disease
Karyn Frick, Psychology
Our laboratory’s main goal is identifying the molecular mechanisms in the brain through which estrogens enhance memory in mouse models of menopause and Alzheimer’s disease. This project will introduce students to the basic elements of neuroscience research. Within the program period, students will gain hands-on experience handling and behaviorally testing mice, and will be introduced to brain surgery, gonadectomy surgery, hormone treatments, brain dissections, and molecular biology techniques.
Neurobiology of Attention and Perception in Health & Disease
Adam S. Greenberg, Psychology (UWM) & Biomedical Engineering (MCW)
The Sensory Neuroscience, Attention, and Perception Laboratory (SNAP Lab) aims to understand how human behavior is guided by the world we perceive. We primarily study how perception of objects (in both visual and auditory modalities) and attention to objects are implemented in brain mechanisms. We use a combination of cognitive neuroscience methods, including psychophysics, functional Magnetic
Resonance Imaging (fMRI), Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), and computational modeling. This work also aims to determine whether measures of attention/perception can be used as biomarkers for cognitive decline in various patient populations due to disease (age-related hearing loss, dementia, etc) or treatment (chemotherapy, bone marrow transplant, etc). During this four-week program, students will learn how to create visual/auditory stimuli, test human subjects, and engage in supervised data analysis through hands-on experience.
From Objects to Insights: Archaeological Collections Management and Research
Jennifer Haas, Archaeological Research Laboratory Center
This opportunity offers hands-on experience in documenting and properly curating North American archaeological collections housed within UWM’s Archaeological Research Laboratory Center. These collections primarily originate from archaeological sites across Wisconsin. At the start of the program, students will collaborate with a faculty mentor to develop research questions based on the selected collection. Students will then learn and apply techniques to accurately document and curate artifacts, enter data into a centralized database, and use this information to address their research questions. Using the database and scanned archival materials, students will write a technical document that demonstrates how the curated data and archives can support future research. Public outreach is also central to ARLC’s mission, and these collections provide an engaging way to connect the public with archaeological research.
Mapping Milwaukee through Georeferencing Historic Urban Atlases
Ann Hanlon & Stephen Appel, UWM Libraries
Digitized historic maps are a rich resource for researchers, but in order to fully exploit their usefulness, the image must be georeferenced, and the data generated managed and made available for use in Geographic Information Systems and other applications. The American Geographical Society Library and Digital Collections & Initiatives Department are digitizing thousands of pages of Urban Atlases of Milwaukee to make publicly accessible. This project will take those digitized maps and georeference them using Allmaps. You will learn about GIS and historic mapping applications and methods; managing GIS and IIIF (International Image Interoperability Framework) data; and reviewing quality for georeference annotations. You will be working with the AGSL’s Geospatial Information Librarian and the Head of Digital Collections & Initiatives and will have the opportunity to learn about the spatial humanities, GIS, the IIIF protocol, and use cases for digitized historic maps.
The Mathematics of Parking Cars
Pamela Harris, Mathematical Sciences
Have you ever parked your car and the spot you wanted was taken? Then you’ve already encountered the idea behind a parking function! Parking functions emerged in the 1960s in the study of hashing algorithms and were later connected to labeled trees, symmetric functions, and diagonal harmonics. Over the last 30 years, they have become a central object in modern algebraic and enumerative combinatorics, the area of math that concerns itself with counting and using algebra to solve problems. This project will introduce students to research through the lens of parking functions. We will study recent results, learn how to pose open problems (questions in mathematics that are not yet solved), and work collaboratively toward making progress on them. No coding experience is required, though students with programming backgrounds are welcome.
Analyzing the Structure and Function of Biological Molecules with Machine Learning
Ahmad Hosseinizadeh, Physics & Astronomy
Biological molecules, such as proteins, undergo structural changes throughout their life cycles, which significantly influence their function and underlying mechanisms. Therefore, gaining a detailed understanding of their structure and dynamics is a central goal in structural biology and biophysics. For this purpose, we develop advanced data analysis methods using machine learning algorithms along with electron microscopy and X-ray data from biomolecules. In this project, students will gain hands-on experience with machine learning tools — particularly dimensionality reduction techniques—using Python-based software packages. They will also analyze both simulated and experimental datasets to visualize and study the structural dynamics and conformations of biological particles.
Sturgeon Stories
Sean Kafer, doc|UWM
The Sturgeon Stories documentary project seeks to document, preserve, and share the intertwined ecological and cultural significance of the ancient sturgeon, a keystone species central to Indigenous traditions and freshwater ecosystems. The objectives are to educate the public about the sturgeon’s ecological role and cultural importance, amplify underrepresented Indigenous voices, and inspire stewardship by linking cultural identity with environmental responsibility. It also serves as a mentorship opportunity for emerging filmmakers, particularly university students and Indigenous youth, who will gain hands-on experience in documentary production while cultivating a deep understanding of how ecological health and cultural preservation are inseparable. Throughout development, participants will be actively involved in research, filming, sound-recording, editing, and review sessions, with community feedback incorporated to ensure cultural accuracy, respectful representation, and educational impact. Tasks will include preparing interviews, operating cameras and audio equipment, organizing footage, and assisting in the creation of short educational videos and the larger documentary. This hands-on experience will deepen technical skills and understanding of community-based, culturally-informed storytelling.
Neural Circuits Supporting Social Recognition Memory
Jeffrey Lopez-Rojas, Psychology
How does the brain tell a familiar individual from a stranger? In this project, students will investigate the neural basis of social recognition, a core cognitive process that supports social behavior and is disrupted in psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia. Using mouse models, students will study how social behavior is measured and how these behaviors are linked to brain activity. Students will take an active role in running behavioral experiments, organizing and analyzing data, and interpreting results. They will be introduced to modern neuroscience approaches, including visualization of brain activity using fluorescent imaging, and will discuss primary research articles to place their findings in a broader scientific context. This project is designed for motivated incoming students who are curious and eager to engage deeply with the research process. This hands-on experience will help students develop practical skills and a deeper understanding of how brain activity connects to behavior.
Magnetic Beads for Biosensing
Ashwin Narasimhan, Biomedical Engineering
This project explores the use of magnetic beads as versatile platforms for biosensing applications. Students will learn bead synthesis, functionalization, and sensing techniques. The work involves hands-on experiments, data analysis, and understanding how magnetic properties enhance sensitivity and specificity in detecting biological targets for diagnostic purposes.
Understanding Contaminant Behavior in the Milwaukee Estuary Area of Concern
Benjamin Peterson, Freshwater Sciences
A history of industrial pollution in the Milwaukee Estuary has led to sediments high in organic and metal contaminants, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and mercury, leading to its designation as an Area of Concern (AOC). To address this contamination, a team of federal, state, and local agencies has planned the largest sediment dredging effort in the Great Lakes to start in 2027 or 2028. This project will establish a critical pre-dredging baseline of mercury and PCB behavior in the AOC, including (1) export to Lake Michigan, and 2) uptake into the lower food web of the estuary (e.g. benthic invertebrates, prey fish). The student will join research teams to assist with fieldwork and general laboratory work. Specifically, the student will collect and process biological and water samples from land and small boats; support laboratory activities and sample processing, such as logging samples, preparing sediment and biological samples for trace mercury and PCB analysis, and assisting with data entry and quality control. Overall, the student will contribute directly to a critical project that will monitor the success of a large-scale remediation effort and inform future remediation efforts in the Great Lakes and beyond.
Holding on to a Single Protein Molecule
Ionel Popa, Physics
Proteins are the molecules that perform the majority of tasks needed in our cells, and their activity is what determines how well our cells function and communicate with each other. Our body is made of ~37 trillion cells, and each cell has on average 10^10 proteins. So, it is hard to even imagine that one could separate a single protein molecule from such a high number and perform measurements on it in a laboratory settings. In this project, you will learn to do just that – to separate and tether a single protein molecule between a glass surface and a paramagnetic bead and apply mechanical forces in the picoNewton range (10^-9 N), similarly to what a protein experiences in our bodies. You will be measuring how mechanical forces trigger domain unfolding, which is the loss of 3D structure due to the breaking of the hydrogen bonds that hold the protein structure together. You will be joining a dynamic and diverse research team composed of chemists, biologists, physicists and engineers. For more information, visit http://popalab.uwm.edu.
Producing Japanese Pop Culture
Aragorn Quinn, Japanese
Our team is producing materials for a new course in the fall on Japanese Pop Culture. The course will interrogate historical fiction and science fiction in Japanese Popular Culture to understand how history and the future are constituted through media. The student involved in this project will learn audio/visual recording and production and work with the professors on the project and the staff in the Language Resource Center to create professional, engaging media for this course. The student will work on all stages of the production process, including post-production work with Adobe software such as Premiere Pro and Audition. No prior experience is required—all training will be provided during the project.
Self-Healing Metal Matrix Composites
Pradeep Rohatgi, Materials Engineering
What if a cracked spaceship part could quietly “heal” itself in deep space instead of needing a human to fix it? This project explores metal composites that can repair small cracks using shape memory wires made from Nitinol, a smart alloy that remembers its shape when heated. The student will help design and embed Nitinol elements inside metal samples, then bend, load, and even crack the material to see how well it recovers. Along the way they will learn how shape memory alloys work, how to cast or bond them into metals, and how to use simple testing and microscopes to measure damage and healing.
Electrically Tuned High-Temperature Aluminum Alloys
Pradeep Rohatgi, Materials Engineering
What if we could make aluminum parts for engines that stay strong even when they are glowing hot? This project explores aluminum-cerium (Al-Ce) alloys that are “trained” using electricity while they are molten, then squeezed and reheated in repeated steps to refine their internal structure. The student will help cast these alloys, process them into thin plates using rolling and heating cycles, and compare them to conventionally made samples. Along the way they will learn how processing changes a metal’s microstructure, and how simple microscopes and mechanical tests can link those internal changes to real-world strength and toughness.
Energy Harvesting Fabric
Daniel Schlitz, Civil & Environmental Engineering
Energy harvesting fabric is a system for efficiently harnessing energy from human motion. The system is a layered membrane with a piezoelectric metamaterial at its core. The metamaterial is comprised of large strain elements (LSE) that utilize mechanical advantage to efficiently convert high strain, low force motion typically found in clothing, into a high stress on a piezoelectric core and thus generate power. Two LSE layers are laminated on either side of a flexible high-voltage bus. The entire system is contained between flexible ground planes. The power captured by the piezoelectric elements is converted to usable power by energy harvesting electronics. The system could be used to power portable electronics in field conditions.
The Buildings-Landscapes-Cultures Field School: A Public Humanities Project
Arijit Sen, History
This is a public humanities initiative that brings together community experts and university scholars with the shared goal of creating a “people’s history” of Milwaukee. This nationally recognized project explores ways to counter the historical silencing and deliberate erasure of the everyday histories of marginalized places and people in Milwaukee. Every summer, our research team gathers stories of people and places to narrate untold stories of a Milwaukee. In the spring, the team revises and interprets this raw data, transforming it into podcasts, reports, exhibits, and performances. These outputs are shared with the community to spark further dialogue. Through this iterative process of data collection, analysis, and history-making, we actively engage community collaborators as co-creators of knowledge. In summer 2026, we will focus on co-producing multimedia shorts with community youth, making creative zines and art posters, and creating additional resources to support the community. Tasks may include zine-making oral history interviewing, documentation of places of cultural value in the neighborhood, website building, indexing and transcribing oral histories and developing story-maps.
Evaluating the Feasibility of a Mentoring Program for Student Veterans
Bhagwant Sindhu, Rehabilitation Sciences & Technology
This project aims to explore the feasibility of developing a mentoring program for student veterans. Veterans face high rates of sleep disorders, chronic pain and traumatic brain injuries. One-third of veterans use the GI Bill to pursue higher education. However, both health status and reintegration barriers impact the success of veterans in their career as students. At UWM, student veterans view peer-mentoring as a valuable resource for easing their transition. Here we propose to develop and test an evidence-based program that integrates peer-mentoring and resilience-training to address transition-related challenges. The undergraduate student will conduct a literature review on existing peer mentoring programs for student veterans and will assist the research team developing a manual for the peer mentoring program. They will assist in developing interview protocol, recruiting participants, conducting interviews, and learn to conduct thematic analysis to identify key patterns in the data.
Generation to Generation: Conversing with Kindred Technologies
Nathaniel Stern, Art & Design
Generation to Generation is a traveling exhibition that features hybrid sculptures, prints, poetry, haptic experiences, and artist books – all born from collaboration with Artificial Intelligence. Through explorations of how people and technology have always evolved together, the show invites us to probe the kindred, generative relationship between humans and the tools we create. It forges new ways of cultivating human imagination, while nurturing creative, technological inheritance. Over the summer, we will be growing the exhibition to a larger size for its second museum exhibition. We will also be producing peripheral, related works that further explore our relationships with technology, using generative code, artificial intelligence, and non-traditional electronic media.