UROP invites CU Boulder undergraduates to join a team of students working with faculty on projects in many fields of study.
Projects are supported by Team Grants and typically provide financial support to students. We encourage students to consider options in the summer and academic-year terms–and should note that some projects continue through both terms.To participate, reach out to the project mentors directly.
Select a Term
Summer 2024
Understanding the influence of multiple tree traits on ecosystem services in urban forests
Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Mentor: Laura Dee
Are you an undergraduate student interested in urban greenspaces? The Dee & Suding Labs in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology are looking for passionate undergraduates who are interested in working on a project investigating how urban tree traits influence ecosystem services (nature’s contributions to people) in Boulder’s urban forest. This exciting project will involve collecting data on tree species characteristics, tree demography, habitat conditions, and soil properties, and installing sensors to measure understory temperature and soil moisture. This project has the potential to inform species selections for tree planting efforts in the City of Boulder. We encourage students from a diversity of backgrounds to apply! No prior research experience is required – all necessary training will be provided. We are looking for students with an excitement for urban and plant ecology regardless of experience level. For questions, please contact Advyth Ramachandran (adra1471@colorado.edu).
Effects of a soil mycobacterium-derived lipid, 10(Z)-hexadecenoic acid, on the immunophenotype of naive or lipopolysaccharide-challenged BV2 microglial cells
Integrative Physiology
Mentor: Christopher Lowry
Looking to get your foot in the door to the world of biological and cellular research? This UROP Team Grant is a fantastic opportunity to be involved in a multi-disciplinary project that is very hands-on. Students involved in this project will receive training in how to handle and perform research with BV-2 cells, a murine microglial cell line, including benchwork techniques and fundamental microbiology techniques. Students can expect to also be involved in the data analysis, manuscript preparation, and planning of future studies once the described study has been completed. Our lab has a strong record of having undergraduates included as co-authors on publications, and this opportunity will be extended to the students involved in this project. Overall, this is an immersive and multidisciplinary project that will provide the students with opportunities to learn about how to conduct research in a dynamic and productive research environment.
Feedback control via self sensing of multimaterial 3D printed soft bending actuators.
Mechanical Engineering
Mentor: Robert MacCurdy
The MACLab is seeking enthusiastic students who want to design, fabricate, and test novel soft actuators. Through your work in MACLab, you will gain hands-on experience and develop your connection to the soft-robotics research community. Our lab is a collection of researchers with diverse engineering interests and backgrounds, and we appreciate the value of a multidisciplinary, open-minded team. We expect applicants to be open and engaged in offering and accepting feedback from any member of our lab team, and we are committed to providing a supportive, inclusive, energetic, and exciting work environment. Strong applicants will already have some familiarity with one or more of the following, CAD design, 3D-printing, Matlab, Python, C++, but it is also expected that students will be learning these skills during the project, so the most important quality is passion for learning!
Selecting and Weighting Climate Models & Scenarios
Environmental Studies
Mentor: Steve Miller
Making decisions and investments to adapt to climate change requires embracing and making sense of several sources of uncertainty, including those that arise from climate models, scenarios, and downscaling approaches. The project team will build a database of strategies used by municipal, county, state, and federal agencies to select and combine different climate projections in their planning. We'll then explore (and publish a paper on) how these strategies vary across space, jurisdictional scale, agency responsibility (e.g., forests vs. fisheries), and time. UROP students involved will be involved in both construction of the database and programmatic analysis and visualization of the resulting dataset.
Investigations into the health impacts of wildfire smoke in Colorado.
Geography
Mentor: Colleen Reid
We seek undergraduate research assistants for Summer 2024 for a study that aims to understand how wildfire smoke affects the health of students in the Denver area by measuring air quality inside and outside of schools and homes along the Front Range and assessing how that affects respiratory health. Research assistants will participate in collecting primary data on air quality and health (i.e. doing local field work), reviewing scientific literature, doing data analysis, and the scientific process while being guided and mentored by professional researchers who are respected in their fields. Students interested in atmospheric and air quality science, public health, epidemiology, and community-engaged research are encouraged to apply. Students are paid hourly for their work on the project. Students who are interested in continuing as research assistants on our project after the summer may apply to do so.
Thermal Physiology and Foraging of Ants
Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Mentor: Julian Resasco
Ants are a useful taxon for studying the impacts of climate change on biodiversity as they can be found in almost all habitat types, are ectothermic, and vary in their environmental tolerances. We will determine whether ants’ thermal physiology and foraging traits predict their persistence under altered temperatures and to what extent species compensate behaviorally for warming by combining elevational and seasonal variation in thermal traits with information on foraging.
Institutional White Space: an architectural investigation of whiteness and racism in campus design
Environmental Design
Mentor: Shawhin Roudbari
How can the architecture of our spaces be racist? Join our interdisciplinary research team to investigate whiteness and racism inherent in the design of institutional architecture. Undergraduate researchers on this project will be trained in theories and methods of race and space studies. You will conduct “walk-shops” with members of the CU Boulder campus community, where you will facilitate a participant-led tour of campus while discussing and documenting the participants’ stories of racialized experiences. Through these walk-shops, you will collect textual and visual data. You will learn to analyze this data by employing qualitative content analysis. The research team will produce an exhibit and/or conference paper based on the findings of this research. You will be joining the Dissent by Design research collective, housed at the Program in Environmental Design. We seek interdisciplinary, critical, and engaged undergraduate researchers for work on this project during the summer of 2024.
Antiracist Community Organizing in Denver and Boulder
INVST Program
Mentor: Sabrina Sideris
The INVST Program seeks researchers to conduct a systematic survey of grassroots organizers in Denver and Boulder. After articulating a definition of “antiracist community organizing,” a team of undergraduate researchers will map the organizers and the types of eco-social progress for which they are agitating. UROP researchers need not have prior experience with antiracist grassroots organizing. INVST will provide training, mentorship, and regular supervision. Local travel within Boulder and Denver will expose junior scholars to diverse people and places. Undergraduate researchers will learn about intersectional social movements, differing approaches to change-making, and an array of organizing tactics. They will come to understand more about social and environmental problems in Boulder and Denver, including environmental racism, food insecurity, housing inaccessibility, and migrant exclusion. At summer’s end, researchers will present their survey to the INVST Advisory Circle.
Gathering Stories of Housing Hardship
CU Boulder Affordable Housing Research Initiative
Mentor: Sabrina Sideris
"Gathering Stories of Housing Hardship" will address the squeeze experienced by people in the Front Range when they try to rent or buy a residence. This crucial social problem affects us all, but Black, Latinx and young people are most significantly impacted. Utilizing a multi-disciplinary approach with faculty from the Department of Geography, Environmental Design, the Arts & Sciences Honors Program, and the School of Education, our long-term research project strives for robust community engagement through interviews to gather diverse perspectives. This summer, we wish to engage two UROP scholars in capturing stories of housing hardship as our team continues to gather diverse perspectives. Already, the CU-Boulder Affordable Housing Research Initiative has conducted over 70 interviews, almost all with BIPOC community members of Boulder County, or those who left the area due to prohibitive housing costs. Join us and help us identify and interview additional people.
Fruitful Fields: Exploring Biodiversity's Impact on Orchard Function and Services
Ecology &Evolutionary Biology
Mentor: Katharine Suding
The Boulder Apple Tree Project is seeking two undergraduate student researchers to assist with the monitoring and management of an experimental apple orchard in North Boulder for 6-10 hours per week from May to August 2024. The orchard was planted in Spring 2023 and your help will be critical to understanding how biodiversity affects establishing orchards! We are looking for students who are enthusiastic, engaging, and work well in a team. Students should be highly motivated to engage in the process of ecological research, however no experience is necessary. You can expect to work on plant identification, experimental design, field data collection, sample processing, data analysis, and science communication. We strongly encourage students underrepresented in STEM to apply.
A taste of education research with APPLE R Net!
Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Mentor: Deidre Jaeger
Our lab is seeking two students to participate in paid biology education research that examines the experiences of students’ sense of belonging, research confidence, and community engagement after participating in community-relevant research on apple trees in the Rocky Mountain region. No prior research experience is needed. We are looking for students that are strong communicators with a willingness to learn and be flexible with the activities week to week. Work hours are relatively flexible with a mixture of remote and in person training and tasks. Selected candidates will gain skills in quantitative and qualitative research methods by assisting data analysis in R of Qualtrics-collected survey results or focus group transcript coding in NVIVO. Consider joining a research team that is passionate about ways to promote more inclusion, diversity, and equity within the sciences through biology education research! Interested applicants should email deidre.jaeger@colorado.edu their resume and a paragraph up to 300 words explaining why they are interested in this research experience, what they hope to gain, and what their career aspirations are.
Impact Playback Ensemble - Summer Outreach Residency and Program Development
Norlin Scholars Program
Mentor: Jim Walker
CU’s “Impact Playback Theatre" Ensemble tours Colorado using applied forms of improvisational theatre to engage audiences and promote understanding. Since 2019, the troupe has conducted residencies, workshops and performances at and beyond CU, frequently with a social justice, community-building, or equity focus. Crucial to our mission is the ability to honor stories from all members of our diverse audiences. Students, faculty and staff of all backgrounds, identities and skill levels are encouraged to inquire. No performance experience is required; strong interest and/or background in social justice is a plus. Interested performers receive training via weekly rehearsals in Playback and other applied theater forms which boost skills of listening, empathy, spontaneity, collaboration, and trust. Non-performing positions are also available for students with strong, demonstrated skills in organization and event planning, graphic design, marketing and communication (including social media), and/or budgeting/accounting. More info at Impact Playback and "Acting out to help communities see within."
Academic Year 2024-25
Biomodernities: Women leading Bio Design and Materials, Forging Innovations for the Built Environment within Innovative Global Academic Labs
Environmental Design
Mentor: Caitlin Charlet
Upon notification of grant receipt students will be circulated proactively among underrepresented female minority students and student groups; Environmental Design Diverse Scholars (EDDS), and Environmental Design’s scholarship program for underrepresented minority and first-generation students. Biomodernities: Women leading Bio Design and Materials, Forging Innovations for the Built Environment within Innovative Global Academic Labs. Please join our interdisciplinary research team to produce a series of interviews in print and video revealing innovative sustainable practices and supporting female-run biomaterial labs. Undergraduate researchers will be trained in interviewing, research, technology, and methods surrounding biomaterials. You will be creating original content for print and video as well as meeting global female academic professionals, and work with various CU Boulder departments to produce this project developing significant contributions in social and material justice efforts. We seek interdisciplinary, critical, and engaged undergraduate researchers to work on this project during the 2024-2025 academic year.
Supporting undergraduate research publication through the Colorado Journal of Asian Studies
Center for Asian Studies
Mentor: Lauren Collins
The Colorado Journal of Asian Studies is seeking two research assistants to help with the review and publication of the 2024-2025 Colorado Journal of Asian Studies aThis is a great opportunity for students interest in research about Asia and academic publishing to join the CJAS team.
Enhancing Bilingual Children's Word Learning in Natural Settings
Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences
Mentor: Pui Fong Kan
Join our dynamic team and be part of a research project aimed at supporting bilingual learners. As a team member, you will receive comprehensive training and hands-on experience in the classroom. This is your chance to contribute to cutting-edge research, develop essential skills for your future career, and make a difference in your community. Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity! Contact Dr. Pui Fong Kan at puifong.kan@colorado.edu for more information and to get involved.
Use of state-of-the-art microscopy to visualize phagocytosis of the soil-derived mycobacterium, Mycobacterium vaccae NCTC 11659, by murine BV-2 microglia under naïve and lipopolysaccharide-challenged conditions
Integrative Physiology
Mentor: Christopher Lowry
Looking for experience using state-of-the-art microscopy techniques? This UROP Team Grant is a opportunity to be involved in a multi-disciplinary project that is very hands-on. Students involved in this project will receive training in how to handle and perform research with BV-2 cells, a murine microglial cell line, including benchwork techniques and state-of-the-art microscopy, using facilities in the BioFrontiers Advanced Light Microscopy Core. Students can expect to also be involved in the data analysis, manuscript preparation, and planning of future studies once the described study has been completed. Our lab has a strong record of including undergraduates as co-authors on publications, and this opportunity will be extended to the students involved in this project. We value diversity, equity, and inclusion. Overall, this is an immersive and multidisciplinary project that will provide the students with opportunities to learn about how to conduct research in a dynamic and productive research environment.
Computational design and fabrication of soft robot bending actuator structures for manipulation and locomotion
Mechanical Engineering
Mentor: Robert MacCurdy
The MACLab is seeking enthusiastic students who want to design, fabricate, and test novel soft actuators. Through your work in MACLab, you will gain hands-on experience and develop your connection to the soft-robotics research community. Our lab is a collection of researchers with diverse engineering interests and backgrounds, and we appreciate the value of a multidisciplinary, open-minded team. We expect applicants to be open and engaged in offering and accepting feedback from any member of our lab team, and we are committed to providing a supportive, inclusive, energetic, and exciting work environment. Strong applicants will already have some familiarity with one or more of the following, CAD design, 3D-printing, Matlab, Python, C++, but it is also expected that students will be learning these skills during the project, so the most important quality is passion for learning!
Fairy Tales at CU Boulder: A Generative Archive
French and Italian
Mentor: Suzanne Magnanini
Are you a reader of fantasy literature? A“maker” interested in creating fairy tales? Love rare books? Curious about digital humanities? Join Team Fairy Tale! Looking for 3 students: 1 archivist who will collaborate with us in constructing an annotated digital bibliographic database that will make Norlin Library’s amazing fairy tale collection more accessible to faculty, students, and the community; and, 2 creators/makers who will use their skills to create new fairy tales in any artistic field (visual arts, film, dance, music, creative writing) inspired by the collection in Norlin. The collection includes 1500+ pieces (rare books from the 1600s, artist books, early pop-up books, and incredibly illustrated anthologies). The archivist will gain experience in humanities research and librarianship while creating a useful digital tool for CU-Boulder. The 2 makers will be funded to create new tales that will be shared publicly, while learning to create a project timeline and budget.
2025 Senior Showcase Experience
Theatre & Dance
Mentor: Tamara Meneghini
The Senior Showcase Experience is a unique experience for those students interested in pursuing a career in performance or interested in learning more about how to create opportunities for themselves – be that in the interpretation of a piece already existing or gaining an understanding of the steps required to generate opportunities. All students will be emersed in a cumulative process of research and creativity as they identify material that fully reflects who they are and craft a “package” that is presented to field professionals – including performance, participation in master classes and interviews, and design/implementation of their personal performance portfolio and/or website.
Investing in the Future: An Analytical Approach to Bitcoin Price Forecasting
Computer Science
Mentor: Osita Onyejekwe
The COVID-19 pandemic made investors feel unsure about the global economy, which ultimately led to the massive general public indulging in trading in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The sudden surge of interest in cryptocurrency valuated Bitcoin at over 20,000 dollars but continued to rise as concerns about inflation and the Omicron variant created more uncertainty within the public hitting around 70,000 dollars during 2021. With the rise in a plethora of research within this area, especially in the data science and computer science, I have no doubt that this research and project will raise a plethora of opportunities for not only investors, but for undergraduate students aiming to take their statistics and data science skills to another level
Middle School Ensembles Program
College of Music (Music Education)
Mentor: David Rickels
The CU Middle School Ensembles (MSE) program is a collaborative experience designed for middle school music students and Music Education majors from the University of Colorado Boulder. This program strengthens the teaching opportunities for future music educators while providing a supplemental musical experience to local school music programs. The program includes full group rehearsals in band or orchestra, along with sectional instruction, and elements of comprehensive musicianship (music theory, improvisation, and composition). All rehearsals, sectionals, and activities will be conducted by college students supervised by faculty advisors and graduate assistants as mentors.
Navigating Neurodiversity: Creating Inclusive Wayfinding at CU Boulder
Environmental Design
Mentor: Elena Sabinson
Join the research team for 'Navigating Neurodiversity: Creating Inclusive Wayfinding at CU Boulder.' As part of the team, you'll conduct environmental audits and interviews to enhance accessibility for neurodivergent individuals on campus. We are looking for undergraduate students interested in conducting research at the intersection of psychology and the built environment. Gain hands-on experience in environmental assessments, creating design guidelines, and utilizing visual communication skills to share research findings. Neurodivergent students are encouraged to apply (no formal diagnosis required). Join us to improve campus navigability and create evidence-based guidance for environmental designers and researchers. If you are interested in learning more, please reach out to elena.sabinson@colorado.edu with any questions!
Forecasting Future Affordability: A Housing Model for the City of Boulder
Environmental Design
Mentor: Jota Samper
Join our team to research affordable housing in Boulder. Dive into data collection and forecasting techniques to understand the scale and spatial dimensions of the affordability problem. Work on statistical modeling and trend analysis to project future affordability landscapes. Utilize hierarchical trend models to predict property values and address spatial and temporal dependencies. Contribute to the creation of maps and infographics to illustrate the evolution of the housing gap over the next twenty years. This project aims to develop reliable data on affordability challenges and inform urban policy decisions.
Private Choices, Public Goals: Exploring Parents’ Experiences with Open Enrollment
School of Education
Mentor: Terri Wilson
Are you interested in education policy? Join a small team exploring how school choice policies might better promote equity. Researchers have found that school choice policies often advantage families with more education, income, and resources. Yet, certain policy design features can also mitigate these risks. In this publicly engaged research project, you will work with a collaborative team to study the choices and experiences of parents who have participated in open enrollment in a local school district. Gain experience with mixed methods research (including the analysis of enrollment data, surveys results and interviews) and participate in collaborative data analysis and analytic writing. Students will potentially be able to help present our research at an academic conference in late spring 2025. This research opportunity will run from September 2024-April 2025. It will involve approximately 3 hours of time commitment each week and will include a stipend of $1000.
Impact Playback - Empowering Students & Communities through Engaged Theatre
Norlin Scholars
Mentor: Jim Walker
CU’s “Impact Playback Theatre" Ensemble tours Colorado using applied forms of improvisational theatre to engage audiences and promote understanding. Since 2019, the troupe has conducted residencies, workshops and performances at and beyond CU, frequently with a social justice, community-building, or equity focus. Crucial to our mission is the ability to honor stories from all members of our diverse audiences. Students, faculty and staff of all backgrounds, identities and skill levels are encouraged to inquire. No performance experience is required; strong interest and/or background in social justice is a plus. Interested performers receive training via weekly rehearsals in Playback and other applied theater forms which boost skills of listening, empathy, spontaneity, collaboration, and trust. Non-performing positions are also available for students with strong, demonstrated skills in organization and event planning, graphic design, marketing and communication (including social media), and/or budgeting/accounting. More info at Impact Playback and "Acting out to help communities see within."