Undergraduate Research Opportunities
Research positions can be challenging to get. We have worked with several professors to create a list of any prerequisites needed to be able to start researching. As we get more information from professors, we will add it to this list.
Marek Chrobak: Undergraduate research projects are available on topics related to algorithm design and analysis. The requirements include completion of CS10C and CS111 with good grades and solid math skills. Some projects require familiarity with basic algorithmic concepts and tools at the level of CS141.
Yue Dong:Works on developing natural language processing and machine learning algorithms that are controllable, trustworthy, and efficient. Take machine learning or NLP courses (CS 171 or CS 173 or CS 172 or equivalents).
Ahmed Eldawy: In the big-data lab, we develop data management techniques for storage and query processing to provide scalable data science. If you took CS141 and either CS166 or CS167 and did well, the next step is to check my website for sample projects. We’re always looking for smart and enthusiastic students who want to apply their knowledge and learn more.
Yan Gu: First, I enjoy working with you and want to help you succeed in your career. Second, we should also acknowledge that research is challenging and requires certain backgrounds and time commitment. Hence, if you have taken related courses (141, 142, 214, 218, 219) and done well (e.g., solved many bonus problems we gave you), I’m happy to talk to you.
Paea LePendu: Stand out in CS 10C, sit in the front row, ask questions, be highly engaged, and earn an A+, then plan to take AI, machine learning or NLP courses (CS 170, CS 171, CS 172 or CS 173). Projects center around constructing an AI for medicine, with enough to do for students at all levels. A commitment of at least 2 years is expected to go far and make a difference.
Stefano Lonardi: Take CS 144. Projects are likely to be related to the analysis of large genomic datasets (DNA, RNA, etc.) on infectious diseases (e.g. COVID-19, Lyme, Babesia), fungi, plants, or other organisms.
Zhiyun Qian: Take CS 165 and do well. Projects are likely related to vulnerability discovery, analysis, and exploitation. In addition, if you have backgrounds in program analysis, machine learning, and AI, they will help as well.
K. K. Ramakrishnan: I enjoy working with bright, hardworking students in the areas of networking and cloud computing. You will team up with my graduate students to work on an interesting problem that we may have or define together. If you have taken CS 164 and CS 153 and have enjoyed those courses and done well, I would be happy to talk with you.
Yihan Sun: My research is related to parallel algorithms, their theory, implementations, and applications. Our group is actively looking for self-motivated undergraduate students. If you have taken undergraduate courses CS141/CS142 and got an A+, or graduate courses CS218/CS214/CS142 and got an A or A+, we encourage you to contact us.
Frank Vahid: We welcome enthusiastic students to conduct research into improving CS education. We try new things in classes, collect data, survey/interview students, analyze and visualize data, program new tools to automate things, and more, to create techniques that lead to more student success, and to write papers that help the CS education community improve. We especially love to work with students who hope to continue for a masters or Ph.D.
Heng Yin: Do well in CS153 and CS165. Projects are related to vulnerability and malware research using program analysis and machine learning techniques.
Zhijia Zhao: If you enjoy designing algorithms and building systems, you may find my research projects interesting. I like to work with undergraduate students on developing high-performance data analytics and studying the design of existing data-intensive systems to optimize their performance. Basic requirement: CS 10C. Experiences with parallel programming (CS 160 or CS 147) would be a plus.
Qian Zhang: Take CS 180/182 and do well. Undergraduate projects are related to test generation and program generation. I also welcome students with AI, program analysis, or NLP backgrounds.