Specific Research Opportunities

Research Opportunities with UH Faculty
Below is a listing of UH faculty members that are currently looking for talented undergraduate students to participate in their ongoing research.  More details regarding these opportunities may be obtained by contacting the faculty member directly.

• Dr. Partha Krishnamurthy, Department of Marketing and Entrepreneurship asks, “How do people choose between attractive products, and how does it differ from choosing between unattractive products?  Does having a mental quota for a behavior actually affect one’s actual behavior (e.g., I should eat no more than two desserts every week)? What influences the happiness people derive from consuming products?” If you are curious about questions such as these that focus on consumers and their behavior, and wish to work on research projects, please contact Dr. Krishnamurthy at partha@uh.edu, 713-74-4576.

• Dr. Jill Sundie, Department of Marketing & Entrepreneurship, offers opportunities to gain experience doing consumer behavior research. Her work focuses on a number of consumer psychology topics, including motivations for conspicuous consumption, emotions consumers experience, such as envy and schadenfreude (feeling happy when something bad happens to someone else), social influence in consumer behavior, and persuasion. She also does work on the evolutionary psychology of consumer behavior. Students studying business and psychology, as well as students from other related departments, are welcome to inquire about projects of mutual interest.  Please contact Dr. Sundie at jsundie@uh.edu, 713-743-4166. 

• Dr. Margaret Cheung, from the Department of Physics, is currently seeking undergraduates who are interested in gaining research experience in biological physics. Specifically this student will help in programming of the software packages as well as data analysis from the computer simulations of biomolecules. For more information, visit www.phys.uh.edu/~mscheung/ and contact Dr. Cheung at mscheung@uh.edu.

• Dr. Fatima Merchant, from the Department of Engineering Technology, is offering the opportunity for students to work on a project incorporating health science and computing technology. Opportunities are available for students in the exciting field of tele-health. She is looking for students to work on a project to integrate medical devices, specifically a digital stethoscope to a computer. The goal is to develop an interface to acquire data (audio) from a stethoscope and provide an user-interface to perform operations to adjust incoming sound and improve the quality of audio received via appropriate filtering.  Students majoring in biomedical engineering, electrical and computer engineering, biotechnology and computer science are encouraged to apply.  For details please contact, Dr. Fatima Merchant at fmerchant@uh.edu. 

• Dr. Svetlana Tikunova, from the Department of Pharmacological and Pharmaceutical Sciences, is currently recruiting undergraduate students to work on projects related to the regulation of cardiac muscle relaxation by calcium binding protein troponin C.  Motivated students with a strong background in biology, physiology, biochemistry, molecular biology or pharmacology are encouraged to apply. For more information, contact Dr. Tikunova at 713-743-1224 or at tikunova1@hotmail.com.

• Dr. Jian Liu, from the Department of Health and Human Performance, is interested in hosting several undergraduate students in his research group. His research is primarily concerned with: 1) stability control during human walking; 2) predicting risk of falling for the elderly; and 3) preventing fall accidents using ambulatory measurement technology. His experiments will be carried out at the National Center for Human Performance in the Texas Medical Center. Students with strong background in engineering (biomechanics, instrumentation, and electrical engineering), statistical analysis, and/or technical writing are encouraged to contact Dr. Liu at jliu30@uh.edu.

• Dr. Bill Paloski, from the Department of Health and Human Performance, is interested in hosting an undergraduate student in his research group. His current research is directed toward understanding sensory-motor adaptation and balance control (for more information visit his website). His experiments, which generally assess posture and gait performance in normal and abnormal human populations, are carried out primarily at the National Center for Human Performance in the Texas Medical Center. Students interested in systems physiology, clinical medicine, engineering (biomechanics, instrumentation, systems analysis), mathematical modeling, statistical analysis, and/or technical writing may contact Dr. Paloski for further information.

• Dr. Joydip Das, from the Department of Pharmacological and Pharmaceutical Sciences, is currently recruiting undergraduate students to work on drug-protein interactions with a particular focus on protein kinase C, a key signal transduction protein implicated in cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and alcoholism. Only sincere and motivated students with a strong background in organic chemistry/biochemistry/molecular biology are encouraged to apply. For more information, contact Dr. Das at 713-743-1708, jdas@uh.edu.

• Dr. Bradley McConnell, from the Department of Pharmacological and Pharmaceutical Sciences, is currently recruiting undergraduate students to work on exciting new projects related to the genetics and physiology of heart disease; by investigating mechanisms and strategies to improve heart function. Motivated students with a strong background in biology, physiology, biochemistry, molecular biology or pharmacology are encouraged to apply. For more information, contact Dr. McConnell at 713-743-1218 or at bkmcconn@central.uh.edu.

• Dr. Ke-He Ruan, from the Department of Pharmacological & Pharmaceutical Sciences, is currently seeking undergraduate students interested in doing summer research on government agency-funded projects using innovative biotechnologies for developing novel therapeutic approaches against stroke, heart disease and cancers. Motivated students who are eager to learn and have strong backgrounds in chemistry, biology, biochemistry or pharmacology are encouraged to apply. Interested applicants should visit Dr. Ruan's website and contact Dr. Ruan at khruan@uh.edu.

• Dr. Romi Ghose, from the Department of Pharmacological and Pharmaceutical Sciences, is currently seeking students interested in biopharmaceutical research in drug metabolism and toxicity. There are several ongoing projects in inflammation, obesity, cancer and infectious diseases. Students with strong backgrounds in biochemistry, biology and chemistry are encouraged to apply. For more information, please contact Dr. Ghose at 713-795-8343 or rghose@uh.edu.

• Dr. Carroll Parrott, College of Education Visiting Professor, is seeking a SURF undergraduate researcher. Blue’s research uses public art and digital media as community development tools in Houston's Third Ward, the predominately African American community surrounding the University of Houston. This summer Blue’s two initiatives are: 1) Locative Media and Storymapping for revitalization efforts in two parks and six transit stations for the Metropolitan Transit Authority's Southeast Corridor and 2) administrative work for The Dawn Project, Blue’s community media training and production program.  Blue would like to work with a SURF-UH student this summer who would be interested in researching, interviewing, performing computer skills, attending civic meetings and writing meeting reports. Still Photography, Video and computer software production skills are welcome. For more information, please refer to this website: www.storycenter.org/thirdward.html.  Professor Blue can be contacted at cpblue@uh.edu or at 713-743-0964.

• Dr. Malavosklish (Liz) Bikram, from the Department of Pharmacological and Pharmaceutical Sciences, is currently recruiting undergraduates to work in the cutting edge area of nanotherapeutics and diagnostic imaging for cancer therapy. She is seeking students with strong backgrounds in organic chemistry, bioengineering, material science, and biochemistry. For more information contact Dr. Bikram at 713-795-8317 or mbikram@uh.edu.

• Dr. Nicole Coleman, in the Educational Psychology Department, is no longer seeking undergraduate students to transcribe interviews. However, students interested in research in the areas of Psychology, Gender Studies, Sociology, or Media Studies should contact her to participate in ongoing studies at mncoleman@uh.edu.

• Dr. Foster, from the Department of Physics is seeking a qualified and interested undergraduate junior or senior student who has a keen interest in the application of quantitative science to medicine. Ideally, the student would desire to go on to medical school, allied health professional schools, or graduate studies in physics or biomedical research. The student will have the opportunity to become involved in a laboratory research project that applies quantitative science to medical problems. In addition, you may also have the opportunity to shadow the professor while he sees patients and performs surgery. This is an ideal volunteer opportunity for a motivated student who wishes to go on to apply his or her knowledge of quantitative science to medical practice. It would be helpful if the student possesses a basic knowledge of cell culture techniques or an understanding of mechanics and elasticity. Most importantly, the student should be motivated and eager to learn. For more information, please see http://www.uh.edu/biophysics.  Women and under-represented minorities are particularly encouraged to apply. Interested students should submit a half-page description of where they want to be in ten years as well as a description of the courses that they have taken, cumulative GPA, and anticipated date of graduation to William Foster, MD, PhD.

• Dr. Nicole Coleman, an Asst. Professor in the Counseling Psychology program in the Department of Educational Psychology, is currently seeking motivated, skilled, and responsible undergraduate students interested in conducting multicultural research. Dr. Coleman currently is involved in several research projects examining race and ethnicity, gender issues and sexuality, and group interventions with at-risk youth. Students would be primarily responsible for data organization and data entry in addition to conducting relevant literature searches. If you are interested in any of the topic areas above and would like to attain additional research experience, please contact her at mncoleman@uh.edu.

• Dr. Anne Peslier, from the Texas Center for Superconductivity (TcSUH), has a PROJECT IN GEOLOGY to offer to an undergraduate student. The project is to analyze water in minerals from rocks of the Kohistan massif (Pakistan), an obducted arc showing the mantle/crust transition. The student will be involved in sample preparation, Fourier transform infrared analysis (FTIR) and interpretation of data. This work is expected to enhance his/her skills in petrology, geochemistry and in general in how to conduct a research project in an active lab environment from data acquisition to publication. Dr. Peslier would like to support the researcher through the PURS program. Please contact Dr. Peslier for more information (713-743-8283).

• Dr. Anne Peslier, from the Texas Center for Superconductivity (TcSUH), has a PROJECT IN GEOLOGY to offer to an undergraduate student. The project is to analyze water in minerals from rocks of the Kohistan massif (Pakistan), an obducted arc showing the mantle/crust transition. The student will be involved in sample preparation, Fourier transform infrared analysis (FTIR) and interpretation of data. This work is expected to enhance his/her skills in petrology, geochemistry and in general in how to conduct a research project in an active lab environment from data acquisition to publication. Students in Earth sciences, geology, or geochemistry are encouraged to apply. Dr. Peslier would like to support the researcher through the PURS program. Please contact Dr. Peslier for more information (713-743-8283).

• Dr. Adam Thrasher, from the Department of Health and Human Performance, is interested in hosting an undergraduate student who has a keen interest in neuromuscular rehabilitation. Current research in the laboratory is directed at developing new rehabilitation technologies for people with major neuromuscular disorders such as spinal cord injury and stroke. A large part of the research involves using Functional Electrical Stimulation technology to activate paralyzed muscles and locomotion training on a modified treadmill. This multi-disciplinary work takes place in the Laboratory of Integrative Physiology and involves experts with backgrounds in biomedical engineering, rehabilitation science, physiology and instrumentation. Interested students please contact Dr. Thrasher, athrasher3@uh.edu.

• Dr. Farrokh Attarzadeh, from Computer Engineering Technology (CETE) program, Department of Engineering Technology, is seeking a qualified and interested undergraduate junior or senior student who has a keen interest in robotics. In particular, the student will assemble, program and test several different robots with multiple sensors. Feasibility of incorporating some of these robots into a curriculum will be studied. Students who have embedded systems hardware and software backgrounds may use the knowledge gained and expand it for their senior capstone project in the CETE program. Interested students please submit a one page summary of how they can benefit from this project and how they will apply it to their senior project course, relevant courses taken with grades, prior experience with robotic projects, cumulative GPA, and their anticipated date of graduation to Dr. Farrokh Attarzadeh.

• Dr. Driss Benhaddou and Dr. Deniz Gurkan, from Engineering Technology, are seeking a student to work on a project entitled, Online Laboratory for optical Circuits Courses. Candidates should demonstrate a good understanding of optical communication, strong website development skills, good understanding of labView and/or other high level programming languages. Additional familiarity with simulation tools such as Matlab, Mathcad, or Matematica is also a plus. The purpose of the project is to use distance-learning techniques to develop a complete set of laboratories covering optical circuits. The laboratories will be of sufficient generality such that subsets of adaptations of this set of laboratories may be used for numerous undergraduate as well as for graduate courses and a wide variety of disciplines of technology and engineering. Component of this work will be outcome assessment and the continuous improvement model that will be used to adapt the laboratories to provide an effective hands-on experience to students. The work is intended for one year's duration and will specifically focus on developing LabView interface to remotely control experiments, project webpage to disseminate the knowledge gain from this work. A web-based portal will be developed to organize and request access to the laboratories. If you are interested in this position, please submit a resume indicating relevant courses taken, relevant projects completed, cumulative GPA, and a statement of interest in this project to Dr. Benhaddou or Dr. Gurkan.

• Dr. Bhavin R. Sheth, from the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, is interested in hosting undergraduate researchers in UH-Neuroengineering this summer. He is seeking students with an interest in working on the nervous system, and in recording brain waves using non-invasive neuroimaging techniques such as magnetoencephaolography (MEG) and electroencephoalography (EEG).  The work will entail experiments with cutting-edge recording technology and signal processing techniques for data analysis. Interested undergraduates can decide to participate in either one or both. Research will be on the function of sleep and in understanding the cause of autism. It is anticipated the work will lead to a conference presentation and short publication. Please contact Dr. Sheth (713-743-4935, brsheth@uh.edu) for more information.

• Dr. Barry Lefer and Dr. Bernhard Rappenglueck, from the Geosciences Department, are interested in hosting undergraduate researchers in the UH-Atmospheric Chemistry group this summer. They are seeking students with an interest in working with air pollution instruments and analyzing air quality and meteorological data.  In August, UH will be hosting a month long air pollution measurement campaign at the UH-Moody Tower Lab with scientists from several other universities.  UH undergraduates will be playing an important role in is this experiment.  Please contact Dr. Lefer (713-743-2775, blefer@uh.edu) or Dr. Rappenglueck (713-743-1834; brappenglueck@uh.edu) for more information.

• Dr. Brian McFarlin, from the Department of Health and Human Performance, is looking for interested undergraduate students to participate in a number of ongoing projects in his laboratory. The general theme of his research is related to the physiology of chronic inflammation and inflammatory obesity.  Dr. McFarlin's has strong research collaborations in the Texas Medical Center and elsewhere on the UH campus. If you are interested in his research or getting involved with a research study, please contact Dr. McFarlin at bmcfarlin@uh.edu.

• Dr. Vincent Tam, from the College of Pharmacy, is currently recruiting students for his research in infectious diseases and anti-infective pharmacology. Students should have prior microbiology (or molecular microbiology) lab experience and a strong background in mathematics. For more information, please contact Dr. Tam at 713-795-8316 or at vtam@uh.edu. Further information about Dr. Tam and his research can be found on the College of Pharmacy webpage: http://www.uh.edu/pharmacy/tam-bio.htm.

• Dr. Stewart Pisecco's research team, from the Department of Educational Psychology, will be launching a data collection effort this coming spring, and is searching for undergraduate students to assist them in their endeavors. Their research focuses on the use of technology to facilitate the delivery of behavioral interventions for students with disruptive behavioral disorders in the schools. Contact Dr. Pisecco at 713-743-9820 or at spisecco@uh.edu

• Dr. Eric Bittner, from the Chemistry Department, is interested in hosting an undergrad researcher in his group this summer. He is seeking a student with a strong math or physics background and who is interested in condensed matter physics rather than chemistry. However, a chemistry student with a strong physics/math background is eligible to apply. Contact Dr. Bittner at 713-743-2775 or at bittner@uh.edu.

• Dr. Jonathan Schwartz, from the department of Educational Psychology, is seeking undergraduate research assistants to assist in a research project related to communication and intimate violence.  Contact Dr. Schwartz at 713-743-8390 or at jschwartz@uh.edu.