2026 summer research projects

Synthesis of Fe2+ Doped ZnS Quantum Dots

Mentor Christopher Whitehead

Assessing the Role of Health Components in Transportation Engineering Decision-Making

Mentor Saeed Reza Ramezanpour Nargesi

Shifting Geopolitical Dynamics in the Middle East and South Asia: The Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan Strategic Triangle

Mentor Ibrahim Öker

Examining Human Judgments of AI-Generated Writing Using Text Analysis

Mentor Shruti Mahajan

Strategic Aid and Political Alignment: U.S. Assistance to Pakistan (2001-2025)

Mentor Alicia Dang

Peruvian Paleoclimate Research Summer 2026

Mentor Donald Rodbell

EvoFab

Mentor John Rieffel

The Usage of Copper (II) Complexes in Biological Activity

Mentors Colleen Connelly, Laurie Tyler

The significance of children's theater: how it's created and utilized

Mentor Jasmine Roth

Application of Neuromorphic Computing to Radar Systems

Mentor Chandra Pappu

Development of a Drop-Weight Impact Testing System for Evaluating High-Performance Energy-Absorbing Structures

Mentor Tengteng Tang

Mentor Colleen Connelly

Detection of Heavy Metal Cations in Water Using ZnMnS Quantum Dots

Mentor Christopher Whitehead

Hydrothermal Analysis of Volcanic Regions of the Island of Dominica

Mentor Holli Frey

Public Expenditure and Education In Peru

Mentor Stephen Schmidt

Influence of Environmental Controls on Rice Grain Arsenic Concentrations in Cambodia: Insights from Soil Spectroscopy

Mentor Mason Stahl

Uncovering Hidden Histories: Preserving Black Student and Employee Leadership, Union College

Mentor Deidre Hill Butler

Mentor Phanuel Mariano

Evaluating a RevA Epitope Variant for Enhanced Immune Response and Vaccine Development

Mentor Stephanie Curley

Investigating the Role of Glucocorticoid Receptor Polymorphisms in Metabolic Syndrome

Mentor Brian Cohen

Understanding the Stalled Gender Revolution: 1960s to Today

Mentor David Cotter

Mentor Ellen Robertson

An evaluation of the impacts of human disturbance on faunal biodiversity in Schenectady County using remote and direct surveys

Mentor Dylan Klure

Impacts of Beaver Dams on Water Quality and Stream Health in the Mohawk Watershed

Mentor Melissa DeSiervo

Metabolomic Correlations of Mild Cognitive Impairment Progression: From Classification to Biological Interpretation

Mentor Joshua Chuah

Optimal Execution with Time-Varying Volatility and Liquidity

Mentor Phanuel Mariano

Design and optimization of PCB struts for a family of tensegrity robots.

Mentor John Rieffel

Using a gamified argument defusal visualization model to encourage conversation and middle ground creation between two parties

Mentor Shruti Mahajan

Using Speleothems in the Peruvian Andes and Amazon as a Paleoclimate Proxy

Mentors Donald Rodbell, David Gillikin

Soil Recovery in Grassland Ecosystems Following Disturbance

Mentor Melissa DeSiervo

Augmented Reality Conference Preparation &Hair and Skin Tone Satisfaction in BIPOC

Mentor Catherine Walker

Wavelength Agile Photoacoustic Microscopy

Mentor Takashi Buma

Student Activism and the Construction of Democratic Legitimacy in Post-Suharto Indonesia

Mentor Sohini Chattopadhyay

Quantifying Inner Capsid Roughness in Bacteriophage Φ29 and Testing its Impact on Genome Packing

Mentor Cecilia Bores Quijano

Printmaking: Creating Unique Hand-Printed Wallpaper

Mentor Allison Conley

Comparing Socioeconomic Data to Tree Density in Schenectady, NY

Mentor Jeffery Corbin

Reservoir Computing for Joint Radar-Communications Systems

Mentor Chandra Pappu

Analysis of GlueX Data Using a Missing Neutron

Mentor Colin Gleason

Mentor Colin Gleason

Freezing point of salt -- H20 solutions at high pressure with implications for Europa's structure

Mentor Heather Watson

Mutagenesis to Study Proteolytic Sites in Metacaspaces

Mentor Kristin Fox

Evaluating TESS Exoplanet Candidates

Mentor Francis Wilkin

18th Century Clothing in Performance

Mentor Brittney Belz

Mentor Timothy Barnum

DELTA: Design-Based, Experiential Learning with a Team Approach

Mentor Corinne Chatnik

Continuing Towards Designing Immersive Campus Displays for Personal Reflection on Student Anxiety

Mentor Shruti Mahajan

Caves as Paleoclimate Archives

Mentors David Gillikin, Donald Rodbell

Exploring the Interaction of Word Valence and Speaker Identity on Speech Perception

Mentor Chad Rogers

The Possibilities of Indigenous Technologies for Climate Adaptation in Japan: Beyond Technocratic Climate Solutions

Mentor Sheri Lullo

Mentor Phanuel Mariano

Avobenzones Permeation and Estrogenic Capacity

Mentors Brian Cohen, Laura MacManus-Spencer

Genetic Diversity of Schenectady's Urban Red Maple Population

Mentor Jeff Corbin

A Traceable Sexagesimal Calculator for Reconstructing Iterative Methods in Early Modern Islamicate and South Asian Mathematics

Mentor Kim Plofker

In Depth Analysis of Pseudo-Law and the Functioning of Conspiracy Theories

Mentor Robert Samet

Structural Analysis of Fast 3x3 Matrix Multiplication Solution Spaces

Mentor Matthew Anderson

Blood Giants: A Brief History of Menstrual Product Brands in Cold War South Asia

Mentor Sohini Chattopadhyay

Search for Hybrid Meson Candidate Pi(1600)

Mentor Colin Gleason

Probing Nanoscale Structure - Property Relationships in Lactic Acid-Doped PEDOT:PSS

Mentor Pravini Fernando

Weaponized Interdependence, Industrial Organization, and US Export Controls

Mentor Mark Dallas

Understanding Nanoscale Structure and Conductivity in Glycerol-Doped PEDOT:PSS

Mentor Pravini Fernando

A Computational Population Genomics Approach to Assess Genetic Health and Connectivity in Southwestern Woodrats

Mentor Dylan Klure

Unusual Perceptual Experiences at the End of Life in Hospice Care Narratives

Mentor Carol Weisse

Sonification of Power Grid Data

Mentor Luke Dosiek

Synthesis of Fatty Acid Inhibitor for Cancer Treatment

Mentor Lee Pedzisa

Drosophila athabasca Trihybrid Project

Mentor Roman Yukilevich

Molecular Analysis of hFSHR Caveolin Binding Motif Mutants

Mentor Brian Cohen

Systematic Calibration of Dissipation and Filtering in Spherical Shallow Water Simulations using Ensemble Kalman Inversion

Mentor Yifei Guan

Bird Song: A Literary Guide to Union's Birds

Mentors Jennifer Bishop, Anastasia Pease

Mentor Lee Pedzisa

Electronic Implementation of Self-Modulating Chaotic Oscillators

Mentor Chandra Pappu

Investigating Pre-Zygotic Reproductive Isolation and Behavioral Divergence in the Caribbean Drosophila dunni Subgroup

Mentor Roman Yukilevich

Characterizing the Mobilizable Arsenic Pool in Rice Paddy Soils

Mentor Mason Stahl

Application of ZnMnS Quantum Dots for the Detection of E. Coli

Mentor Christopher Whitehead

Mentor Ellen Robertson

Mentor Timothy Barnum

Investigating Early Physiological Responses to Major and Minor Chords Using EEG and HRV

Mentor Stephen Romero

Awe Inductions and Relationship Interventions

Mentor Mariah Purol

Assessing the Role of Health Components in Transportation Engineering Decision-Making

Mentor Saeed Reza Ramezanpour Nargesi

Weary Pilgrims

Mentor Rachel Stern

Uncovering Hidden Histories: Preserving Black Student and Employee Leadership, Union College

Mentor Deidre Hill Butler

Polymer Lattice Strengthening Through Electrodeposition of Metallic Ions

Mentors Tengteng Tang, Yijing Stehle

Contextual Prediction, Cognitive Effort, and Speech Perception Under Degraded Auditory Conditions

Mentor Chad Rogers

Amalgam: A Global Fusion Piece for Zakuro-Daiko

Mentor Jennifer Milioto Matsue

Developing an In-House Corticosterone Assay to Study How Diet Diversity Impacts Chronic Stress in Rodents

Mentors Dylan Klure, Brian Cohen

Co-Designing Privacy Feedback for LLM use

Mentor Shruti Mahajan

Design and Contact Mechanics of a Soft-Gripping End-Effector for Automated Crop Harvesting

Mentor Maahi Talukder

A string-theoretic model for strong interactions

Mentor Nelia Mann

Implicit Bias and the Social Perception of Transgender Men and Women

Mentor Marlow Guerrant

The Growing Strategic Relationship between China and Iran

Mentor Eshragh Motahar

GPU-Optimized OFDM-IM Monte-Carlo Simulation with On-Device Generation and Kernel Fusion

Mentor Umair Mohammad

Photosynthetic Activity After Controlled Burns in the Albany Pine Bush Preserve

Mentor Stephanie Schmiege

Metabolic Remodeling of Endothelial Cells in Response to Palmitate-Induced Lipotoxicity

Mentor Ayon Ibrahim

Caves as paleoclimate archives

Mentors David Gillikin, Donald Rodbell

Comparative Study of Immigration Enforcement in the United States and Japan

Mentor Cigdem Cidam

Defining Standards of High Quality Data

Mentor Roger Hoerl

Computational Reconstruction and Analysis of Historical Mathematical Algorithms in Persian, Arabic and Indic Astral Traditions

Mentor Kim Plofker

Mentor Lee Pedzisa

Advancing Locomotion in Soft Tensegrity Robotics

Mentor John Rieffel

Biological Evaluation of Black Box Models vs. SHAP

Mentor Georgia Doing

DELTA: Design-Based, Experiential Learning with a Team Approach

Mentor Corinne Chatnik

Time Series Modeling of Multi-omic Data to Determine Molecular Markers of Alzheimer Disease

Mentor Joshua Chuah

Bias and Transphobia Study

Mentor Marlow Guerrant

Mentor Sudhir Khetan

Awe Inductions And Relationship Interventions

Mentor Mariah Purol

Firm-Level Export Decisions under Trade Policy in East Asian Economies

Mentor Alicia Dang

Electrochemical Polymer Degradation Reactions and their use in Cost Effective Plastic Recycling

Mentor Lee Pedzisa

DELTA: Design-Based, Experiential Learning with a Team Approach

Mentor Corinne Chatnik

Assessing the Effects of Road Salt on Microbial Communities in the Mohawk River Sediments by Analyzing Halophilic Bacteria

Mentor Carolyn Rodak

DELTA: Design-Based, Experiential Learning with a Team Approach

Mentor Corinne Chatnik

Same Lesson, Different Accent: Do Students Judge Teaching or Speech? An Accent Study on Student Evaluations of Teaching

Mentor Chad Rogers

Mentor Timothy Barnum

Decolonizing the Ocean: Understanding the Postcolonial Narrative of South Asia's Maritime Technology and Control

Mentor Sohini Chattopadhyay

Microwave Enhancement of a Catalytic Wittig Reaction

Mentor James Adrian

Implementing Social Commentary Through Neo Classical Music

Mentor Christopher Chandler

Closing the Loop in EvoFab: Fabrication-Aware Mesh Preparation and Soft-Simulation Calibration for Evolved Pneumatic Actuators

Mentor John Rieffel

Mentor Mary Carroll

Mentor Heather Watson

Generous Authoritarian Welfare States in the Middle East and North Africa

Mentor Ibrahim Öker

Physiological Impact of Prescribed Fires on Pinus rigida in the Albany Pine Bush Reserve

Mentor Stephanie Schmiege

Mentor Ellen Robertson

An Eye for a Coin: What Was Hammurabi's Code, and How Did It Define Justice?

Mentor Peter Bedford

Mineralogical Characterization of Three Andesitic Eruptions on Dominica with Contrasting Eruptive Styles

Mentor Holli Frey

Hepatocyte-Endothelial Communication and Its Role in Hepatic Lipid Regulation

Mentor Ayon Ibrahim

Awe Inductions and Relationship Interventions

Mentor Mariah Purol

Transfer Learning At The Strain and Genus Levels

Mentor Georgia Doing

Autonomous collection of meteorites in Antarctica

Mentors William Keat, David Hodgson

Analyzing Different Transfer Functions for Microbiological Transfer Learning

Mentor Georgia Doing

Uncovering Hidden Histories: Preserving Black Student and Employee Leadership, Union College

Mentor Deidre Hill Butler

Mentor Mary Carroll

Do Inflation-Salient Price Signals in Advertisements Shape Consumers' Inflation Expectations and Consumption Timing Decisions?

Mentor Kaywana Raeburn

Mentor Luke Dosiek

Single-Trial EEG Decoding of Problem Difficulty and Strategy in Alphabet Addition: An ERP and Time-Frequency Classifier

Mentor Stephen Romero

Analysis of Olivine Diffusion Profiles of Rangitoto Provides Insight on its Complex Eruptive Behavior

Mentor Holli Frey

Vatican II, Catholic Women, and Religious Change in the United States

Mentors Lewis Davis, Alicia (Huong) Dang

Investigating Genetic Predictors of Weight Regain After Bariatric Surgery

Mentor Brian Cohen

Mentor James Adrian

Uncovering Hidden Histories: Preserving Black Student and Employee Leadership, Union College

Mentor Deidre Hill Butler

The Truth About Dying: A Collection of Short Stories

Mentor Carol Weisse

3D-Printed Metal-Polymer Metastructures for Passive Crash Detection in Automobiles

Mentor Teng Teng Tang

Exploring the Oceanic Conditions of Europa using Pressurized Salt Solutions

Mentor Heather Watson

Incorporating Capsid Roughness and Flexibility into Coarse-Grained Simulations of Bacteriophage DNA Packaging

Mentor Cecilia Bores Quijano

Development of PVDF Ultrasound Transducers for Photoacoustic Microscopy and Muscle Activity Monitoring

Mentor Takashi Buma