Visiting Undergraduate Research Program

Projections by the United Nations estimate that by 2030 over 60 percent of the population will live in urban areas. The increasing population growth combined with this rapid rate of urbanization are putting additional strain on our urban systems, and posing new challenges related to migration, economic instabilities and disparities, health threats, and extreme weather events. These challenges are so diversified, global, and impactful, that require immediate and appropriate countermeasures and large-scale coordination from different sectors of society. Interdisciplinary research has been established at NYU Abu Dhabi to address these challenges with the creation of the Center for Interacting Urban Networks (CITIES). CITIES promotes excellence in research that leads to real improvements in terms of economic opportunity and growth, safety and security, health and wellness, and the overall quality and sustainability of everyday life in urban areas. It is fundamental research that can ultimately be translated into pragmatic ideas for increasing the livability of our cities, with a special emphasis in Abu Dhabi and the UAE. The selected candidate will work in a unique interdisciplinary environment, where faculty from across the four NYUAD divisions (Engineering, Science, Social Sciences, and Arts and Humanities) synergistically work on cutting-edge urban science-related studies. The fine details of the research project will depend on the candidate-specific interests and should focus on the main research areas to which CITIES efforts are targeted, namely the interactions among three of the main layers that compose each city: (i) the physical layer, which includes physical infrastructure, instrumentation, and networks of devices; (ii) the digital layer, which includes data produced by human, devices, and sensors; and (iii) the social layer, which includes humans, their interactions, and the social networks that transpire.

The candidate may apply to work with any of the 10 faculty currently affiliated with CITIES, namely Monica Menendez, Azza Abouzied, Saif Jabari, Kinga Makovi, Ali Diabat, Kemal Celik, Pablo Hernández-Lagos, Jay Chen, Surabhi Sharma, Felix Beck. Candidates are encouraged to first contact a faculty to discuss and define together the details of a possible research project.

June 1-June 14: Skill development with Arduino and motion control in a mini project

June 15-June 30: Design and building of the soft gripper

July 1-July 15: Testing of the soft gripper on C. elegans nematodes and Zebra Fish embryos

July 16-July 23: Optimization of the gripper and documentation

Research in my lab focuses on unraveling the mechanisms that control different modes of programmed cell death with special emphasis on its clinical relevance to anticancer therapeutics. Around one million cells die every second in our bodies! These are not random events, but part of a finely tuned biological mechanism referred to as programmed cell death (PCD). This biological phenomenon plays key roles in a variety of pathophysiological conditions ranging from embryonic development and maintenance of immunity to cancer.

Our research focus has been on investigation of the molecular signaling network in various forms of PCD (such as apoptosis, autophagy, necroptosis, and ferroptosis), with the prime focus on the tumor suppressor lipid ceramide and the tumor suppressor protein prostate apoptosis response-4 (Par-4), that selectively destroy wide variety of cancer cells via PCD. Par-4 has been shown to selectively destroy cancer cells, without killing normal cells, by inducing apoptosis. Diminished expression or mutation of Par-4 is noted in a number of human cancers. Par-4 knock-out mice spontaneously developed tumors in various organs, and conversely, transgenic mice expressing Par-4 are resistant to the growth of spontaneous or oncogene inducible tumors. Thus, small-molecule drugs that efficiently induce Par-4 expression may, indeed, offer a promising novel anticancer therapy.

Corals in the Arabian Gulf are considered the most thermally tolerant in the world. Still, they live near the thermal tolerance thresholds, and the warming sea temperatures associated with climate change have resulted in regional coral bleaching events occurring since the mid-1990s. Some recent projections suggest that present-day, ongoing warming and ocean acidification would be responsible for a rapid, dramatic, and global-scale losses of coral reefs.

Coral reefs respond to environmental stressors like thermal and salinity changes. To understand the complex interaction between the environment and the coral reefs is necessary the use of powerful tools and multiple approaches such in situ measurement and local-scales ocean models.

The student working with this project will participate in the development of a high-resolution ocean model approach to explore the temporal variation of seawater properties along the UAE coastline. Besides developing environmental knowledge, the student will also improve their computational skills by working with a range of visualization, statistical, and computing tools to analyze the model outputs. As part of the experience, the student will interact with the CSLC researchers and have the opportunity to work closely with them.

Child play is a universal activity that children around the world engage in. At the same time, child play is a highly cultural activity in at least two ways. First, the “value” of play is different in different cultural belief systems: It ranges between something that distracts children from useful activities to something that is essential for healthy and normal child development (Farver & Howes, 1993; Lancy, 2007; Roopnarine, 2010). Second, in child play, it is not always the mothers who play with their children (Farver & Howes, 1993; Lancy, 2007). However, in many modern societies play between mothers and their children is valued and, in these cultures, mother-child play becomes an important context for child learning and development (Roopnarine, Yildirim, & Davidson, 2018). But still, cultural belief systems differ, and it is the main aim of this project to analyze how these differences affect mother and child behavior during play.

The structure of mother-child play interactions is linked to more general cultural beliefs concerning children and their social relation to mothers and, more generally, other adults. One broad theme that permeates many if not most interaction formats is that of child-centeredness vs. adult-centeredness (Keller, 2007; Rogoff, 2003). Child-centered interactions — which are more typical for cultures emphasizing children’s independence and autonomy — are interactions that center around children’s interests and that follow the ideal of the child leading the interaction and the adult(s) being responsive to children’s initiatives. Adult-centered interactions — which are characteristic of more relational cultures that emphasize proper demeanor and obedience as socialization goals — put adults at the center while children are expected to adapt and follow.

While research has extensively studied the way that adults engage children in play, we know very little about the child’s role across different cultures and how his or her engagement in and responsivity to play activities might influence interactional routines during parent-child play activities. To address this gap, we explore play activities of mother-toddler dyads from four different countries that differ in their emphasis on child-centered versus adult-centered interactions, the US and Germany as more child-centered and India and China as more adult-centered. Data has already been collected. Mothers’ and toddlers’ behavior during play interactions has already been coded for the samples from the US and Germany but lacking thus far for the samples from India and China.

The gray mangrove is a critically important ecosystem engineer species in the Arabian Gulf, where it makes up the only evergreen forest in this region. Coastal habitats of the Arabian Gulf are characterized by extreme aridity, hypersalinity, and extreme temperature and, to date, it is unclear how mangroves have been capable of surviving in this uniquely hostile environment.

The Visiting Undergraduate Researcher will perform analyses of mangrove leaves collected seasonally over the past two years using a combination of computer-based analyses, light microscopy, and electron microscopy to measure various leaf attributes to determine whether they are adjusting their leaf morphology to adapt to shifting seasonal extremes. Data from this project will be integrated into a larger ongoing genetics study of mangrove adaptation to extreme environments.

To assist with the research mentioned and complete the responsibilities listed below:

Analyze Electronic Design Automation Market and Semiconductor — Circuit Manufacturing Market in the US with a focus on Logic Synthesis tools.
Provide a professional report with the findings.
Communicating and reporting professionally to other team members.

Join the Center for Cyber Security-AD team to carry out a professional industry and market analysis on Electronic Design Automation Market. The findings of this research will be assisting on the establishment of a start-up company. The company is going to sell the license of a software platform, aiming to enable fabless design companies to implement Logic Locking techniques at the design phase of an Integrated Circuit. This is a unique ground-floor opportunity for self-motivated individuals. 

The Arabian Gulf is an extreme thermal environment for reef organisms, as the world's hottest sea each summer (36 C) with temperatures plunging to extreme cold (16 C) in winter. Coral reef fishes are ectotherms (cold blooded) who have evolved in the typically thermally stable marine environments of the tropics where temperatures rarely vary by more than 2 C. As climate change is becoming an increasing threat to reef fishes globally, understanding how reef fishes in the Arabian Gulf are able to cope with such extreme temperature variation can provide important insights into how reef fishes in other parts of the world may respond in the coming century.

The Visiting Undergraduate Researcher will take part in a project that has been underway over the past two years in the Burt Lab which has explored ecological and physiological processes in reef fishes across seasonal extremes. In particular, the Visiting Undergraduate Researcher will help build knowledge by running assessment of physical changes in the gills and heart of reef fishes across seasons. These tissues have already been extracted and histology performed, allowing the student to focus on image analyses for these tissues. Because the gill and heart are central to supporting metabolism in fishes (which will vary with temperature), we hypothesize that individual fish are enhancing these tissues in summer to meet high metabolic demand, and then decreasing them in winter when these energetically-expensive tissues are less needed. The student will use computer-based image analyses to generate data to answer these questions. All training will be provided (it is fast), and no technical expertise is required.