Visiting Student Summer Undergraduate Research Program

Summer 2022 Available Positions

• 3D Printing and Bioprinting: Vijayavenkataraman Sanjairaj, the Vijay Lab

  Research Center/ Lab:	The Vijay Lab
  Faculty Supervisor's Name:	Vijayavenkataraman Sanjairaj
  Research Project Description:
  3D Printing and Bioprinting is increasingly being considered as an ideal tool for engineered tissues and organs. Students can choose to work on one of the focus areas (i) New bioink isolation and formulation from plant / animal sources (ii) Bioink optimization and bioprinting (iii) Bioprinting of specific tissue structures such as bone, nerve, or skin and (iv) Computational studies on various tissue engineering scaffold designs and computational bioprinting.
  Timeline:
  Timeline and detailed work schedule will be based on the chosen project and the progress. Roughly, the timelines are given below: Week 1 to 2 — Literature Review and basic preparation for the project Week 3 to 7 — Computational or Experimental work Week 8 — Wrapping up and report
  Responsibilities:
  3D Printing and Bioprinting is increasingly being considered as an ideal tool for engineered tissues and organs. Students can choose to work on one of the focus areas (i) New bioink isolation and formulation from plant / animal sources (ii) Bioink optimization and bioprinting (iii) Bioprinting of specific tissue structures such as bone, nerve, or skin and (iv) Computational studies on various tissue engineering scaffold designs and computational bioprinting.
  Skills Needed:
  For Bioprinting projects, no prior experience is required. For Computational projects, prefer candidates with a knowledge of 3D modeling software such as AutoCAD and SolidWorks, CFD software such as COMSOL, Abaqus or ANSYS.
  Class Level:	Any
  Major:	Mechanical, biomedical, chemical, and biomolecular Engineering
  Other Requirements:
• A Biomimetic Design of Marine Iguana's Salt Gland: Rafael Song, Micro- and Nanoscale Bioengineering Lab

  Research Center/ Lab:	Micro- and Nanoscale Bioengineering Lab
  Faculty Supervisor's Name:	Rafael Song
  Research Project Description:
  Marine iguanas living on Galapagos Islands are known for their very efficient salt glands, where they “sneeze” out salt. Because they feed underwater, they take in a large amount of saltwater. In order to prevent dehydration, they must expel salt without expelling water, so they have specialized glands that remove salt from their blood. Bioinspired by this ability, the project aims to build an "artificial salt gland" in a microfluidic chip that can expel salt ions from sea water and demonstrate the capability of marine iguanas' salt sneezing on chip.
  Timeline:
  June 1-14: Design and fabrication of the salt extraction chip June 15-30: Testing of the prototype for salt removal July 1-15: Building a millimeter-scale artificial salt gland July 16-29: Testing on sea water with quantification of salt removal rate
  Responsibilities:
  Design and build microfluidic chips and testing with various salt water samples in the lab. Characterization of the extracted salt ions in terms of flow rate and power consumption.
  Skills Needed:
  Mechanical Design with 3D software tools such as Solidworks or Autocad
  Class Level:	Any
  Major:	Mechanical, chemical, electrical engineering
  Other Requirements:
• Computational Modeling of RNA: Serdal Kirmizialtin, Kirmizialtin Lab

  Research Center/ Lab:	Kirmizialtin Lab
  Faculty Supervisor's Name:	Serdal Kirmizialtin
  Research Project Description:
  RNA is one of the essential molecules of life. The structure and interactions of RNA molecules have implications in medicine and understanding of biological processes. The project aims to model structure and dynamics of RNA molecules using molecular dynamics simulations.
  Timeline:
  Weeks 1-2: Learn the basics of Molecular dynamics simulation. Weeks 2-6: Write codes to distribute MD simulation data to HPC clusters. Weeks 4-6: Analyze the big data. Weeks 4-6: Write technical reports.
  Responsibilities:
  Execute and analyze MD simulation data. Write reports. Attend group meetings.
  Skills Needed:
  Basic level of background in biomedical or chemical engineering or chemistry.
  Class Level:	Junior or senior
  Major:	Chemistry, biology, physics, chemical engineering
  Other Requirements:
• Cross-National Database on Ethnic Appeals: Kanchan Chandra, Social Science Division

  Faculty Supervisor's Name:	Kanchan Chandra
  Research Project Description:
  Coding assistance for cross-national dataset on ethnic appeals
  Timeline:
  Coding tasks to be completed on a weekly basis.
  Responsibilities:
  Primary responsibilities include:  - Participating in mandatory training session(s) - Completing assigned coding tasks on a weekly basis. - Participating in weekly team meetings (on Zoom)
  Skills Needed:
  Sill requirements: - Strong interest in doing original research on subjects related to Politics - At least one course in the social sciences  - Strong time management skills, attention to detail, well organized  - Knowledge of Excel required. - Knowledge of computer assisted text analysis a plus.
  Class Level:	Sophomore and above
  Major:	Any
  Other Requirements:
• Developing Tiny Machine Learning Algorithms for Wearable Healthcare: Muhammad Shafique, eBrain Lab

  Research Center/ Lab:	eBrain Lab
  Faculty Supervisor's Name:	Muhammad Shafique
  Research Project Description:
  This project has multiple sub-projects that can be given to different students based on their interests, i.e., whether they would like to do hardware- or software-related work. These sub-projects aim at developing and optimizing bio-signal processing for low-power computing systems, and can include: (a) Implementing architecture aware pruning and quantization on biomedical DNNs to develop precision/recall-aware model compression techniques for embedded GPUs (like Nvidia Jetson Nano and Xavier). (b) Implementation of advanced algorithms for time-series analysis for ECG/EEG for short-term and long-term predictions, and their deployment on embedded GPUs. (c) Implementing and evaluating deep learning / autoencoder models for reconstructing bio-signals; in this work, we investigate the compressed sensing tolerance of bio-signals and investigate novel DL architectures and autoencoders, which can be used to reconstruct the original signal with maximum possible accuracy. (d) Implementation of state-of-the-art deep learning models for classification of COVID-19 from real-world biomedical image datasets like X-rays.
  Timeline:
  2 weeks: Getting hands-on the programming, development framework, hardware platform. 4 weeks: Implementation of the targeted research problem, as detailed in the topic description. 2 weeks: Testing, validation, extensive experimentation.
  Responsibilities:
  Development, implementation, testing, comparison between different approaches
  Skills Needed:
  Good programming knowledge in Python, knowledge of basic machine learning algorithms, (preferably) ML development frameworks like Pytorch and GPU programming, otherwise will be learnt quickly in the first two weeks.
  Class Level:	Sophomore and junior undergraduate students, first-year and for UAE-based students, senior class.
  Major:	Computer engineering, computer science, electrical engineering
  Other Requirements:
• Development of New Technologies for Neuromodulation: Khalil Ramadi, Ramadi Lab for Advanced Neuroengineering and Translational Medicine

  Research Center/ Lab:	Ramadi Lab for Advanced Neuroengineering and Translational Medicine
  Faculty Supervisor's Name:	Khalil Ramadi
  Research Project Description:
  Conduct research related to Neuroengineering. Our lab uses mechanical, electrical, and chemical techniques to attempt to interface with the brain and peripheral nervous system in a minimally invasive way. These technologies could potentially lead to therapies of neurological, metabolic, and gastrointestinal disorders. Responsibilities will include literature review, preparation, and characterization of nanomaterials, device design and fabrication, presenting data/results in the weekly group meetings.
  Timeline:
  Weeks 1-2 Literature Review and training; Weeks 2-6 Data collection; Weeks 6-8 Data analysis and final presentation
  Responsibilities:
  Literature review, experimental set up, data collection, analysis
  Skills Needed:
  No experience is required. Training will be provided in all areas. Familiarity with CAD, electrical circuits, manufacturing, or chemical synthesis would be beneficial, although not essential.
  Class Level:	Sophomore or junior
  Major:	Mechanical, electrical, chemical, biomedical engineering
  Other Requirements:
• Exploring Similarities and Differences in Mother-Child and Grandmother-Child Play Interactions in China: Antje von Suchodoletz, Teaching, Learning and Development Lab

  Research Center/ Lab:	Teaching, Learning and Development Lab
  Faculty Supervisor's Name:	Antje von Suchodoletz
  Research Project Description:
  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). In China, grandmothers play in important role in childrearing, in particular for very young children. Play is embedded in cultural belief systems that quickly change in the Chinese society during the past years. The project aims to explore how caregivers from different generations, i.e., parents and grandparents, play with young children. To test this question, we have observed Chinese mother-toddler- and grandmother-toddler interactions during a play activity. Following the activity, mothers and grandmothers were interviewed about their socialization goals and metacognitive thoughts relevant to play. During the summer research, we aim to code the behaviors of mothers, grandmothers, and toddlers during the play activity as well as their verbal interactions.
  Timeline:
  Week 1: Introduction to the research project and the available data (video recording of mother/grandmother-toddler interaction during play activities from Mainland China; language spoken: Mandarin, dialect of the Qingdao region); intensive training in (a) the coding manual and coding procedure for the analyses of behavior/language, and (b) using MangoldINTERACT, the software used for coding (MangoldINTERACT is a common software used for behavioral coding in psychological research). Week 2: Accomplish reliability in the coding of mother and child behavior/language to ensure the quality of the data Week 3-6: Behavioral/language coding for use to identify similarities and differences in mother-child and grandmother-child play interactions Week 6-8: Prepare the data for analyses; get practice in basic (descriptive) analysis of the data; become involved in dissemination of findings (research brief for website).
  Responsibilities:
  Responsibilities include active involvement in all stages of the data processing, in particular: coding of video data following standardized procedures and manuals; prepare data for analyses; participate in basic descriptive analyses and visualization of findings
  Skills Needed:
  Strong interpersonal and communication skills; The ability to handle tasks requiring high levels of attention to detail, to carry complex research tasks to completion, and to efficiently manage work in the time required.
  Class Level:	Any
  Major:	Psychology; social science; education; human development; or related field
  Other Requirements:	Fluent in Chinese (ideally familiar with dialect spoken in the Qingdao region); Basic knowledge in research methods in psychological/social science research would be beneficial but not required.
• Family Business Histories: Martin Klimke, Humanities Research Fellowship

  Research Center/ Lab:	Humanities Research Fellowship
  Faculty Supervisor's Name:	Martin Klimke
  Research Project Description:
  Family Business Histories is the first and most ground-breaking project mapping family business legacies in the MENASA region. It features a globally unique approach to understanding the multi-faceted impact of family-owned businesses in the regional economy, society and culture and seeks while preserving the history of individual entrepreneurs and collective business activities. This understanding will not only offer significant insights into historical transformations of business cultures and socio-economic environments in the GCC as well as the MENASA region but also support family businesses to address current and future challenges.
  Timeline:
  Students will contribute to the "Spotlight Series" sub-project, under the umbrella of Family Business Histories. Their role will consist of either research and writing or database management.
  Responsibilities:
  Depending on the student's background and interest, the responsibilities will be focused around: Contribution to building the first database on the histories of family business in MENASA. Tasks include database building, data compilation, data management, quality control, and management of academic references. Research and writing short articles on the history of family businesses in the MENASA region.
  Skills Needed:
  Interest in modern or economic history of the Middle East, North Africa, or South Asia. For students interested in writing tasks: Strong research skills, ability for academic writing and referencing. For students interested in data management tasks: knowledge of Excel, familiarity with data compilation, data entry and reviewing data quality. Student must be very detail-oriented Mastery of at least one of the official MENASA languages is preferred (Arabic, Bengali, Dari. Dhivehi, Dzongkha, French, Hindi, Nepali, Pashto, Persian, Sinhala, Tamil, Urdu, Wolof)
  Class Level:	Any
  Major:	Any
  Other Requirements:	Must be highly detail-oriented
• Historical Geographical and Environmental Data About the Arabian Gulf: David Wrisley, Open Gulf

  Research Center/ Lab:	Open Gulf
  Faculty Supervisor's Name:	David Wrisley
  Research Project Description:
  OpenGulf (opengulf.github.io), a transdisciplinary digital humanities research group working on historical materials about the Arabian Gulf region, is looking for a visiting student researcher. The data for this project include a searchable text version of Lorimer's Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia and a large dataset of annotated places found in it. The student researcher will work (1) to refine the data from one portion of the Arabian Gulf region, visualize and write about that data and (2) to extract entities and quantities from this historical corpus (animals, plants, temperature ranges, objects, water terminology, construction materials, rainfall amounts) to build a geocoded dataset for a web-based environment atlas. A sample visualization of such data (for camels) created by a visiting researcher last summer can be found here: opengulf.github.io/camels/.
  Timeline:
  Week 1: Initial review of the data. Identification of region of interest and entities for extraction. Week 2: Orientation in research tasks according to the researcher's skill set. Week 3: Data verification and historical research. Geocoding. Week 4: Data verification and historical research. Geocoding. Week 5: Data verification and historical research. Geocoding. Week 6: Publishing the environmental data. Exploratory visualization. Weeks 7-8: Writing up results. Documenting work. (samples here: opengulf.github.io/TeamBlogs/)
  Responsibilities:
  Creating dataset Verification of data Documenting work Communicating with project team Designing and implementing the web maps Publishing the finalized data
  Skills Needed:
  The ability to document one's work, to work both independently and in a team are a must. Experience with data cleaning, preparation and verification are desirable, as well as GIS/web mapping. Some knowledge of Arabic or Wikidata and interest in the Arabian Gulf region and climate/environmental history are a plus, but not required.
  Class Level:	Any
  Major:	Humanities, social science, history, interactive media arts, Middle Eastern studies, global liberal studies, anthropology, geography
  Other Requirements:	OpenGulf is a global, multi-institutional research group. Even though the project is on site and will involve a local team, there will also be work with researchers abroad. Experience working with team messenging systems and good file management skills are desirable. The student will receive training and guidance on necessary platforms. Along with your application, please include links to data-centered projects that you have worked on, specifying which tasks in the project you did yourself.
• Humanities Research Fellowship, Saqer Almarri, Humanities Research Fellowships for the Study of the Arab World

  Research Center/ Lab:	Humanities Research Fellowship
  Faculty Supervisor's Name:	Saqer Almarri
  Research Project Description:
  This project will consist of developing summary biographies of a variety of writers of the pre-modern Arabic/Islamic intellectual tradition. The research assistant will refer to a number of biographical dictionaries written primarily in Arabic to find biographies of writers, and develop short summary biographies by entering data into Google Sheets about the writers, include citations and links to biographers, biographic data such as their birth and death dates, information about their scholarship, and summaries of anecdotal information given in their biographies in different texts. The research assistant should be comfortable with reading Arabic works in scanned print books and in digitized searchable texts.
  Timeline:
  - Week 1-2: Introduction to the project. Review of the latest list of writers and latest list of biographical dictionaries to review. - Week 3-4: Data entry of information from the biographical dictionaries. - Week 5-6: Review the collected data for additional sources if available beyond the biographical dictionaries. - Week 7-8: Completion of the project. - Weekly: There will be a weekly review with the research supervisor to address any possible adjustments in the research workflow.
  Responsibilities:
  The research assistant will review biographies in a number of biographical dictionaries and write summaries of the information available about these writers biographed.
  Skills Needed:
  The research assistant should be comfortable with reading Arabic works in scanned print books and in digitized searchable texts. An ability to translate from Arabic, or a desire to learn to translate, is an advantage, but not required.
  Class Level:	Any
  Major:	Any
  Other Requirements:
• Implementing Tiny Machine Learning Algorithms for Autonomous Mobile Robots: Muhammad Shafique, eBrain Lab

  Research Center/ Lab:	eBrain Lab
  Faculty Supervisor's Name:	Muhammad Shafique
  Research Project Description:
  This project has multiple sub-projects that can be given to different students based on their interests, i.e., whether they would like to do hardware- or software-related work. These sub-projects aim at optimizing ML algorithms for embedded platforms deployed in autonomous systems like UAVs and autonomous vehicles under energy-constrained scenarios. Projects can include: (a) Implementing tinyML benchmark applications (like tinyMlPerf) on Embedded GPUs like Jetson Nano, implementing different optimization techniques for performance/energy optimization, profiling, and benchmarking. (b) Developing a hardware-aware neural architecture search framework (based on existing open-source implementations) under constraints for autonomous mobile robots (like Rovers and UAVs), and their deployment on embedded GPUs. (c) Developing embedded Lifelong Learning algorithms for autonomous mobile robots (like Rovers and UAVs) considering limited energy budgets.
  Timeline:
  2 weeks: Getting hands-on the programming, development framework, hardware platform. 4 weeks: Implementation of the targeted research problem, as detailed in the topic description. 2 weeks: Testing, validation, extensive experimentation.
  Responsibilities:
  Development, implementation, testing, comparison between different approaches
  Skills Needed:
  Good programming knowledge in Python, knowledge of basic machine learning algorithms, (preferably) ML development frameworks like Pytorch and GPU programming, otherwise will be learned quickly in the first two weeks.
  Class Level:	Sophomore and junior undergraduate students, first-year and for UAE-based students, senior class.
  Major:	Computer engineering, computer science, electrical engineering
  Other Requirements:
• Machine Learning: Muhammad Shafique, eBrain Lab

  Research Center/ Lab:	eBrain Lab
  Faculty Supervisor's Name:	Muhammad Shafique
  Research Project Description:
  This project will focus on implementing different machine learning algorithms for resource allocation in many-core systems executing diverse applications (concurrently) with unpredictable resource requirements that can change during their execution time.
  Timeline:
  2 weeks: Getting hands-on many-core processor simulation platform like Sniper or Gem5, and application profiling (using benchmark applications like Parsec). 4 weeks: Implementation of different machine learning algorithms like reinforcement learning. 2 weeks: Testing, validation, extensive experimentation.
  Responsibilities:
  Development, implementation, testing, comparison between different approaches
  Skills Needed:
  Good C++ programming knowledge, knowledge of basic machine learning algorithms, (preferably) computer architecture
  Class Level:	Sophomore and junior undergraduate students, first-year and for UAE-based students, senior class.
  Major:	Computer engineering, computer science, electrical engineering
  Other Requirements:
• Mars Research Group: Dimitra Atri, NYUAD Center for Space Science

  Research Center/ Lab:	Center for Space Science
  Faculty Supervisor's Name:	Dimitra Atri
  Research Project Description:
  We invite students to work in our research group. The group is interested in the atmosphere of Mars, its surface and subsurface chemistry, and exploring its present and past habitability. The main research areas are: 1. Mars atmosphere: Investigating how space weather impacts the Martian atmosphere. Using a combination of numerical modeling and data from space missions, the goal is to understand space weather-induced changes in atmospheric chemistry and escape rates. Data from the UAE’s Hope mission will be used to complement ongoing research with NASA’s MAVEN and Curiosity missions. AI-based techniques for data analysis are being developed from multiple missions to take advantage of large datasets and obtain a comprehensive picture of the planet. 2. Martian surface and subsurface: an experimental facility to simulate Martian conditions and study the chemistry of the planet based on data from Mars rovers is being established. The Martian subsurface environment will be simulated, the target of ESA/Roscosmos’s ExoMars 2022 mission. The goal is to investigate the present and past habitability of the planet. 3. Crewed missions to Mars: All major spacefaring nations, including the UAE (Mars 2117) are seriously thinking about crewed missions to the planet in future. The group is investigating the impact of radiation on astronaut health using a combination of numerical modeling and medical data. The group will also work toward developing sustainable exploration strategies for such missions. 4. Mars-analog environments: The goal is to gain insights into potential life on Mars by studying Mars-like environments on Earth by (1) exploring Mars-analog sites, and (2) studying the microbial response in Mars simulation chambers in the laboratory. The group will investigate the effect of multiple extreme conditions of salinity, temperature, desiccation and irradiation on microbial communities in the Arabian gulf.
  Timeline:
  Depending on the skill level and interest, students will be given a computational assignment, literature review, or asked to work on a research problem.
  Responsibilities:
  Assist the scientists of the research group in performing research by either of the following (1) data analysis, (2) simulations, (3) literature review, (4) write a research paper.
  Skills Needed:
  Our projects are interdisciplinary and students from various backgrounds can apply, which include physics, computer science, engineering, biology, chemistry, and political science (other disciplines are welcome too).
  Class Level:	Any
  Major:	Any
• Microfluidics for Biology and Life Sciences: Mohammad Qasaimeh, The Advanced Microfluidics and Microdevices Laboratory

  Research Center/ Lab:	The Advanced Microfluidics and Microdevices Laboratory
  Faculty Supervisor's Name:	Mohammad Qasaimeh
  Research Project Description:
  Developing microfluidic assays for innovative biology experimentation and point-of-care diagnostics.
  Timeline:
  Week 1 - Literature review Week 2 - Lab training Week 3 - Prototyping Week 4 - Modeling Week 5 - Experiments Week 6 - Experiments Weeks 7 and 8 - Report writing
  Responsibilities:
  Literature review Experiments Report writing
  Skills Needed:
  Dedication, hard work, team work, writing skills, Wel lab skills
  Class Level:	Sophomore or above
  Major:	Engineering, biology, chemistry
  Other Requirements:
• Sensing Devices for Oil and Gas Applications: Panče Naumov, Smart Materials Lab

  Research Center/ Lab:	Smart Materials Lab
  Faculty Supervisor's Name:	Panče Naumov
  Research Project Description:
  The student will be first introduced to the principles of oil fractionation and purification. Each fraction will be further purified and characterized. The characterization will include training for the use of common analytical methods (HPLC, HPLC MS, NMR) as well as spectrophotometric methods such as IR, UV/Vis and fluorescence spectroscopies. Finally, the student will work with a senior researcher in the Naumov's Smart Materials Lab to develop sensors for detection of certain components of crude oil.
  Timeline:
  Responsibilities:
  Application of standard chemical techniques for the preparation of oil fractionanalysis using different analytical methods, acquiring and processing of analytical data and presenting the results orally and in writing.
  Skills Needed:
  Knowledge of basic organic chemistry and analytical chemistry, experience with work in chemical laboratory (FoS), experience in engineering laboratory, ability for team work and motivation to acquire practical skills in analytical chemistry methods.
  Class Level:	Any
  Major:	Engineering or science majors
  Other Requirements:
• Smart Materials for Electronics and Robotics Applications: Panče Naumov, Smart Materials Lab

  Research Center/ Lab:	Smart Materials Lab
  Faculty Supervisor's Name:	Pance Naumov
  Research Project Description:
  Smart dynamic materials constitute an emerging class of materials that are capable of controllable response to external stimuli such as mechanical pressure, light or heat. By tactful modification of the assembling components and molecular manipulation techniques, we are able to achieve the soft actuators with multiple responses so as to realize multidirectional control over the motility. Such soft actuators are useful for controlling energy conversion from light or heat to mechanical work that could be further conveniently transferred to electricity or motion. In this project, the student will work closely with the members of the Smart Materials Lab (Naumov Research Group) to prepare, analyze and assess the performance of new smart molecular materials.
  Timeline:
  Timeline to be determined.
  Responsibilities:
  Successful applicants will have to quickly understand various concepts and functions of soft actuators through widely reading relevant references. They will be working closely with their supervisor to learn how to synthesize organic materials, how to assemble them into a soft actuator, and how to carry out measurements and analyze obtained data. In the meantime, successful applicants should be always able to strictly abide by security rules in the lab.
  Skills Needed:
  Basic chemistry-theoretical knowledge, Sample experimental operation, and excellent writing ability in English.
  Class Level:	Sophomore or above
  Major:	Chemistry, physics, mechanical engineering
• Sound-Mapping Nineteenth-Century Paris: Madeleine Wolf, French Studies at NYUAD

  Research Center/ Lab:	French Studies at NYUAD
  Faculty Supervisor's Name:	Madeleine Wolf
  Research Project Description:
  Artists, writers, photographers, and historians have helped us understand what Paris looked like during the nineteenth-century, as the city was demolished and rebuilt by ambitious city planners, besieged by foreign forces, and destroyed during civil conflicts. But what did this tumultuous period sound like? And what can this tell us about how Parisians perceived major historical and cultural upheavals on both sensory and symbolic levels? In order to respond to these questions, this project aims to transform nineteenth-century French sources into a digital archive and then eventually into an interactive "sound map." From this archive, we will compile and tag references to specific sources of sound as well as references to the locations associated with these sounds. After analyzing trends and identifying particularly noisy spaces of the French capital, we will ultimately transfer the most interesting and pertinent information to a map of Paris, which allows users to click and explore the sounds of nineteenth-century Paris. We will be working on the first phase of this project, focused on compiling data from already digitized sources using databases such as HathiTrust, Gallica, and RetroNews.
  Timeline:
  June 6 – 17: Introduction to the project; compiling and cleaning data from specific French-language sources (books, novels, poetry, news articles). This will likely be the most difficult and time-consuming part. June 20-24: Tagging references to sound (if there is time, we’ll also tag them based on other common identifiers/descriptions of the sound and the emotions/reactions they elicit) June 27 - July 1: Tagging references to location July 4-8: Identifying trends and most important geo-sonic references, choosing more prominent examples July 11-15: Finalizing key examples and pins; in the first phase, we will pin geo-sonic references to a map of Paris using Google maps or Google Earth July 18-29: Development of a more sophisticated map on Google Earth, ARCGis, or using Advanced Map Block on Squarespace. If time, we will overlay a nineteenth-century map of Paris and include images whenever possible.
  Responsibilities:
  - Compiling and managing sound-related data from literary, historical, and other works - Cleaning data from digitized French sources - Tagging sonic / location references - Adding pins to maps, using software/sites such as Google Earth, Google Maps, ArcGis, or Squarespace. - Potentially developing a website to host an interactive map
  Skills Needed:
  Strong proficiencies in French, data analysis, web development. Previous digital humanities experience is ideal. Basic knowledge of history or desire to learn more.
  Class Level:	Any
  Major:	Any
  Other Requirements:
• UAE Healthy Future Study: Raghib Ali, Public Health Research Center

  Research Center/ Lab:	Public Health Research Center
  Faculty Supervisor's Name:	Raghib Ali
  Research Project Description:
  The UAE Healthy Future Study — a collaborative prospective observational cohort study among UAE nationals. It has long been known that the UAE has some of the highest rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease in the world but the reasons for this are unclear. Until now there have been no studies done in the UAE or the region which can give us reliable answers as to why these diseases are so common. Now, for the first time, investigators from the leading universities and hospitals in the UAE have come together to find out why by setting up the UAE Healthy Future Study. The UAE Healthy Future Study seeks to determine how the health of 20,000 UAE national men and women, currently aged 18 to 40 is affected by their lifestyle, environment and genes, specifically looking at risk factors for obesity, diabetes and heart disease. This study will help us to find out: Why are obesity, diabetes and heart disease so common in the UAE? What is the relative importance of our genes, lifestyle (including diet, physical activity and tobacco use) and the environment in causing these diseases? What can be done to prevent these diseases in the future? To answer these questions reliably, long-term studies are needed which follow thousands of people over many years to see how their lifestyle and environment affects the risk of developing these diseases — these are called cohort studies. Previous cohort studies showed that smoking causes lung cancer; high blood pressure and cholesterol cause heart attacks and strokes, etc. The study is being led by investigators from NYUAD working in collaboration with the leading universities and hospitals in the UAE including UAE University, Zayed Military Hospital SEHA (Abu Dhabi Blood Bank), Zayed University, Khalifa University, Healthpoint Hospital, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, and Higher Colleges of Technology. This level of collaboration is unprecedented in the UAE and is helping to build capacity for population health research throughout the UAE and is one of the major accomplishments of the PHRC. The results of this study will provide a key evidence base for implementing the most effective health interventions and policies. It will be a national resource for the UAE, enabling researchers and policy makers to help build a healthier society for generations to come.
  Timeline:
  Timeline of tasks to be determined.
  Responsibilities:
  To assist in the epidemiological analysis and interpretation of data from the UAEHFS, including literature reviews and statistical analysis.
  Skills Needed:
  Nothing specific other than enthusiasm and willingness to work hard.
  Class Level:	Any
  Major:	Any
  Other Requirements:
• Urban Science: Monica Menendez, CITIES

  Research Center/ Lab:	CITIES
  Faculty Supervisor's Name:	Monica Menendez
  Research Project Description:
  The Center for Interacting Urban Networks (CITIES) at NYUAD promotes excellence in urban science 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 on 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. We offer multiple research opportunities in the area of cybersecurity where we aim at developing different types of security attacks and defenses in autonomous vehicles in smart cities settings. However, applicants can apply for a broad range of other urban science opportunities including, but not limited to, multimodal mobility systems, traffic flow dynamics, supply chain management, AI (development of AI-based decision support tools), Urban Dynamics (use of social media data to develop methods for monitoring urban activity), Smart Urban Infrastructure (design of innovative building materials). If you have an interest in any of these fields, please explain in your cover letter. The candidate may apply to work with any of the faculty currently affiliated with CITIES, namely Monica Menendez, Azza Abouzied, Saif Jabari, Kinga Makovi, Ali Diabat, Kemal Celik, Christina Poepper, John Burt, Farah Shamout, Muhammad Shafique. Tutoring by any faculty at NYUAD is possible, provided that the research project aligns with CITIES main research objectives.
  Timeline:
  The project could consist of two main phases: data acquisition and data modeling and analysis, possibly followed by writing the results in a scientific paper to be published or in a report.
  Responsibilities:
  Possible responsibilities may vary according to the specific interests of the candidate, the research project, the faculty supervisor within CITIES, and the research project that is ultimately selected. Responsibilities may include: analyzing data sets and running computer models, data acquisition, contributing to writing a scientific paper, produce a report at the end of the project.
  Skills Needed:
  Required skills may vary depending on the selected project and may include: computational skills; ability to work with others; excellent writing skills; mathematics, etc.
  Class Level:	Sophomore, junior, or senior
  Major:	Engineering, science, or social sciences
  Other Requirements:
• Virtual Reality Classroom: Mohamad Eid, Applied Interactive Multimedia

  Research Center/ Lab:	Applied Interactive Multimedia
  Faculty Supervisor's Name:	Mohamad Eid
  Research Project Description:
  This project involves developing a virtual reality environment for education. The student will work on developing human avatars that represent students and/or instructors in a virtual classroom and interactions between them. The project will utilize motion sensors to synchronize the movements between the real users and their respective avatars. We will also work on scanning an existing classroom on campus so the simulation is more realistic.
  Timeline:
  Week 1: scanning a classroom and importing into Unity game engine Week 2: building human avatars by scanning real users. Week 3: animate the human avatars Week 4: synchronize avatars with human movements and documentation. Weeks 5-8: further follow-up research
  Responsibilities:
  3D scanning a classroom, developing human avatars and animating them, and finally synchronizing their behavior in the virtual space with movements in the real world.
  Skills Needed:
  Programming, 3D modeling, writing, and interpersonal communication.
  Class Level:	Junior or senior
  Major:	Electrical or computer engineering or computer science.
  Other Requirements: