Student research opportunities

2. Energy, Heat, and Community

Faculty advisors

Clark Miller, Senior Global Futures Scientist, Global Futures Scientists and Scholars, School for the Future of Innovation in Society

Andy Escobar, Energy Equity Coordinator, City of Tempe

Research project overview

The City of Tempe’s Sustainability & Resilience Division and the ASU Center for Energy & Society are seeking a passionate and community-focused research fellow to support community engagement around energy education and heat awareness. The role will research and assist in the development of the Heat Communication Campaign to engage the community on heat awareness and conduct research on social media trends and analytics to determine what types of posts resonate most with the City’s audiences. Additionally, the research fellow may also support energy communications by maintaining the Energy Resource Hub website and creating educational social media content on energy efficiency, clean energy and the City’s carbon neutrality goals. They will also participate with Tempe staff to make recommendations on strategies to improve visibility, engagement and overall effectiveness of Tempe’s sustainability-related social media presence. This is an ideal opportunity for students interested in sustainability, public outreach, digital communications and/or strategic messaging. This opportunity will be co-mentored by ASU faculty and City of Tempe staff.

Any pre-requisites needed? No

Research available for stipend? ($1,200/semester): No

Research available for course credit? (2 credits/semester): Yes

Research opportunity available to ASU Online students? No

3. Restoring Science and Technology Excellence

Faculty advisor

Bob Cook-Deegan, Professor, School for the Future of Innovation in Society

Arthur Daemmrich, Professor, School for the Future of Innovation in Society

Mahmud Farooque, Clinical Professor, Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes

Research project overview

Current federal policy weakens support for science and technology by cutting budgets, canceling grants and contracts, and laying off technical workers. The US system for research and development has long been in need of reform, but current policy is not informed by long-standing debates about reform. ASU’s DC-based Consortium on Science, Policy and Outcomes (CSPO) is joining networks of scholars and others who are hoping to build an improved system to support science and technology once the current destruction plays its course. We invite an intern to help gather historical materials and help build a network that can be ready when the rebuilding begins, on the assumption that 8 decades of bipartisan consensus will be restored. The student will pull together historical and current information on science and technology advice to the federal government, efforts toward deliberative democracy to inform science policy, programs for studying Ethical, Legal and Social Implications (ELSI) of science and technology, and related topics, and become part of a network of scholars and researchers hoping to inform future science policy once the storm clears.

Any pre-requisites needed? Interest and background in science policy is preferred.

Research available for stipend? ($1,200/semester): Yes

Research available for course credit? (2 credits/semester): Yes

Research opportunity available to ASU Online students? Yes

4. Exploring Signals, Trends, and Future Scenarios of U.S. Research Universities

Faculty advisor

Bea Rodriguez-Fransen, Assistant Research Professor in Principled Innovation, Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory

David Guston, Associate Vice Provost and Professor, Global Futures Laboratory

Research project overview

Futurists and foresight practitioners use certain methodologies to research the future. This project invites students to explore how U.S. research universities might change by researching weak signals of change and larger trends that are beginning to reshape universities. Students will learn how to distinguish “signals” from “trends,” conduct environmental scans across news, policy reports, think-tank publications and higher ed/ed-tech media and record their findings in a shared database. Working together, they will cluster these signals and trends into themed groups and use them to help create “guiding images” or short scenarios for the futures of higher education, culminating in a polished synthesis report or slide deck for wider audiences. This project is ideal for students who would like to learn the basic building blocks of futures research and for those who enjoy pattern-finding and imagining how today’s changes might shape tomorrow’s universities.

Any pre-requisites needed? Prior research experience,data visualization skills, futures thinking methods knowledge a plus.

Research available for stipend? ($1,200/semester): Potentially

Research available for course credit? (2 credits/semester): Yes

Research opportunity available to ASU Online students? Yes

5. Regulating Innovative Digital Health Technologies

Faculty advisor

Beza Merid, Assistant Professor, School for the Future of Innovation in Society

Research project overview

This project explores how community-engaged health technology assessments can be used to govern innovative digital health technologies. Students participating in this work will be asked to contribute to ongoing research on the development of a racial equity impact assessment. Students will learn about the relationship between innovation and governance, what constitutes “safe use” of innovative digital health technologies and where the regulation of innovative digital health technologies can fall short. Outputs for this project will include literature reviews and annotated bibliographies, contribution to a growing catalogue of benefits and risks associated with the use of these technologies and the opportunity to collaborate on public-facing writing exploring these issues.

Any pre-requisites needed? No

Research available for stipend? ($1,200/semester): Yes

Research available for course credit? (2 credits/semester): Yes

Research opportunity available to ASU Online students? Yes

6. TierrArte: Dismantling Sunbelt Apartheid through Dance and Community-Based Power Building

Faculty advisor

Lekelia Jenkins, Associate Professor, School for the Future of Innovation in Society

Research project overview

In Phoenix and the surrounding region, there is a pattern of environmental disparities referred to as “Sunbelt apartheid”—a history of institutional disinvestment, discriminatory zoning practices and industrial environmental degradation in South and West Phoenix leading to the spatial segregation of Latin and Black communities. These historical disruptions and displacements have created ongoing environmental and health disparities, resulting from heat islands, climate change, water scarcity, etc. This project aims to further the TierrArte (or eARTh) workshop series— a community-centered project from community partner, AZ(LAND), that integrates place-based education, sensory arts-based methods and storytelling, along with environmental and archival data. Specifically, the SURF student will work with AZ(LAND) and SciDance, a program that uses participatory dance for environmental science communication, engagement and social change. The student will help execute and evaluate a SciDance workshop, exploring the meaning and implications of environmental science research relevant to Sunbelt Apartheid. The SURF student will: 1) contribute to this effort by researching and compiling supporting information about infrastructural practices that contributed to increased environmental exposures for South Phoenix inhabitants, 2) design compelling visual displays summarizing this information, and 3) help refine, implement and analyze the qualitative evaluation instrument.

Any pre-requisites needed? No

Research available for stipend? ($1,200/semester): No

Research available for course credit? (2 credits/semester): Yes

Research opportunity available to ASU Online students? No

7. Beneath the Surface of “Future U”: A Causal Layered Analysis of Higher Education

Faculty advisor

Bea Rodriguez-Fransen, Assistant Research Professor in Principled Innovation, Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory

David Guston, Associate Vice Provost and Professor, Global Futures Laboratory

Research project overview

This project uses the futures research method Causal Layered Analysis (CLA) to explore how different groups on campus imagine the futures of higher education, from everyday problems to deep stories and metaphors. Students will be introduced to the CLA method and supported in designing and conducting interviews or focus groups with faculty, staff and students about how they imagine the futures of higher education. They will then assist with coding and analyzing this material to surface hidden assumptions and metaphors about the future of universities. Working collaboratively, students will translate findings into new narratives of higher ed, captured in a polished written report or presentation. This project is ideal for students interested in qualitative research, critical thinking and unpacking the “deeper stories” behind today’s debates about college and university change.

Any pre-requisites needed? Prior research experience, qualitative research experience, futures thinking methods knowledge a plus.

Research available for stipend? ($1,200/semester): Potentially

Research available for course credit? (2 credits/semester): Yes

Research opportunity available to ASU Online students? Yes

8. Trust Beyond Treaties: Accountability Design for Equitable Space Governance

Faculty advisor

Timiebi Aganaba, Assistant Professor, School for the Future of Innovation in Society 

Research project overview

 This project examines how trust is built, sustained, and sometimes undermined in international space cooperation by developing and testing a Trust Assessment Matrix (TAM) grounded in the emerging concept of accountability density. Students will refine and validate the AD-8 accountability mechanisms—Report, Check, Explain, Complain, Embed, Review, Insulate, and Build—by researching how these procedural “hooks” 

function across different institutional and cultural contexts and by identifying where current theories of trust remain incomplete. Using a mixed-methods approach, students will analyze case studies of space programs at multiple stages of their life cycle and engaging in preparatory/foundational work to collect qualitative evidence through interviews, surveys, and public-facing framing exercises to compare official narratives with lived perceptions of trustworthiness. The project will also explore cross-cultural dimensions of trust by integrating insights from psychology and governance-instincts research. Students will synthesize their findings to support a submission to the Governance in Emerging Technologies (GETS) Conference at ASU with the objective to contribute to the development, empirical grounding, and cross-domain applicability of TAM for future scholarly publication. 

Any pre-requisites needed? Prior research experience related to governance, policy, legitimacy and trust. 

Research available for stipend? ($1,200/semester): No 

Research available for course credit? (2 credits/semester): Yes 

Research opportunity available to ASU Online students? Yes 

9. Mapping Digital Afterlife in The Age Of AI: What Happens to Our Online Self After We Die?

Faculty advisor

Faheem Hussain, Assistant Professor, School for the Future of Innovation in Society 

Research project overview

As we slowly but surely embrace AI in every aspect of our lives, how does this impact our digital assets and footprints after our death? What types of services are available to address these emerging needs? Are there laws in place to protect us from our AI-enabled digital avatars? Who owns our AI-powered digital artifacts during our lifetime and after our death? This research project explores these questions and many more at the intersection of scholarship, digital innovations, death, grief management, AI, and futures. 

For this research project, student researchers will be working individually or in groups and will focus on the following task: 

– Conduct an in-depth academic literature review on the AI-powered services/innovations (and related impact, challenges), focusing on the digital afterlife/ deceased population, within and outside of the USA. 

Any pre-requisites needed? No 

Research available for stipend? ($1,200/semester): No 

Research available for course credit? (2 credits/semester): Yes 

Research opportunity available to ASU Online students? Yes