Student research opportunities
New opportunities for undergraduate research at SFIS
SFIS launched an Undergraduate Research Fellows program in Fall 2017, designed to give undergraduate students a chance to engage in research projects on science & society topics, working closely with SFIS faculty mentors.
Engaging in research projects as an undergraduate is a great way to broaden your ASU experience. You’ll get the chance to develop critical skills in how to gather reliable data, how to analyze this information, and how to present your findings to others in a clear and compelling way. These skills can prove very useful in the workplace. Research experience can also help you decide whether you’re interested in graduate school – and, if you are, it can significantly increase your chances of getting accepted.
Students participating in the SFIS undergraduate research program can apply to receive a stipend ($1200 per semester) or to receive research credit (2 credits per semester). You will be expected to spend 5-7 hours per week as a Research Fellow, including attending a weekly meeting with your faculty mentor and You will also be expected to present your research at an end-of-semester symposium. Subject to student interest and faculty approval, students may participate in this program over multiple semesters.
The second round of Fall 2023 research program applications will be open on August 31st, with a closing date of Thursday September 7th at 9am. These research projects will ideally start the week of September 18th, 2023. If you would like to apply for a research position, please complete the online application.
All applicants will be notified of their selection status by September 14th.
For questions, please contact Elisha Thompson ([email protected]).
| Faculty advisor | Project title | Available for stipend | Available for credit | Pre-requisites required |
| Timiebi Aganaba, Salah Hamdoun, Sanskriti Kansal, Anish Verman and Caity Roe | Towards Space Commercialization: A Multilevel Governance Approach centered on Investment and Finance | Yes | Yes | Comfortable with economics, finance, and markets. Interest in developing countries, and interviewing industry/policy actors. |
| Bob Cook-Deegan | BRAINshare | No | Yes | Comfortable with economics, finance, and markets. Interest in developing countries, and interviewing industry/policy actors. |
Full project descriptions
1. Towards Space Commercialization: A Multilevel Governance Approach centered on Investment and Finance
Faculty advisors
Dr. Timiebi Aganaba – Assistant Professor, School for the Future of Innovation in Society
Salah Hamdoun, PhD SFIS, Investment and Finance
Sanskriti Kansal, Masters student – Business Analytics, WP Carey
Anish Verman, MA Political Psychology and Applied Quantitative Sciences
Caity Roe, PhD SFIS, Psychology
Research project overview
Space has always been a global and national endeavor, driven by federal budgets. Taking a multilevel governance lens, this research opportunity is focused on studying how investment portfolios are developed, sustained, and scaled, in the context of space commercialization, and how space can be integrated into a local economy, using an investment and finance approach, to create trust and increase access.
The Procure Space Exchange Traded Fund, UFO, has captured interest from investors who are attracted to the commercialization of the space economy (Sandhu). Some of the corporations included in the ETF are Dish Network Corporation, Garmin Ltd, Sirius XM, Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc., Lockheed Martin Corporation, Boeing, and Echostar Corporation”. These are global companies. Scanning down from the global and national, as states now race to make their state attractive for space commerce, there is an opportunity for an investment and finance approach to be a differentiator as there is no market leader on that yet. Following previous work done as part of the Interplanetary Intiative on Integrating Space in the Local Economy (ISLE), we propose that such an approach using both private and institutional capital, appears to be Arizona’s best option to attract a diverse set of stakeholders to associate, participate and become an integral part of the “space” endeavor and the state economy. The lack of a coherent investment strategy to support space and the local economy means Arizona can become a model for investment and growth without compromising the other economic drivers in the state. To get there, it would be important to determine, what the current and potential impact diverse funding would be on the eco-system? And how real is the change in the local economy if there is more access to these funds.
Selected students will be working with a team comprised of students of economics, policy, investment, and psychology.
Any pre-requisites needed? Comfortable with economics, finance, and markets. Interest in developing countries, and interviewing industry/policy actors.
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
2. BRAINshare
Faculty advisors
Dr. Bob Cook-Deegan – Professor, School for the Future of Innovation in Society
Bob Cook-Deegan works with a team based at Baylor College of Medicine to study how data are shared within the US BRAIN Initiative. Co-mentors will be drawn from that broader team, including lawyer and bioethicist Amy McGuire and neurosurgeon Sameer Sheth. Bob Cook-Deegan will be the primary direct mentor, but you will join team calls once a month and smaller team calls focused on your project. Recent ASU graduate Imtithal Noor will also be working on BRAINshare, carrying over from last year as a SURFer.
Research project overview
We will be doing case studies of public-private partnerships in neuroscience, focused on devices implanted in the brain or spinal cord. We are looking at what data are generated, who controls those data, and how private companies interact with their academic partners and the National Institutes of Health, which funds the research. This will build on the past work of Britney Hill, a SURFer from last year, who graduated and is now in a PhD program in bioengineering at Boston University. But basically, you will be joining a team, devising a case study and carrying it out over both semesters.
For information on the research, see: https://www.bcm.edu/academic-centers/medical-ethics-and-health-policy/research/neuroethics/brainshare or
https://reporter.nih.gov/search/2peHO-S2A0Sb0A0Z5YnAyA/project-details/10835524
Any pre-requisites needed? Comfortable with economics, finance, and markets. Interest in developing countries, and interviewing industry/policy actors.
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