Finding a Mentor for Undergraduate Research

Mentorship in Physics

Professor Aubin and his mentee William Charles (Class of 2018)

We offer the following suggestions for finding a mentor at FCRH.

  • Visit the associate chair of the department in which you are interested in doing research—they can often make great faculty referrals.
  • Talk to one of your professors after class about either their or their colleagues’ research. Students strongly encourage this!
  • Review department webpages; many of these describe faculty research interests. Our faculty loves talking about their research, so they will welcome you inquiring!
  • Note that only tenured or tenure-track faculty members can mentor undergraduate students during the academic year, so keep that in mind as you discuss projects with faculty. Non-tenure line faculty may mentor over the summer.
  • Below are some faculty who have advertised positions they have, or that they are interested in being contacted. Reach out to them!

Over 100 faculty members mentored students in undergraduate research last year alone.

    • Craig L. Frank
      • Email: [email protected]       
      • Affiliated program: Environmental Science
      • Brief project description: Our laboratory is conducting a study on the nutritional composition of the insect species consumed by several bat species found in NY State.
      • Time commitment: 6-8 h/week
      • Application deadline: 12/1/24
      • Other relevant information: The position starts at the beginning of the Spring 2025 semester.  Travel to the Louis Calder Center is required, transportation will be provided.
    • JD Lewis
      • Email: [email protected]
      • Other relevant information: No specific project, continually accepting applicants.
    • Christopher Koenigsmann
      • Email: [email protected]
      • Project description: Nanomaterials are a class of materials with sizes that range from 1 - 100 nm (for context 1 nm is the thickness of a double helix DNA strand). Our group develops new nanomaterials that can be used in renewable energy devices such as fuel cells and solar cells, sensors for biologically relevant small molecules like glucose, and for air purification.
      • Time commitment:
      • Other relevant information: Interested students should be currently taking or have completed General Chemistry.
    • Julia Schneider
      • Email: [email protected]
      • Will take 4 students/yr (currently full)
      • Project description: We synthesize new molecules and polymers for applications as organic semiconductors and we measure their optical and electrochemical properties.
      • Time commitment: 4-6 hrs/week
      • Other relevant information: Chemistry majors preferred. Must have taken or will take organic chemistry. 
    • Joshua Schrier
      • Email: [email protected]
      • Project description: Research in applications of computational methods to problems in chemistry.  Some active projects include:  (i) Data-driven approaches to critical mineral separations; (ii) Machine-learning assisted experimentation for origins of life research; (iii) Hardware/software development for colorimetric and electrochemical sensors; (iv) Large language models for chemistry and materials science
      • Time commitment: 3+hrs/week
      • Other relevant information: Interest in computer programming.
    • Elizabeth Thrall
      • Email: [email protected]
      • Project description: My lab investigates the molecular mechanisms of DNA replication using single-molecule fluorescence microscopy in live bacterial cells
      • Time commitment: 8 hrs/week
      • Other relevant information:
    • Matthew Hockenberry
      • Email: [email protected]
        2-3 positions available
      • Project description: Manifest (https://manifest.supplystudies.com) is an narrative toolkit for visualizing, analyzing, and documenting supply chains, production lines, and trade networks. While of significant social and environmental importance, global supply chains are both complex and opaque. Communicating the impacts of these networks—in journalism, scholarship, and advocacy—is challenging. In response, Manifest recontextualizes approaches from supply chain management systems to provide a platform that produces and disseminates the critical accounts of global logistical operation necessary for understanding the impact of these structures, particularly with regard to media technologies and communication systems.
      • Time commitment: 4-8 hrs/ week
      • Other relevant information: Either students with strong research and writing skills or students interested in programming web applications.
    • Jennifer Moorman
      • Email: [email protected]
      • Other relevant information: General interest in mentoring students.
    • Tim Wood
      • Email: [email protected]
      • Other relevant information:  General interest in mentoring students.
    • Zakirul Alam Bhuiyan
      • Email: [email protected]
      • Project description:
        • AI-Enhanced Data Encryption for IoT: Developing advanced encryption techniques using AI to secure data in IoT devices.
        • Network endpoint security and trustworthiness: Assessing the effectiveness of endpoint protection solutions in cloud environments.
        • Blockchain-based data authentication in Wi-Fi IoT environments: This involves using blockchain technology to enhance the security and trustworthiness of data exchanges between IoT devices over Wi-Fi networks. 
        • Homomorphic Encryption for IoT Data: Using homomorphic encryption techniques, enhanced by AI, to perform computations on encrypted IoT data without compromising security.
        • AI-Based Access Control for IoT: Implementing AI-driven access control mechanisms to ensure only authorized users can access IoT data.
        • Developing Trust Models for self-driven vehicular systems. 
        • Developing Data Trustworthiness Methods in AI and IoT Networks
        • Wi-Fi-based physical authentication in IoT
        • Keeping Your Private Data Private in AI-based IoT 
        • Providing Protection to the Protector in IoT
      • Time commitment: The time equivalent to one course load.
      • Other relevant information: Must have a passion and interest in working towards publishing the work.
    • Damian Lyons
      • Email: [email protected]
      • 1 position available
      • Project description: Wide area robot navigation uses the identification of visual landmarks seen in common between pairs of robots in a team of robots distributed over a wide outdoor area to plan a visually guided path for a robot to an initially unseen target as a sequence of common landmarks.
      • Time commitment: >5hrs/week
      • Other relevant information: CS1/CS2 and/or Python, ideally exposure to robotics, eg ROS, OpenCV
    • Ying Mao
      • Email: [email protected]
      • 1-2 positions available
      • Other relevant information: Generally interested in mentoring.
    • Andrew Albin
      • Email: [email protected]
      • Affiliated programs: Medieval Studies
      • Project description:
      • Other relevant information: I'm very glad to work with undergrad students with an interest in premodern performance of any kind: drama, music, bookmaking, contemplation, liturgy, and monastic practice are particular specialities. I'm also very happy to work on medieval English literary and cultural history projects. More broadly, I can support projects that explore sound, music, and hearing (not just medieval)!
    • Jordan Stein    
      • Email: [email protected]
      • Affiliated programs: Comparative Literature/African and African American Studies
      • Project description: Research into book history and the history of printing, especially as it connects to African and African American studies and gender/sexuality studies
    • Steven Stoll    
    • Melkana Brakalova-Trevithick    
      • Email: [email protected]
      • Positions available: 1
      • Project description: Dynamical Systems
      • Time commitment: 3-4 hrs/week
      • Deadline to apply: 1/1/0025
    • Wen Li
    • Boris Heersink    
      • Email: [email protected]
      • Project description: Content analysis of materials produced by the religious right in the 1980s
      • Time commitment: 5 hours a week
      • Deadline to apply: 11/16/24
    • Matthew Block
    • Allan Gilbert    
      • Email: [email protected]
      • 1-2 positions available
      • Project description: Work on the study of various artifacts in Fordham's extensive collection of historic NYC objects
      • Other relevant information: Volunteers usually drawn from archaeology/anthropology courses, but can be anyone with an interest. Research leads to a paper describing the object and its historical background; can obtain tutorial credit if desired.
    • Reiko Matsuda Goodwin
      • Email: [email protected]
      • 2 positions available
      • Project description: Comoé National Park Primate Conservation Project
      • Time commitment: 10–15 hrs/wk
      • Other relevant information: The work is to examine Camera Trapped images for specific purposes. You should be proficient in MS Excel. 
    • Fadi Skeiker    
      • Email: [email protected]
      • 3 positions available
      • Project description: I have three projects going on, one is editing a journal, and I need a help in recruiting people to write, the theme of the journal is cultural preservation amongst migrants communities, the second is an article I am writing on applied theatre and migrants theatre in the Middle East, and the last project is a social media project to focus on migrant experiences crossing the US/Mexican boarders. 
      • Other relevant information: Very organized, with strong research and communication skills, ability to stick to deadlines.