Looking for Research?

The following projects have been shared with us by faculty who are seeking undergraduate researchers to work with them. Projects appear on this page from newest at the top to oldest at the bottom. 

NOTE: We do not always get updates when positions have been filled, so in order to find out whether an opportunity is still available, you must reach out to the point of contact listed.

Interested in reaching out to a point of contact, but not sure how to compose the email? OURSD is here to help! Fill out this form to connect with us for a meeting. 

Faculty interested in advertising open undergraduate research positions should email us at OURSD-general@andrew.cmu.edu.

Research Opportunity with the Privacy Economics Experiments Lab (PeeX)  (Posted 6/25/24)

The Privacy Economics Experiments Lab (PeeX) at the Heinz College at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is seeking to recruit one or two undergraduate students interested in joining our team during the Fall 2024 Semester. You will be doing research with a team of professors, PhD students, Master students, and Undergraduate students led by Prof. Alessandro Acquisti from CMU and Prof. Cristobal Cheyre from Cornell University. The research project is titled “Impact of Ad-Blocking and Anti-Tracking Technologies on Users’ Behaviors” and consists in a large-scale field experiment, involving over 1,000 participants, to study how installing ad-blocking and/or anti-tracking tools affects online browsing and purchasing behavior. The position can be either paid or for credits. The tasks involved in this position may include:

1. Implement improvements to the study software
2. Write scripts to extract and process data collected during the experiment
3. Create and deploy online surveys related to the study
4. Interact with a crowdsourcing platform to recruit and compensate study participants
5. Monitor study participants’ compliance with experimental conditions

Required:

1. Experience with SQL, JavaScript, and Python
2. Ability to do research during the Fall 2024 semester (part-time, but no less than 12 hours per week) 

Desired:

1. Knowledge of, or willingness to learn, data analysis and statistical packages

If you are interested in this position, and if you match the required criteria, please send an email to: acquisti@andrew.cmu.edu with “APPLICATION TO FALL 2024 ADBLOCKER PROJECT POSITION” in the subject line. Please include:

• Your CV, including a description of courses you have taken at CMU
• A cover letter including the following:

• • How your experience matches the required skills. Please explicitly mentions projects or experiences where you have used the required skills.

• • Your expected graduation date

• • Your time availability during Fall 2024 Semester

• • Whether you have other RA, TA, or Internship commitments during the Fall 2024 Semester
  • Whether you are interested in a paid position (RA), in course credits (independent study), or you are indifferent between the two

Point of Contact: Dr. Alessandro Acquisti, Trustees Professor of Information Technology and Public Policy

Research Opportunities through the University of San Diego, California (Posted 5/13/24)

*This research opportunity is not affiliated with Carnegie Mellon University

Project: Energy equity issues in the U.S. (Posted 1/23/24)

Our research, spearheaded by Prof. Destenie Nock, centers on energy equity issues in the US. This project will support a growing body of energy vulnerability research as we build on methods to understand energy-limiting behavior among low-income households and other issues. We will leverage utility energy consumption data and other sources to understand how heating and cooling practices vary with income and other key demographics. Further research will also consider the effectiveness and equity implications of energy support and energy efficiency programs.

Potential Tasks (depending on the candidate):

• Data management (would require previous coding experience in R and/or Python; some data management experience preferred)
  • Help clean, merge, and format energy consumption data
  • Identify and filter gaps in datasets
• Modeling Support (would require previous data analytics experience in R and/or Python; Data Science, Statistics, or ML experience preferred)
  • Help run large datasets through, for example, a piecewise linear regression model
  • Help identify and fit model parameters for sample subsets
  • Support with visualizing and reporting findings
• Literature Review
  • Support with a review and critiques of current methods for measuring energy vulnerability
  • Support with a review of existing methods for measuring household well-being as it relates to heating and cooling in the home 

Requirements:

• Strong background in data analysis and modeling in Python and R.
• Ability to work collaboratively in a research team.
• Availability for ~6-12 hrs/week during the semester 
• Willingness to conduct research for class credits during the Spring semester

Relevant papers:

• Inequalities across cooling and heating in households: Energy equity gaps
• Unveiling Hidden Energy Poverty using the energy equity gap

Point of contact: Kester Wade