Summer research opportunities pay off for undergraduates, faculty, and the advancement of engineering.
With a strong belief that technological competitiveness is vital to the well being of the United States, SCU alumnus and former IBM president Jack Kuehler and his wife created the $1 million Carmen A. and Jack D. Kuehler Undergraduate Engineering Research fund. Each summer, a handful of faculty members invite promising sophomore and junior students to join them in research funded by this grant.
Students are paid to work with their faculty mentor—and often with fellow undergraduates, master's and Ph.D. students from their own and affiliated fields—building a foundation for collaborative scientific investigation and developing the skills required for ongoing education at the graduate level or for a successful career. Many students continue this work for their senior capstone projects and even further as they pursue dual degrees in our B.S./M.S. program.
In addition to the meaningful hands-on experience of being an integral part of a faculty member's research program, participants enjoy co-authoring peer-reviewed articles and presenting their results at national conferences.
Nicholas Alva '25
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Emulation of quantum computation in microwave networksFaculty Advisor: Kurt Schab
Niels Holzmann '25
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Reinforcement Learning-Driven Burrowing with a Snake-Like RobotFaculty Advisor: Hoeseok Yang
Dana Johnson '25
Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering
Enhancing Resilience of California's Levees Against Climate Change: A Machine Learning Approach for Quick Pre-Screening and Risk AssessmentFaculty Advisor: Rocio Segura
Maggie Lau '26
Bioengineering
Development of a novel nanoscale exosome-based prodrug therapy for enhanced efficacy and safetyFaculty Advisor: Bill Lu
Ifran Mohamed '26
Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering
Constructability and Robotization of Topological Interlocking StructuresFaculty Advisor: Hisham Said
Maya Murphy '25
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Ergonomic Human-Robot Handovers using Surface Electromyogram (sEMG) SensorsFaculty Advisors: Maria Kyrarini & Fatemeh Davoudi
Tiffany Nguyen '26
Computer Science and Engineering
Co-Design Methods to Create Augmented Reality Tours for Social JusticeFaculty Advisor: Kai Lukoff