UROP Project

Meta-Analysis of Studies of Dyslexia and Specific Reading Comprehension Difficulty

Dyslexia, Comprehension Difficulty

Research Mentor: Richard K. Wagner, Dr., Prof.
Department, College, Affiliation: Psychology, Arts and Sciences
Contact Email: rkwagner@psy.fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor): Dorota Kossowska-Kuhn Dr.
Research Assistant Supervisor Email: kuhn@psy.fsu.edu
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:

Looking for Research Assistants: Yes
Number of Research Assistants: 6
Relevant Majors: Open to all majors
Project Location: On FSU Main Campus
Research Assistant Transportation Required:
Remote or In-person: Partially Remote
Approximate Weekly Hours: 7 to 10, Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link:

• Day: Wednesday, September 3
  Start Time: 3:00
  End Time: 3:30
  Zoom Link: https://fsu.zoom.us/j/94184999775
• Day: Wednesday, September 3
  Start Time: 4:00
  End Time: 4:30
  Zoom Link: https://fsu.zoom.us/j/94184999775
• Day: Wednesday, September 3
  Start Time: 4:30
  End Time: 5:00
  Zoom Link: https://fsu.zoom.us/j/94184999775

Project Description

If you read about an important scientific breakthrough that makes the news, chances are it resulted either from a meta-analysis of the literature or from a very large-scale study. The reason is that the results of individual small-scale studies may not replicate or generalize. Meta-analysis is the quantitative combination of a set of studies on a topic. It is used in almost every area of science and medicine. Our research project involves carrying out several meta-analyses on topics related to dyslexia and to specific reading comprehension difficulty. Dyslexia refers to difficulty reading words fluently. Specific reading comprehension difficulty refers to difficulty understanding what is read despite being able to read the words. Our research project is part of FSU’s NIH Multidisciplinary Learning Disabilities Research Center. It is one of only two Centers funded by NIH to study learning disabilities in the country. You will have the opportunity to learn the basics of how meta-analysis is done, including getting hands-on experience by participating as a research assistant on one or more meta-analyses. Depending on your interest and involvement, there may be an opportunity to be a co-author on a manuscript submitted for publication. Optionally, you may participate in meetings and other activities carried out as part of the NIH Center.

Research Tasks: Literature review by searching databases to identify possible studies for inclusion. Using a provided codebook, applying inclusionary and exclusionary criteria to determine whether a study should be included in the meta-analysis. Extracting data from included studies. If you have interest and some relevant background, an opportunity to participate in data analysis will be provided.

Skills that research assistant(s) may need: Required skills include the ability to work carefully and follow written instructions.

Evaluating Brief Mind-Body Interventions for Pain and Anxiety in Orthopedic Care

mindfulness, breathwork, pain, anxiety, integrative medicine

Research Mentor: Adam Hanley,
Department, College, Affiliation: Complementary Health and Innovation Lab, Nursing
Contact Email: adam.hanley@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor): Carter Minnick
Research Assistant Supervisor Email: cm25bo@fsu.edu
Faculty Collaborators: Kennedi Childs
Faculty Collaborators Email: kc24bf@fsu.edu

Looking for Research Assistants: Yes
Number of Research Assistants: 3
Relevant Majors: Open to all majors
Project Location: 2605 Welaunee Blvd, Tallahassee, FL 32308
Research Assistant Transportation Required: Yes
Remote or In-person: In-person
Approximate Weekly Hours: 8, During business hours
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link:

• Day: Tuesday, September 2
  Start Time: 2:30
  End Time: 3:00
  Zoom Link: https://fsu.zoom.us/j/92355600117
• Day: Wednesday, September 3
  Start Time: 2:30
  End Time: 3:00
  Zoom Link: https://fsu.zoom.us/j/95634966670

Project Description

This research program explores how mind-body interventions, like mindfulness and breathwork, can reduce pain and anxiety for patients at the Tallahassee Orthopedic Clinic. As a UROP student, you’ll play a hands-on role: inviting patients waiting for an x-ray to take part in a study and guiding them through a brief (<5 minute) tablet-based intervention. Over the academic year, we’ll run multiple randomized controlled trials, and you’ll be part of the full research process—from data collection to dissemination. All participating UROP students will be credited as co-authors on peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations.

Research Tasks: As a UROP student, you’ll help recruit and guide patients through brief tablet-based mind-body interventions, collect and manage study data, conduct literature reviews, contribute to manuscripts and presentations, and, if interested, assist with psychophysiological data collection.

Skills that research assistant(s) may need: Required: Required skills include confidence in approaching and engaging with strangers, strong interpersonal communication, the ability to work independently, strong critical thinking, effective prioritization and problem-solving, and attention to detail.
Recommended: Recommended skills include experience in a clinical setting, a personal mindfulness practice, knowledge of integrative medicine, familiarity with clinical trial design and methodology.

Studying dynamics of membraneless organelles formation in living cells through computational modeling

synthetic biology, mathematical modeling, molecular biology

Research Mentor: Dongheon Lee,
Department, College, Affiliation: Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering
Contact Email: dlee@eng.famu.fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor):
Research Assistant Supervisor Email:
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:

Looking for Research Assistants: Yes
Number of Research Assistants: 1
Relevant Majors: Engineering, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Biology, Physics, Math, Computational Science or any other relevant major
Project Location: Interdisciplinary Research and Commercialization Building ,2001 Levy Avenue
Research Assistant Transportation Required: there is public transportation, via FSU shuttle to innovation park
Remote or In-person: Partially Remote
Approximate Weekly Hours: 10, Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link:
Not participating in the roundtable

Project Description

After spontaneous protein phase separation (PS) in a living cell was observed for the first time, subsequent studies have revealed that the occurrence of biomolecular PS is ubiquitous in a living system. The immediate consequence of PS is the formation of membraneless organelles (MLOs), where select biomolecules such as proteins and mRNAs are enriched. Due to such enrichment of selective biomolecules, MLOs are suggested to play important regulatory roles in cellular processes. Past studies focused on biophysical mechanisms behind the biomolecular PS, which significantly enhances our understanding of the PS processes. Despite such progress in the past decade, we lack a predictive model that accurately predicts the dynamics of MLO formation in living cells. Motivated by the above considerations, this project aims to 1) construct a mechanistic model that describes the dynamics of MLO formation in bacteria 2) perform estimation of parameters in the proposed model to maximize the predictive capability of the proposed model based on the real microscopic images of MLOs in bacteria 3) Validate the prediction accuracy by performing new experiments (in bacteria).

Research Tasks: Literature Review, Simulation Submissions on RCC Cluster, Data Collection, Data Analysis, Scientific Writing, and Presentation
if the simulation part goes well, students will perform fluorescence microscopy experiments to image the formation of membraneless organelles in bacteria

Skills that research assistant(s) may need: Required: Willingness to learn, Computer competency, Scientific curiosity
Recommended: Prior coding knowledge, Basic knowledge of molecular biology

Developing Museum Exhibits

museum, exhibit, anthropology, culture, archaeology

Research Mentor: Dr. Amy Kowal, She/her/hers
Department, College, Affiliation: Anthropology, Arts and Sciences
Contact Email: akowal@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor):
Research Assistant Supervisor Email:
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:

Looking for Research Assistants: Yes
Number of Research Assistants: 6
Relevant Majors: Open to all majors
Project Location: On FSU Main Campus
Research Assistant Transportation Required:
Remote or In-person: Partially Remote
Approximate Weekly Hours: 5-10, Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link:

• Day: Tuesday, September 2
  Start Time: 1:00
  End Time: 1:30
  Zoom Link: https://fsu.zoom.us/j/95950047240?pwd=eJcYssyAoadZPa0iDpQeGa9bfrcWYZ.1
• Day: Thursday, September 4
  Start Time: 12:00
  End Time: 12:30
  Zoom Link: https://fsu.zoom.us/j/96954904041?pwd=8b76YPyTprSSCdTBnLANEqxxv7l8M7.1

Project Description

Assistants will conduct research of future exhibits for the Museum Anthropology course that are located in display cases in the Anthropology Department, Carraway Building. Topics to be considered for exhibits are to be within the scope of the anthropological subfields: cultural and applied anthropology, archaeology, biocultural and biological anthropology, and linguistics. However, students are encouraged to research exhibit ideas that are tailored to the student’s own interests and major. At the conclusion of the project, student’s will have a plan for a museum exhibit that will be implemented in the department in a future semester.

Research Tasks: literature review, exhibit planning and design, collections research

Skills that research assistant(s) may need: some experience with library research skills (recommended)

Does Florida’s Geographic Opportunity Map Influence the Siting of LIHTC Affordable Housing?

Low-income Housing Tax Credits, Neighborhood Change, Poverty Concentration, Affordable Housing

Research Mentor: Chao Wang,
Department, College, Affiliation: Urban and Regional Planning, Social Sciences and Public Policy
Contact Email: cw22k@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor):
Research Assistant Supervisor Email:
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:

Looking for Research Assistants: Yes
Number of Research Assistants: 1
Relevant Majors: Social Science, Public Policy, Economics, Real Estate, Public Administration, Geography, Urban Planning
Project Location: On FSU Main Campus
Research Assistant Transportation Required:
Remote or In-person: In-person
Approximate Weekly Hours: 5, Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link:

• Day: Friday, September 5
  Start Time: 12:30
  End Time: 12:30
  Zoom Link: https://fsu.zoom.us/j/9739724416

Project Description

This research investigates how LIHTC affordable housing policy changes in Florida have influenced LIHTC location patterns. Florida was selected as the setting for two main reasons. First, it is one of the largest states in the US. Second, in 2016, the state government created a Geographic Areas of Opportunity Map based on census tract indicators, including median income, education, and employment. This map was integrated into the state’s QAP to encourage the placement of LIHTC in high opportunity areas. Specifically, this research asks: what are the socio-demographic characteristics of LIHTC neighborhoods before and after the introduction of Florida’s Geographic Opportunity Map? How has the introduction of the map influenced LIHTC placement patterns in Florida?

Research Tasks: Conducting a literature review and cleaning interview data for background understanding

Skills that research assistant(s) may need: Literature review

Autism and Visual Impairment Diagnosis and services: A National Mixed Methods Study

autism, blindness, diagnosis, survey

Research Mentor: Ms. Saurym Quezada, She/her
Department, College, Affiliation: Special Education Department, Education, Health, and Human Sciences
Contact Email: squezada@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor):
Research Assistant Supervisor Email:
Faculty Collaborators: Dr. Dr. Michael Tuttle He/his
Faculty Collaborators Email: mtuttle@fsu.edu

Looking for Research Assistants: Yes
Number of Research Assistants: 2
Relevant Majors: medicine, education, applied behavior
Project Location: On FSU Main Campus
Research Assistant Transportation Required: No, the project is remote
Remote or In-person: Partially Remote
Approximate Weekly Hours: 10 hours, Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link:

• Day: Tuesday, September 2
  Start Time: 2:00
  End Time: 2:30
  Zoom Link: https://fsu.zoom.us/my/saurymquezada
• Day: Tuesday, September 2
  Start Time: 2:30
  End Time: 3:00
  Zoom Link: https://fsu.zoom.us/my/saurymquezada
• Day: Friday, September 5
  Start Time: 4:00
  End Time: 4:30
  Zoom Link: https://fsu.zoom.us/my/saurymquezada
• Day: Friday, September 5
  Start Time: 4:30
  End Time: 5:00
  Zoom Link: https://fsu.zoom.us/my/saurymquezada

Project Description

The research project is a grant-funded convergent mixed methods study examining the assessment, diagnosis, and service experiences of children with profound autism spectrum disorder (P-ASD) and visual impairment (VI) in the United States. A preliminary pilot study of children experiencing a visual impairment in combination with autism spectrum disorder (ASD+VI) found that there is a gap of about five years between an initial diagnosis of VI and a subsequent diagnosis of ASD in the state of Florida (Quezada et al., In Preparation) and consequently many of these children are not receiving timely and appropriate early intervention services, ultimately impacting school readiness and life outcomes. This is particularly troublesome for children with P-ASD who have complex communication and extensive support needs. A lack of vision and symptoms of ASD impede all aspects of development (Hughes et al., 2023a, 2023b; NASEM, 2016; Rainey et al., 2016) and the co-occurrence of the two disabilities is well-documented (de Verdier et al., 2018; Jure et al., 2016; Wrzensinka et al., 2017) including common manifestations in children born with complex neurological conditions, a history of early brain damage (Chokron et al., 2021), and/or the presence of other disabilities (Kiani et al., 2019). To properly support these students, a timely diagnosis of the dual condition is necessary. The project will gather national survey data and narrative interviews from parents to identify factors influencing the diagnostic process and subsequent educational services of children with P-ASD+VI in the US to inform future research, policy, and practice regarding equitable access to appropriate early intervention therapies and services.

Research Tasks: Assist with literature review summaries.
Assist with data generation and collection for survey research
Assist with data clean up for qualitative research
Participate in research meetings and peer debriefs

Skills that research assistant(s) may need: Research assistant must be detailed oriented and well organized. Prefer an assistant with strong writing skills and interest in reading educational and medical articles. Interest in human experience and family services also encouraged.

Understand Performance variation of REBCO superconducting tapes

superconducting material, REBCO coated conductor, performance characterization

Research Mentor: Aixia Xu, She/her
Department, College, Affiliation: ASC-NHMFL, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering
Contact Email: ax07@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor):
Research Assistant Supervisor Email:
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:

Looking for Research Assistants: No
Number of Research Assistants: 1
Relevant Majors: Materials science and engineering, Physics, Mechanical engineering
Project Location: 2031 E. Paul Dirac Drive, Tallahassee FL 32310
Research Assistant Transportation Required: FSU bus
Remote or In-person: In-person
Approximate Weekly Hours: 20, During business hours
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link:

• Day: Friday, September 5
  Start Time: 12:30
  End Time: 12:30
  Zoom Link: https://fsu.zoom.us/j/97618788561

Project Description

REBCO coated conductor, presently, is the only superconducting material that enables high field magnet windings for fusion reactor constructions to achieve the goal of zero-carbon emission. The performance inconsistency from batch to batch and along the tape length within the same batch has been a long time challenge to fully implement REBCO coated conductors. We at ASC-NHMFL, are addressing this challenge by carrying out comprehensive performance characterizations on diverse REBCO coated conductors, and will provide our understanding to REBCO coated conductor manufacturers to alleviate the performance variations.

Research Tasks: REBCO performance evaluation using SEM, XRD and other experimental equipment

Skills that research assistant(s) may need: Recommended: Cryogenic liquid handling, soldering

Transfer Student Success: Time-to-Degree, Major Change, and the 2+2 Program

Transfer students, student success, graduation, higher education

Research Mentor: Ms. Katherine (Katie) Gipalo, she/her
Department, College, Affiliation: Office of Institutional Research, N/A
Contact Email: kgipalo@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor): Ms. Sarah Sikes she/her
Research Assistant Supervisor Email: ssikes@fsu.edu
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:

Looking for Research Assistants: No
Number of Research Assistants: 1
Relevant Majors: Statistics
Project Location: On FSU Main Campus
Research Assistant Transportation Required:
Remote or In-person: Partially Remote
Approximate Weekly Hours: 5, Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link:
Not participating in the roundtable

Project Description

In this project, the Office of Institutional Research wishes to investigate Time-to-Degree and Stop-Out outcomes for prior FCS AA Transfer students. The state of Florida has a recent interest in the outcomes of these students more broadly, but have focused in on the feasibility of 2+2 programs - where a student completes their AA at an FCS institution in 2 years, transfers to a state university, and completes the remainder of their Bachelor's in the subsequent 2 years. We want to know the following:
○ What does the Time-to-Degree distribution of our FCS AA Transfer students look like historically?
○ How many FCS AA Transfer students stopout, ie stop enrolling for more than 3 semesters, historically?
○ What does the major change behavior look like for FCS AA Transfer students?
○ How many students would be eligible to fit into the 2+2 framework, upon arrival to FSU (ie, how many students completed their AA at their FCS institution in 2 years or less)?
○ What does the relationship between major change and Time-to-Degree look like?
○ What does the relationship between major change and stopout look like?
These are the questions that our UROP student will be working with us to contribute to.

Research Tasks: The undergraduate researcher will support data cleaning and validation efforts, as well as the conducting of inferential statistical tests. She will work with the mentors listed above to derive meaning and insights from these results that can inform policy and practice within the institution.


Skills that research assistant(s) may need: Required: strong communication skills, willingness to learn, ability to work collaboratively, familiarity with Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel, familiarity with beginner-level inferential statistical methods
Recommended: beginner level understanding of SAS programming language, interest in higher education administration/improvement
Nice to have: interest in transfer student success

Underwater Exoskeletons for Diver Assistance

Robotics, mechatronics, mechanical, human body

Research Mentor: Dr. Taylor Higgins, She/her
Department, College, Affiliation: Mechanical Engineering, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering
Contact Email: th22u@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor):
Research Assistant Supervisor Email:
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:

Looking for Research Assistants: Yes
Number of Research Assistants: 2
Relevant Majors: Mechanical engineering, electrical engineering
Project Location: AME Building 2003 Levy Ave.
Research Assistant Transportation Required: Yes
Remote or In-person: Partially Remote
Approximate Weekly Hours: 5-10, Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link:
Not participating in the roundtable

Project Description

Project Title: Development of an Underwater Exoskeleton for Diver Assistance

Project Description:
Have you ever tried holding still in water while the current pushes you around? For divers—especially those doing detailed underwater work—staying in one place can be surprisingly difficult. In this new project, our research team is partnering with Dr. Clark to develop a wearable underwater exoskeleton that will help divers maintain their position (“station keeping”) while working in currents, perform precise movements during fine-manipulation tasks, and navigate more easily using a heads-up display.

Because this project is in its very early stages, the student selected will be directly involved in shaping its direction. Work will include exploring existing underwater assistive technologies through a literature review, contributing to early mechanical design of the exoskeleton prototype, assisting with basic electronics development and integration, and participating in preliminary testing to evaluate key design ideas.

This position is ideal for a motivated engineering student who is curious about robotics, wearable devices, and human-centered design. No prior experience with underwater systems is required—only a willingness to learn, think creatively, and work collaboratively.

Research Tasks: Literature review, CAD design, prototyping, parts specification, preliminary testing.

Skills that research assistant(s) may need: Recommended: some programming and/or solidworks experience.

Exploring Fertility Patterns and Predictors in the United States at the State Level: Comparative Analysis Using America Community Survey (ACS) Microdata

Fertility, Demography, Socioeconomic Factors, State Comparison, ACS, STATA, Logistic Regression, US States

Research Mentor: Mr Sabahat Hussain,
Department, College, Affiliation: Florida State University, Social Sciences and Public Policy
Contact Email: shussain2@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor):
Research Assistant Supervisor Email:
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:

Looking for Research Assistants: Yes
Number of Research Assistants: 2
Relevant Majors: Open to all majors who are interested in conducting quantitative research using household surveys.
Project Location: On FSU Main Campus
Research Assistant Transportation Required:
Remote or In-person: Partially Remote
Approximate Weekly Hours: 5-6, Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link:

• Day: Friday, September 5
  Start Time: 2:00
  End Time: 2:30
  Zoom Link: https://fsu.zoom.us/j/96761837543

Project Description

This project investigates recent patterns in fertility across US states, focusing on demographic and socioeconomic predictors. The project will utilize American Community Survey (ACS) microdata (various surveys) to examine differences in fertility rates and their association with variables such as education, income, marital status, age, and broader state-level economic factors. The research uses descriptive statistics and logistic regression models to explore the impact of individual and structural factors on fertility. Ultimately, this comparative state-level analysis aims to shed new light on subnational fertility variation, an area increasingly important in US demography.


Research Tasks: Literature review of state-level fertility patterns - training provided
Data extraction and cleaning - training provided
Analyzing descriptive statistics - training provided
Documentation, coding, and variable selection - training provided
Statistical modeling (basic logistic regression analysis) - training provided
Drafting research summaries and results for project outputs (i.e., the student's poster)

Skills that research assistant(s) may need: Required:
Interest in social science research
Basic computer literacy

Recommended:
Familiarity with statistical analysis or data visualization
Interest in Social science research
Willingness to learn STATA and basic coding for data analysis