Join us at the expo
Monday, Nov. 18, 1–3 p.m., Memorial Union, Tempe campus
Forge: to form or make, especially by concentrated effort
The Fulton Forge Student Research Expo is a public showcase of independent research performed by Fulton Schools undergraduate and graduate students.
Students who participate in our three primary research programs are invited to present their findings each semester at the Expo.
Fall 2024 featured projects
Arick Nitzsche
Manufacturing engineering
Development of Multi-Material Micro-Structures by Using Micro Continuous Interface Printing (µCLIP)
This research aims to speed up 3D printing and allow for the creation of more complex objects made from different materials at once.
Mentor: Xiangfan Chen
Program: FURI
Alexander Ng
Computer science
Synthesizing Interpretable Agents for Cybersecurity Contexts with Code Evolution of Augmenting Topologies
Current AI is limited to being black-boxes. If we can generate understandable code, we can then use it to advance AI in security contexts.
Mentor: Stephanie Forrest
Program: FURI
Chloe Stoops
Aerospace engineering
Cryothermal Measurements of Variable Emittance Coatings with Optical Heating
Studying variable emittance coatings in cold space environments will optimize thermal control energy use, improving spacecraft efficiency.
Mentor: Liping Wang
Program: FURI
Raj Kodithyala
Engineering (robotics)
Post Estimation of Soft Arm Using Motor Wire Encoders
Understanding the movement of soft robotic arms will improve safety and usability in human-robot interactions across various industries.
Mentor: Wenlong Zhang
Program: FURI
Antonio Blair
Civil engineering
Assessing the Impacts of Best Management Practices on Water Quality in the Southwestern United States – Is the Nonpoint Mitigation Strategy Working?
Studying the effects of best management practices will help determine the most efficient ways to mitigate water quality impacts.
Mentor: Saurav Kumar
Program: FURI
Emily Parkerson
Aerospace engineering
Personal Bio-Meteorological Station Based on Cylindrical Radiation Thermometers and Turbulence Accounting Anemometers
A personal biometeorological station to measure extreme human heat exposure can improve health by enabling informed behavioral decisions.
Mentor: Konrad Rykaczewski
Program: FURI
Solenne Norvor-Davis
Biomedical engineering
Biomaterial-Mediated Controlled Release of Inflammasome Modulators for Diabetic Tissue Repair
Expediting the wound healing process reduces the burden on health care systems, enhances patient quality of life and lowers complications.
Mentor: Jordan Yaron
Program: FURI
Sofia Vargas
Computer science
Using Graph Coloring to Optimize Species Reintroduction
A computer program will use graph coloring algorithms to determine where captive bred endangered species should be reintroduced to the wild.
Mentor: Xiaofan Yuan
Program: GCSP research stipend
Daniel Eduardo Abreu
Electrical engineering
Quantifying Elemental Diffusion Within Semiconducting Diodes Due to Thermal Stresses
This research will help find a new way to interpret and understand material diffusion throughout semiconductor devices.
Mentor: Nick Rolston
Program: FURI
Devanshi Tushar Prajapati
Software engineering
Educational Data Mining to Assess Code Quality in Programming Courses
Enhancing coding through student work analysis will empower instructors to teach industry practices and prepare students for jobs.
Mentor: Ruben Acuna
Program: MORE
- Development of Multi-Material Micro-Structures by Using Micro Continuous Interface Printing (µCLIP) by Arick Nitzsche
- Synthesizing Interpretable Agents for Cybersecurity Contexts with Code Evolution of Augmenting Topologies by Alexander Ng
- Cryothermal Measurements of Variable Emittance Coatings with Optical Heating by Chloe Stoops
- Post Estimation of Soft Arm Using Motor Wire Encoders by Raj Kodithyala
- Assessing the Impacts of Best Management Practices on Water Quality in the Southwestern United States – Is the Nonpoint Mitigation Strategy Working? by Antonio Blair
- Personal Bio-Meteorological Station Based on Cylindrical Radiation Thermometers and Turbulence Accounting Anemometers by Emily Parkerson
- Biomaterial-Mediated Controlled Release of Inflammasome Modulators for Diabetic Tissue Repair by Solenne Norvor-Davis
- Using Graph Coloring to Optimize Species Reintroduction by Sofia Vargas
- Quantifying Elemental Diffusion Within Semiconducting Diodes Due to Thermal Stresses by Daniel Eduardo Abreu
- Educational Data Mining to Assess Code Quality in Programming Courses by Devanshi Tushar Prajapati
Congratulations to this semester’s Outstanding Student Researchers!
Faculty mentors in the FURI, MORE and GCSP research stipend programs nominated their students to be recognized for their efforts in the lab. This semester’s award recipients are:
- Jenna Materna, biomedical engineering, summer GCSP research stipend.
- Aislinn Varela, chemical engineering, summer FURI.
- Aditi Rao, biomedical engineering, fall GCSP research stipend.
- Eron Ristich, computer science, fall FURI.
- Shyam Ganatra, robotics and autonomous systems, fall MORE.
Student research programs
A value of the Fulton Schools is to build a foundation for all to be successful. To prepare our students for success in an engineering or technical career, we provide undergraduate and graduate research opportunities. Each semester we invite student researchers participating in the following three programs to present their work at the Fulton Forge Student Research Expo.
Fulton Undergraduate Research Initiative (FURI)
The Fulton Undergraduate Research Initiative enhances an undergraduate student’s engineering experience and technical education by providing hands-on lab experience, independent and thesis-based research, and travel to national conferences.
Grand Challenges Scholars Program (GCSP) research stipend
The Fulton Schools Grand Challenges Scholars Program combines innovative curriculum and cutting-edge research experiences into an intellectual fusion that spans academic disciplines and includes entrepreneurial, global and service learning opportunities. Students funded by a GCSP research stipend conduct research in a grand challenges theme and are invited to present their findings at the Fulton Forge Student Research Expo.
Master’s Opportunity for Research in Engineering (MORE)
The Master’s Opportunity for Research in Engineering program is designed to enrich a graduate student’s engineering and technical graduate curriculum with hands-on lab experience and independent and thesis-based research.
Sponsored students
Some of our researchers get extra funding through grants, industry and alumni sponsors. To learn more about sponsorship, contact the Fulton Schools Development team.
TSMC
TSMC is a global leader in the semiconductor foundry business. The company’s industry-leading process technologies and portfolio of design enablement solutions help its customers and partners unleash semiconductor innovation. With its recent expansion into Phoenix, TSMC sees the benefit of a strong partnership with ASU faculty and student researchers. TSMC supports the FURI program by providing additional funding for exceptional research projects related to the semiconductor industry. FURI student researchers who pursue a project related to the Semiconductor Manufacturing research theme are eligible for this sponsorship. TSMC-supported FURI students receive a $2,600 stipend and $400 to use for materials. Exceptional research proposals that align with the research theme of Semiconductor Manufacturing will be considered for this additional funding.
W. L. Gore & Associates
W. L. Gore & Associates is a uniquely creative, product leadership enterprise that has served a variety of global markets for more than 60 years, and provides innovative solutions that its associates stand behind. Gore established funds to support undergraduate students in the Fulton Undergraduate Research Initiative program and graduate students in the Master’s Opportunity for Research in Engineering program, and values student-driven research and developing relationships with students in the programs.
Ahmad Family Fulton Undergraduate Research Initiative Fund
Jalal U. and Syeda F. Ahmad and their children — Jaheen N., Raisa N. and Nafisah N., all of whom attended the Fulton Schools — established a fund to give back and support undergraduate students in their pursuit of knowledge and the advancement of research. Their endowment, which funds a materials science, mechanical, biomedical or electrical engineering student, was created to help more students have the life-changing experience of conducting research through FURI.
Summer and fall 2024 snapshot
In summer and fall 2024, 117 students participated in individual research projects.
FURIprojects
FURImentors
MOREprojects
MOREmentors
GCSP research stipendprojects
GCSP research stipendmentors
Research themes
Students work on projects related to seven different themes that represent the Fulton Schools’ core research disciplines.
Data
In an increasingly digital world, data collection is growing at a rapid pace. Fulton Schools faculty and student researchers are devising innovative approaches and tools that will help us better process, analyze, use, manage and access data. New computational tools, algorithms and data analysis techniques, including hardware and software approaches, machine learning, data analytics, data-driven decision-making and more will help advance scientific discoveries and collaborations across multiple fields where data use and capture is ubiquitous.
Education
We are engaged in advancing the ways we educate engineering students. The Fulton Schools’ research focuses on learning methods, cognitive theory and best teaching practices, as well as the integration of engineering concepts in K-12 educational programs to engage students early and educate our community about the impact engineering has on everyday life.
Energy
The urgency to discover and deploy new forms of carbon-reducing energy technologies has become an indispensable part of our economic and environmental landscape. The Fulton Schools’ research in renewable and alternative energy sources is multifaceted with efforts in solar and photovoltaic energy, biotechnology, low- and high-power energy storage, power electronics, electric power systems, batteries and hydrogen fuel cells.
Health
The Fulton Schools’ efforts in health innovation range from understanding the causes behind Alzheimer’s disease and improving methods for predicting epileptic seizures to developing advanced biosensors, bioassays and lab-on-a-chip devices for clinical diagnostics. Additional areas of research exist in novel biological materials, neural engineering, biomedical informatics, drug-delivery systems, health care systems analysis and modeling, health monitoring devices and human rehabilitation technologies.
Security
As technology develops at a faster rate, there is a growing need to develop engineering systems to keep people and infrastructure secure, including securing cyberspace, developing secure communications, developing self-healing systems resilient to attack and identifying, monitoring and reducing threats. Fulton Schools researchers — faculty and students — are addressing issues of national defense, homeland security, border security, cyberwarfare and more, devising technology solutions as well as legal, policy and social implications.
Sustainability
The central thrust behind sustainability is the capacity of metropolitan areas to grow and prosper without destroying or depleting natural resources. The Fulton Schools’ research focuses on restoring and improving urban infrastructure, access to clean water and air, advanced construction techniques and management, environmental fluid dynamics, transportation planning, as well as geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering.
Semiconductor manufacturing
Semiconductor devices are part of our everyday lives and the demand for techniques and processes to promote them continues to grow. Fulton Schools researchers are driving innovation forward through advances in areas such as power electronics, wireless and mixed-signal circuit design, memory devices and architectures, solar energy and batteries, advanced packaging and new semiconductor materials. Expansive industry collaborations and unique facilities at ASU center Arizona as a hub for the American semiconductor revolution.Summer and fall 2024 project count by theme
Outstanding faculty mentors
Fulton Schools faculty members guide students through the research process in their role as FURI, MORE and GCSP research stipend program mentors. Each semester, these research programs select an outstanding faculty mentor from student nominations. These mentors share expertise, empower growth and autonomy, and support student success in a variety of research endeavors. Learn more about this semester’s awardees.
Kuei-Chun "Mark" Wang, featured FURI mentor
Mark Wang is an assistant professor of biomedical engineering in the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering. In his Nanotherapeutics & Molecular Engineering Laboratory, Wang uses molecular and cellular bioengineering techniques and biomaterials to develop nano-sized therapeutic and imaging agents that can enhance the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease. After spending the past four years as a faculty mentor in the FURI and MORE programs, he is eager to encourage more students to participate in these valuable research experiences. Read more
Paul Grogan, featured FURI mentor
Paul Grogan, an associate professor of industrial engineering in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, is completing his first year as a FURI faculty mentor after joining ASU in 2023. His research focuses on engineering decentralized and distributed systems for Earth-observing space missions, resource-intensive terrestrial infrastructure and logistics for space exploration. Grogan is particularly interested in using cross-disciplinary tools to meet his research team’s goals in the Collective Design Lab. Read more
Wenlong Zhang, featured MORE mentor
Wenlong Zhang, an associate professor of manufacturing engineering in the School of Manufacturing Systems and Networks, has been a mentor for FURI and MORE student researchers since he joined ASU in 2015. His research is focused on the design, modeling and control of robotics and autonomous systems for applications in health care, mobility and manufacturing. Zhang leads the Robotics and Intelligent Systems Laboratory, or RISE Lab. Read more
Vincent Pizziconi, featured GCSP research stipend mentor
A longtime presence in the biomedical engineering program in the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, Associate Professor Vin Pizziconi has been mentoring students since well before the inception of FURI, MORE and the Grand Challenges Scholars programs at ASU. He sees the research programs in the Fulton Schools as opportunities to interact with and impact highly motivated students one-on-one. Pizziconi leads the Laboratory of BioInspired Complex Adaptive Systems and is an expert in bioresponsive and biomimetic materials. Read more
Looking for a faculty mentor?
Get started today
Prospective FURI and MORE students can find Fulton Schools faculty members who are ready to mentor new student researchers on the ready to mentor page.
Browse faculty members’ research focus areas and past mentored projects for ideas to help you get started. Finding your faculty mentor is one step of the application process. Check out the FURI program page and MORE program page for more information on applying to these programs.