Professors Seeking Fellows
These professors are seeking fellows: see form below
|
NOTE: Positions will be removed after one academic year of being posted.
2011Dr. Sybil L. HartDepartment: Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS) Email: sybil.hart@ttu.edu Website: http://www.webpages.ttu.edu/shart/ Research Interest: I am a psychologist specializing in child development. Current studies focus on cognitive and psycho-social features of development during infancy and the preschool years. Project #1: The Early Language and Memory (ELM) Project investigates language and memory development in diverse samples of preschool-aged children. This year we are testing a new technique for conducting interviews with young children about events they have witnessed or experienced. We will examine whether this technique helps improve accuracy in children’s recollections, and the extent to which any improvements also depend on a child’s language capacities, social skills, and qualities of the home and school environments. Since young children are routinely interviewed in a range of settings, including child custody cases, cases of suspected maltreatment, and criminal cases, it is important that they provide accurate information. Hopefully, this research will contribute to that mission. Researchers on the project take part in data collection, which is gathered in local preschools from multiple informants using multiple methods. Children are assessed on various scales of language ability. Their memory for a staged event is measured using the traditional or new interview technique. Classroom teachers report on children’s communication skills and classroom behaviors. Parents report on demographics, family configuration, life events, and the parent-child relationship. This project is funded by a grant from the National Institute of Health (#R15HD065589-01). As such, it provides students with an outstanding opportunity to take part in high profile, cutting edge behavioral research while gaining experience working with children in school settings. This research project has received TTU IRB approval. Project # 2: Lullaby Massage (LS) studies explore a new type of massage which was designed specifically for toddlers and young children. This technique features simple massage movements that are integrated with poetry, and can be administered by parents or teachers in home or preschool settings. Current studies are examining potential benefits to the quality and duration of children’s sleep, bedtime behavior, and social adjustment in both home and preschool settings, as well as effects on parents’ perceptions of child rearing. Researchers on this project take part in collecting different types of data from multiple sources. Children provide behavioral data through being observed before and during naptime, teachers serve as a source of survey data, and parents provide information through structured interviews. Researchers also take part in data preparation and reduction which involves scoring, data entry, and interview transcription. Students on the project will gain skills in behavioral research that involves quantitative and qualitative methodologies, such as learning interview techniques, as well as first-hand experience working with children in school settings. We are seeking a student who is dedicated and well organized, enjoys children, and has transportation. The student will be involved in a range of tasks. Schedules are flexible, but the student will need to be available during the early afternoon once per week in order to visit child care centers. For more information about the project contact Dr. Hart at sybil.hart@ttu.edu . This research project has received IRB approval.
Dr. Miguel A. LevarioDepartment: History Email: miguel.levario@ttu.edu Phone: 742-3744 Research Interest: U.S.-Mexico borderlands, race, immigration, vice, militarization, diaspora, and identity. Project #1: I am currently working on a project that focuses on the vice industry (drugs, alcohol, prostitution, gambling, etc.) along the U.S.-Mexico border in the 19th and 20th centuries. I will take a comprehensive view of the matter that will span the entire U.S.-Mexico boundary and take a transnational approach (Mexican and U.S. sources). Project #2: I am also in the preliminary stages of researching for an article on Chinese immigration through El Paso and Ciudad Juarez (Mex). It was a major thoroughfare for illegal Chinese immigrants during the Exclusion Era, 1882-1943. Project #3: The history of militarization on the U.S.-Mexico border. Another comprehensive study on militarization on what is now the U.S.-Mexico border from the colonial period to the present. Desired Background: I would like the fellow to have some basic understanding of U.S. history. Additional Info: I would like a reliable and enthusiastic student who is unafraid of some tedious research work and who works well independently. Of course, much interaction will take place with me but some periods of time will be spent sifting through microfilm or online databases.
Dr. Gordon Christopher Department: Mechanical Engineering Email: gordon.christopher@ttu.edu Phone: 742-3563 ext. 235 Website: http://www.myweb.ttu.edu/gchristo/ My general areas of research interest lie in the developing techniques to characterize bulk and interfacial properties of complex fluids and soft matter. Novel methodologies such as: microfluidics, interfacial rheology, MEMS and other techniques, are used to comment on the relationship between structure and flow deformation.
In the Christopher lab, we are developing techniques to fabricate individual "Pickering Drops" with controlled surface coverage using microfluidic channels. Once we can control the surface coverage of the particle, we will use microchannels to probe the interfacial rheology of the individual drops. Using microfluidics minimizes the effects of the bulk flow, making this an ideal techniques to examine surface properties.
Due to the increased confinement, high shear rates, and low Reynolds Numbers inherent to microfluidic flows, the formation of elastic instabiltiies can be uniquely studied using microchannels. In fact, flow regimes that are difficult to reach in macroscale fluidic channels are often much easier to see in microfluidic channels. In our lab, we are examining a simple geometry, a confined cylinder, to explore elastic and inertio-elastic instabilities of flow of dilute polymer solutions.
The applicant should have a strong engineering background and understanding of fluid mechanics, materials and have a desire to conduct experimental work. A junior or senior in mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, physics or any other related field would be ideal. |
Professors not listed above but who wish to be listed: fill out the form below
If you are a Texas Tech faculty member and are interested in being a Mentor in the Honors College's Undergraduate Research Fellowship (URF) program, please fill out the form below. This information will be available to prospective students interested in the URF Program.
This is not an application for the URF program. If a student contacts you, and you would like to apply to the program with the student, please have the student contact Donna Srader at donna.srader@ttu.edu for the application.