Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) Program

The Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) program is designed to guide undergraduate students in the practice of research and expose them  to potential educational and research-oriented career paths. This is accomplished through faculty mentorship and training while students participate in a faculty member’s research or scholarly project. 

Faculty members (not students) submit a project application that identifies a student researcher. If awarded, the student researcher receives $3,200 while they work on the SURE project (this work does not count for academic credit). Students generally work 15-20 hours per week over the course of 8-12 weeks in the summer. Students are also required to attend professional development sessions throughout the summer and present their work at the SURE Showcase in the fall. 

Through this experience, the program aims to  provide students with the opportunity to participate in individual research projects; to learn about the life of an active researcher; to learn about research-oriented careers; and to develop a long-term mentor relationship.

SURE 2026

Faculty: The SURE 2026 is closed.

Students: Interested in participating for Summer 2026?  Reach out to our team at [email protected] and check out the open SURE projects posted on our Student Research Opportunities Board.

Students who are interested in participating in Summer 2026 need to be current undergraduate UM-Dearborn students who will graduate December 2026 or later and have not participated in a previous SURE program.

CASL:

• The Evolution of Altruism and Spite: Exploring the Green Beard Effect in Proteus Mirabilis, Christopher Alteri (faculty mentor), Serena Mazloum (student researcher)
• The Generational Divide: Gen Z and Historical Changes in the Transition to Adulthood, Pamela Aronson (faculty mentor), Jumana Kamalaldin (student researcher)
• Founding Mothers: Stories of Women Leaders in Corrections, Francine Banner (faculty mentor), Alicia Seferi (student researcher)
• The Deportability of Latino Men: MS-13, Street-Level Bureaucrats, and Mobility Regimes, Maya Barak (faculty mentor), Rayan Bazzi (student researcher)
• Metastability, Nucleation, and Hydrodynamic Limits in Modified Becker–Döring Models of Particle Coarsening, Michael Dabkowski (faculty mentor), Adan Arriaga Silva (student researcher)
• Assessing Invertebrate Biomass and Diversity in Michigan's Changing Climate, Anne Danielson-Francois (faculty mentor), Daniel Acosta (student researcher)
• Pinpricks of Change: Urban Acupuncture, Storytelling, and Ecological Design for Community Resilience in Detroit, Paul Draus (faculty mentor), Sarah Lahey (student researcher)
• Neurophysiological Effects of Mental Fatigue: A Replication Study, Tobin Dykstra (faculty mentor), Ingrid Ishikawa Pires (student researcher)
• Michigan's History of Mobilization for Reproductive Freedom, Georgina Hickey (faculty mentor), Kaz Lewis (student researcher)
• Nhe9-Mediated Ph Regulation Coordinates Dynein Clustering for Retrograde Phagosome Transport, Kalyan Kondapalli (faculty mentor), Aayushma Pokhrel (student researcher)
• The Role of Pegylation on the Binding Ability of a Flavin-Biotin Probe, Simona Marincean (faculty mentor), Rocco Paolini (student researcher)
• Determining if Altering Membrane Composition Reduces Oxidative Damage Using Yeast as a Model System, Peter Oelkers (faculty mentor), May Bouhachem (student researcher)
• Examining Environmental and Community Impacts of Green Schoolyards, Carmel Price (with Natalie Sampson, faculty mentors), Macy Burton (student researcher)
• Navigating Between Administrative Rules and Mysticism: How Do Government Agencies Respond to Their Encounters with Mystical Phenomena?, Vadym Pyrozhenko (faculty mentor), Farah Abdun-Noor (student researcher)
• Archive of The Vanished, Adam Sekuler (faculty mentor), Marcos Carrillo (student researcher)
• Development of Artificial Intelligence Raters for Coding Self-Defining Memories, Caleb Siefert (faculty mentor), Braylen Castro (student researcher)
• Developing a Precision Laser-Control System for Single Molecule Biophysics, Suvranta Tripathy (faculty mentor), Syeda Haider (student researcher)
• Using Live Cell Imaging to Measure Growth and Shape Differences in Melanoma Cells, Besa Xhabija (faculty mentor), Wiam Almahdi (student researcher)

CECS:

• Durability of Biocompatible Thermoplastic Elastomers Under Extreme Environments, Georges Ayoub (faculty mentor), Nicholas Choi (student researcher)
• From Chatbots to Watchdogs: Leveraging Large Language Models for Security Protection, Anys Bacha (faculty mentor), Daisy Sinani (student researcher)
• A Study of Driver State Leveraging AI Models, Shan Bao (faculty mentor), Zhalgas Tileumuratin (student researcher)
• Uncertainty-Aware Energy Management of Renewable-Powered Microgrids Using Demand Response, Van Hai Bui (faculty mentor), Ali Beidoun (student researcher)
• Efficient Transfer Learning Techniques for Real World Decision-Making with Applications to Smart Agriculture, Srijita Das (faculty mentor), Jonah Yamine (student researcher)
• CIgnosis: Explaining and Repairing Continuous Integration Failures with Large Language Models, Anwar Ghammam (faculty mentor), Daniel Raskin (student researcher)
• GPS for Data: Speeding Up AI Training by Solving Digital Traffic Jams, Jinhua Guo (faculty mentor), Karim Joumaa (student researcher)
• Machine Learning Misclassification Error Detection to Enhance Safety of Level 3 Autonomous Driving, Jian Hu (faculty mentor), Raameen Ahmed (student researcher)
• Causal-Alpamayo: Improving Autonomous Vehicle Decision-Making Through Causal Reasoning and Vision Language Action Explainability, Utkarshani Jaimini (faculty mentor), Daniel Caro (student researcher)
• Feasibility Study on Accelerated Drying of Grains, Cheol Lee (faculty mentor), Anoush Shakaib (student researcher)
• Nanoparticle-Enhanced Photobattery for Simultaneous Solar Energy Harvesting and Storage, Rongheng Li (faculty mentor), Muaz Qamar (student researcher)
• BadJiT: Backdoor Attack Against Image Transformer, Ang Li (faculty mentor), Alpaslan Arslan (student researcher)
• Support-Free Additive Manufacturing via Multi-Axis Digital Light Processing, Zheng Liu (faculty mentor), Rayyan Arslan (student researcher)
• Quantitative Analysis of Macrophage Phagocytosis of Collagen and Extracellular Matrix Components, Caymen Novak (faculty mentor), Bianca Wilson (student researcher)
• LivePerf: An Educational Tool for Real-Time Visualization of Code Performance, Probir Roy (faculty mentor), Mohamed Saleh (student researcher)
• Understanding and Improving Teaching Quality Across Faculty Career Stages Using Public Student Feedback Data, Zheng Song (faculty mentor), Lana Burger (student researcher)
• UM-Embed: An Open-Source Modular Embedded Systems Platform for Teaching and Research at UM-Dearborn, Guilherme Vieira Hollweg (faculty mentor), Resul Ilmammedov (student researcher)
• Visible Light Communication-Based Pose Detection for On-Site Drone Coordination, Xiao Zhang (faculty mentor), Christian Nwobu (student researcher)

CEHHS:

• Elders’ Stories of Resilience and Resistance Guide Young People into a Climate-changed Future: A student-led oral history collection, Finn Bell (faculty mentor), Dominic Gomez (student researcher)
• How Reproductive Freedom Won in Michigan, Rodina Bizri-Baryak (faculty mentor), Fanda Sharif (student researcher)
• Lifelong Learning: Analyzing World History Content Offerings from a Decade of National Conferences, Erin Bronstein (faculty mentor), Shelby Simmons (student researcher)
• Through the Looking Glass: How Classroom Observation Studies Inform Student Regulation Research in Secondary Classrooms, Lauren Cabrera (faculty mentor), Blythe Drotman (student researcher)
• Access to the Starting Line: Centering Athlete Voice in Collegiate Adaptive Sport, Denise Kamyuka (faculty mentor), Wyatt Serrato (student researcher)
• A Population-Level Analysis of Breast Cancer Screening and Diagnosis among Middle Eastern and South Asian Foreign-Born Women in the U.S., Angu Khan (faculty mentor), Nigthdelyn Martinez (student researcher)
• Bridging Languages: Cultivating Inclusive PreK Environments for Multilingual Children, Kyongson Park (faculty mentor), Aarya Dhakal (student researcher)
• Wolverine Wellness : A Resilience Building Program for First Year Collegiate Student-athletes, Veronica Son (faculty mentor), Leah Welch (student researcher)

COB:

• Global Health Topics for the Elderly: A Review and Analysis of Challenges and Opportunities in Care Delivery, Charu Chandra (faculty mentor), Rukaya Alhemuzi (student researcher)
• Supply Chain Configuration as a Driver of Financial Risk: Evidence from the Automotive Industry, Yan Xie (with Yi-Su Chen, faculty mentors), Jack Borenski (student researcher)

Visit the Past Projects page for information about all previous SURE projects.

Students who were credited in publications for their work on SURE projects:

SURE 2024

• A. A. Farhat, Y. A. Almahdi, F. Z. Alshuhani, B. Xhabija, Morphological and Optical Profiling of Melanocytes and SK-MEL-28 Melanoma Cells Via Digital Holographic Microscopy and Quantitative Phase Imaging. Adv. Biology 2024, 2400346. https://doi.org/10.1002/adbi.202400346
• F. Hazime, M. Chbeir, K. Mottakin, H. Hachem, Q. Zhu and Z. Song, "SpeedEye: A Crowdsourced Speeding Detection System for Safer Urban Neighborhoods," 2025 IEEE 4th International Conference on Computing and Machine Intelligence (ICMI), MI, USA, 2025, pp. 1-5, doi: 10.1109/ICMI65310.2025.11141158.

SURE 2023

• D. Johnson, O. Pellegrini, R. Sauer, J. Schall, K. Mottakin and Z. Song, "Extending Automotive Vision System by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles," 2023 IEEE International Conference on Mobility, Operations, Services and Technologies (MOST), Detroit, MI, USA, 2023, pp. 223-224, doi: 10.1109/MOST57249.2023.00031.
• Hachem, Z., Hadrian, C., Aldbaisi, L., Alkaabi, M., Wan, L. Q., & Fan, J. (2024). Asymmetrical positioning of cell organelles reflects the cell chirality of mouse myoblast cells. APL Bioengineering, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0189401
• K. Mottakin et al., "Drone-Car Collaboration for Advanced Mobility: A Survey," 2024 IEEE 100th Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC2024-Fall), Washington, DC, USA, 2024, pp. 1-7, doi: 10.1109/VTC2024-Fall63153.2024.10758017.
• Pagnucco G, Overfield D, Chamlee Y, Shuler C, Kassem A, Opara S, Najaf H, Abbas L, Coutinho O, Fortuna A, Sulaiman F, Farinas J, Schittenhelm R, Catalfano B, Li X, Tiquia-Arashiro SM. Metal tolerance and biosorption capacities of bacterial strains isolated from an urban watershed. Front Microbiol. 2023 Oct 23;14:1278886. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1278886
• Sampson, N., Price, C., Almaleky, A., Reda, Z., & Reda, Y. (2024). Lessons from the Environmental Health Research-to-Action Academy. Environmental Justice. https://doi.org/10.1089/env.2024.0041
• Susko, D.J., and Jamil, A.N. 2024. Effects of Seed Number and Fruit and Seed Packaging on Dispersal Potential of the Multiseeded Fruits of Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis). International Journal of Plant Sciences 185:503-508.

SURE 2022

• Perla et al. Acidic pH of Early Endosomes Governs SARS-CoV-2 Transport in Host Cells Fares, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Volume 0, Issue 0, 108144 10.1016/j.jbc.2024.108144
• DiDonato, StuartP. and Antonios M. Koumpias. 2024. “Effects of property value assessment limit portability on migration outflows.” Public Budgeting & Finance. 1–36. https://doi.org/10.1111/pbaf.12373
• Faulkner MB, Rizk M, Bazzi Z, Dysko RC, Zhang Z. Sex-specific effects of buprenorphine on endoplasmic reticulum stress, abnormal protein accumulation, and cell loss after pediatric mild traumatic brain injury in mice. Neurotrauma Reports 2023:4(1):573-585. doi: 10.1089/neur.2023.0051
• Marincean, S., Nichols, D. L., & Benore, M. A. (2023). Riboflavin interactions with the chicken isolated carrier protein. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 96, 129529. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bmcl.2023.129529 
• Zhengquan Li, Zheng Song, Wei Yu, Daniel Feldman, Mustafa Soby, and Eli Tilevich. “Quality of Information: Effective Estimation of Web Service Usefulness by Selecting Test Inputs.” Service Oriented Computing and Applications, Springer (2026), 1–12. Impact Factor: 1.8. DOI: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11761-026-00492-z

SURE 2021

• Hang, B., Jassem, E., Mohammed, H., Wan, L. Q., Herschkowitz, J. I., & Fan, J. (2022). Interacting with tumor cells weakens the intrinsic clockwise chirality of endothelial cells. APL Bioengineering, 6(4), 046107. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0115827
• Hogan, J., Salo, A., Rzig, D. E., Hassan, F., & Maxim, B. (2022). Analyzing Performance Issues of Virtual Reality Applications. arXiv preprint arXiv:2211.02013. doi:10.48550/arxiv.2211.02013
• Napieralski, J., Sulich, C., Taylor, A., & Draus, P. (2022). Mapping the link between outdoor water footprint and social vulnerability in Metro Phoenix, AZ (USA). Landscape and Urban Planning, 226, 104498. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2022.104498

SURE 2020

• Song, Z., Rowader, O., Li, Z., Tello, M., & Tilevich, E. (2022). Quality of Information Matters: Recommending Web Services for Performance and Utility. 2022 IEEE International Conference on Cloud Computing Technology and Science (CloudCom), 41–48. https://doi.org/10.1109/CloudCom55334.2022.00016

SURE 2019

• Nasser, M., Wu, Y., Danaoui, Y., & Ghosh, G. (2019). Engineering microenvironments towards harnessing pro-angiogenic potential of mesenchymal stem cells. Materials Science and Engineering: C, 102, 75–84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.msec.2019.04.030
• Sampson, N., Price, C., Alwishah, K., Saleh, I., Mahdi, A., Mozip, A., Luqman, S., Archambault, D., Gleicher, S., Norwood, D., Almaklani A.B., Leonard, N, Arouche, A., Tariq, M., Reda, Z. (2021). Building youth capacity to address environmental health and justice concerns in Dearborn, MI. Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action, 15(3):401-410. doi.org/10.1353/cpr.2021.0041.

SURE 2018

• Alkhazi, B., Abid, C., Kessentini, M., & Wimmer, M. (2020). On the value of quality attributes for refactoring ATL model transformations: A multi-objective approach. Information and Software Technology, 120, 106243. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infsof.2019.106243
• Bazzi, K., Meka, V. M., Rathi, A., & Jayaraman, T. V. (2019). Influence of temperature on the magnetic properties of nanostructured Fe-49 wt.% Co-2 wt.% V alloy powder synthesized by mechanically milling pre-alloyed gas-atomized powder. Materials Chemistry and Physics, 227, 36–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matchemphys.2019.01.044
• Doctrove, Q. A., Alsafi, Z., Smith, S. R., & Benore, M. A. (2019). Improved Purification of Apo and Holo Riboflavin Binding Protein from Chicken and Turkey Egg Yolk. The FASEB Journal, 33(S1), 472.2-472.2. https://doi.org/10.1096/fasebj.2019.33.1_supplement.472.2
• Rebai, S., Sghaier, O., Alizadeh, V., Kessentini, M., & Chater, M. (2019). Interactive Refactoring Documentation Bot. 2019 19th International Working Conference on Source Code Analysis and Manipulation (SCAM), 152–162. https://doi.org/10.1109/SCAM.2019.00026