This project is for students interested in the intersection of architecture, artificial intelligence, and cognitive neuroscience. The goal is to develop a computational tool that can analyze architectural designs—such as floor plans or 3D models—and predict their cognitive and emotional impact on occupants. This is a chance to apply cutting-edge research in embodied cognition and predictive processing to tangible design problems. Participants will gain hands-on experience in building a novel type of design tool, one that enriches the creative process by providing real-time feedback grounded in cognitive science. This project is ideal for students who want to develop a strong, interdisciplinary portfolio and contribute to a pioneering area of research.
Project Details
We're building a system that predicts how architectural spaces affect human psychology. The system analyzes architectural images to extract environmental factors (lighting, materials, spatial layout, vegetation, etc.) and predicts psychological outcomes like attention restoration, cognitive performance, and stress levels.
Current System
Research Question
Project Tracks
Requirements
Time Commitment
10h+ per week
This project offers an opportunity to contribute to the development of a sophisticated, AI-driven website serving as the digital infrastructure for a cognitive science research lab. This role moves beyond standard web maintenance and into the architecture of an intelligent digital ecosystem designed for knowledge management and research dissemination. The skills developed here—integrating custom back-end applications with a user-friendly front-end, implementing AI-driven search, and managing a complex information architecture—are highly practical and sought after in both industry and academia.
Participants will gain hands-on experience in:
This position is ideal for students seeking to build a strong portfolio and gain tangible experience in advanced web architecture.
Project Description
Our lab is developing a sophisticated, AI-driven website hosted on our own virtual machine. The project's goal is to create an integrated digital environment for our research, far beyond a simple informational site. While the core system is nearly complete, significant work is required to deploy our vast content—including several custom-built encyclopedias—and to integrate a suite of powerful, previously unused applets.
The student in this role will be central to the site's architecture. Key responsibilities include knowledge management strategy, implementing an intelligent AI-based search system, and integrating our custom applets for tasks like viewing Google Drive files directly on a project page or managing hierarchical FAQs. While we use WordPress for basic content entry by non-programmers, the majority of the site's dynamic functionality is driven by our own programs. This project offers a valuable opportunity to develop practical skills in managing a future-oriented, content-rich web application, making it an excellent addition to a resume or graduate school application.
Requirements
Time Commitment
10h+ per week
This research project addresses a significant challenge in applied AI: the automated evaluation of complex, multimodal student work. The goal is to develop an intelligent agent capable of grading assignments that combine text (Word reports) and visual media (slide presentations). This work is situated at the intersection of cognitive science, AI, and educational technology.
This role provides a unique opportunity to develop sought-after skills in machine learning and computational linguistics by tackling real-world problems. The experience gained is highly relevant for students interested in careers in AI development, data science, and educational technology, and serves as a compelling project for a portfolio or graduate school application.
Project Description
This project focuses on the design, development, and testing of an intelligent AI agent capable of auto-grading complex, multimodal student assignments. The primary challenge is to create a system that can evaluate both text-based content from Word reports and visual/structural content from slide presentations. Students in this role will engage with this interdisciplinary problem, blending principles from cognitive science and human-computer interaction into an applied AI system.
Core tasks will include transforming human rubrics into machine-readable formats, designing the input-output schemas for the AI agent, and rigorously testing how well current AI systems can interpret subjective qualities like creativity and visual appeal alongside structured criteria. This is a research opportunity to work on a tangible system with practical applications: reducing instructor grading time and enhancing the consistency and speed of student feedback. The skills acquired in this project are directly applicable to advanced topics in AI.
Requirements
Time Commitment
10h+ per week
This project offers hands-on experience in analyzing complex, high-dimensional data from human subjects. Our lab conducts experiments where participants in VR and physical environments are monitored with sensors measuring heart rate, electrodermal activity, 3D motion, and respiration. The primary task is to extract meaningful signals from this noisy, multi-source data.
This is an ideal applied project for students with a background in statistics or data science. The practical skills you will develop—including data cleaning, time-series analysis, statistical modeling, and effective data visualization—are fundamental to quantitative research and are highly valued in data-driven industries. This role provides an excellent opportunity to build a strong analytical portfolio and apply theoretical knowledge to real-world research questions.
Project Description
We are conducting experiments in both VR and physical environments where subjects wear sensors that measure heart rate, heart rate variability, electrodermal activity, 3D motion and respiratory activity. It is not trivial to extract a meaningful signal from all these sources, making this a great learning project for a data scientist. Students in this role will help with statistical analysis, data smoothing and cleaning, and the production of meaningful graphical results and statistical discussions. This is an excellent opportunity for students with at least one quarter of statistics coursework or a course in data science. We will also be creating a wizard, possibly with AI, to walk students through the statistical analyses they will need for the experiments they are designing. The experience gained is highly practical for any student pursuing a career in data science or quantitative research.
Requirements
Time Commitment
10h+ per week
This independent study offers an opportunity to engage directly with the creation and implementation of high-resolution virtual environments for research. This multi-track position is ideal for students wishing to gain practical, resume-building skills directly applicable to the VR/AR industry, game development, and human-computer interaction research. Whether your interests are in art and design, programming, or cognitive science theory, there is a role for you.
Project Description
Our research investigates human activity in transitional architectural spaces through high-resolution virtual environments. Creating high-quality architectural / game environments is a detail-demanding process that requires developing custom workflows and acquiring new skillsets for specific challenges. We explore a broad range of areas including 3D scanning, 3D modeling and texturing, lighting and rendering, game development and programming, and data collection through VR tracking sensors. This opportunity is ideal for students interested in VR game development, as the acquired skills can be directly applied to the game development industry.
Requirements
Time Commitment
10h+ per week
This project addresses a core challenge in experimental science: designing an interface that is simple enough for a test subject to use under pressure, yet powerful enough for a scientist to configure a complex experiment. Our lab develops numerous cognitive tests, and this role is critical for creating the user interfaces that make this research possible. You will design and build GUIs with distinct "Participant" and "Experimenter" views, managing everything from stimuli presentation to precise data collection.
This is a unique opportunity to apply UI/UX skills to solve non-trivial design challenges that directly impact the validity of scientific research. The experience of designing for specialized expert users and building robust interfaces for data collection is highly valuable and will result in a portfolio of tangible, impactful projects.
Project Description
A graphical user interface (GUI) for a cognitive test must serve two very different users simultaneously. The Participant needs a clean, intuitive interface that minimizes cognitive load, ensuring we measure their abilities, not their frustration with the UI. The Researcher, however, needs a powerful "control panel" to configure the experiment's logic—adjusting trial counts, setting stimuli exposure times in milliseconds, and managing data output.
You will work directly with cognitive scientists to translate their experimental protocols into seamless and robust user interfaces. Your tasks will include designing and implementing GUIs for a wide range of cognitive tasks (e.g., working memory tests, reaction time tasks), creating the researcher's "control panel," and crafting the focused, aesthetically pleasing interface for test-takers. Your work will have a direct impact on the quality of our scientific research.
Requirements
Time Commitment
10h+ per week
Interested students should fill in this application form as soon as possible:
https://forms.gle/Duy4BMvCb7YtCWD66
Interviews are conducted on a rolling basis, so we encourage you to apply early!