Student Research Opportunities

MCSI is pleased to share two unique summer research opportunities for Pitt Students.  

*Please check back in January 2026 for our Summer 2026 summer research opportunities.

See 2025 student participants, projects, and advisors here.

Summer Research in Sustainability 

Intended for Pitt undergraduate and master's level students interested in gaining hands on experiences related to the broad topic of sustainability.  The 10-week program runs May 12 - July 18, 2025, and provides a $5,000 stipend. 

Frederick Honors College Brackenridge Sustainability Scholars 

Open to all Pitt undergraduates 

The Frederick Honors College Brackenridge Fellowship is an interdisciplinary, $4,000 award which annually supports undergraduate students seeking to complete research or a creative project over the summer. To enhance this undergraduate opportunity, the Mascaro Center has collaborated with the Honors College to provide an additional $500 of support to students conducting research in areas related to sustainability. 

 

2025 Program Highlights

Congratulations to the 25 students accepted to our Summer 2025 Student Research Program! The program ran from May 12 to July 18. Visit the Pitt Sustainability YouTube page to view project videos from this year's symposium, or review the list of summer research scholars, their projects, and their advisors here.

 

Click to view 2024 videos

Past Projects and Highlights

Attendees of the annual Undergraduate Summer Research Symposium vote for the best presentations based on clarity, creativity, quality of research, and connection to sustainability.

Videos of select projects can be viewed on YouTube, or featured project videos can be viewed below. 

2025 Featured Projects

Best Oral Presentations

Riya Kothari 
Development of a Reusable Pulse Oximeter Prototype
Advisor: Kevin Bell, Bioengineering

Keanna Marcelo
Surveying the Woody Vegetation across Powdermill Nature Reserve to Track Change Over Time
Advisor: Andrea Kautz, Carnegie Museum of Natural History and Esmee de Cortie, MCSI

Sasha Roth
Additive manufacturing of nonclassical alloys with multi-principal elements for improved sustainability
Advisor: Wei Xiong, Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science

Best Video Presentations

Nathan Cho
EvolvingSTEM: a three-dimensional laboratory evolution curriculum to increase STEM occupational identity through authentic experiences
Advisor: Cassie Quigley, Teaching, Learning, and Leading

Joshua Raj
Energy and Smart Data Analytics
Advisor: Kate Zettl, UPMC Center for Sustainability

 

2024 Featured Projects

Best Video: Olivia Rossi
Deciphering the Impact of Sewers on Urban Street Tree Nutrition
Advisor: Emily Elliott, Geology & Environmental Science

Best Presentation: Steven Panico
The Effect of In-Solution Particles on Reusable, Additive Manufactured Metal Filters
Advisor: Markus Chmielus, Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science

Best Presentation: Pocket Pizzutillo
Materials Design for Advanced Manufacturing of Cobalt-Free Cemented Carbides
Advisor: Wei Xiong, Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science

Best Presentation: Neeharika Kolli
Climate Inventory and Targets
Advisor: Kate Zettl, UPMC Center for Sustainability

2023 Featured Projects

Ekaterini Papazekos
Silicon Solar Module Recycling
Advisor: Paul Leu, Industrial Engineering

Paloma DiBella
Urban Permaculture
Advisors: Kevin Bell, Bioengineering, and Corey Flynn, School of Medicine

2022 Featured Projects

Rebecca Hotton 
Increasing the Energy Efficiency of 3D Binder Jet Printed Metal Filters 
Advisor: Markus Chmielus, Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science

Molly Draper
Sustainable Forestry within the Eastern Deciduous Forest Biome: Is Salvage Logging Compatible with Healthy Forest Regeneration Following a Major Windstorm?
Advisors: Dr. Walter Carson, Biological Sciences, and  
Hannah Assour, Biological Sciences 

2021 Featured Projects

Sydney DuBose
Environmental Justice Teaching
Advisor: Cassie Quigley, School of Education

Heather Phillips
Microbial Fuel Cells for BMG Electrodes
Advisor: Dr. David Sanchez, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Natalie Britton
Assessing Environmental (In)justices in U.S. Public Housing Siting Decisions
Advisors: Michael Blackhurst, University Center for Social and Urban Research, and
Randy Walsh, Economics 

2020 Featured Projects

Frankie Fattori
Energy-efficient processors, sensors, and systems for space-based sensing and computing
Advisor: Alan George, electrical and computer engineering

Ali Carroll
Biodiversity collapse at the urban-rural interface: Consequences for the sustainability and economic viability of small, privately owned forests in PA
Advisor: Walter Carson, Biological Sciences 

Max Smith
Simulations of First Solar Cells
Advisor: Paul Leu, Industrial Engineering

Sridhar Reddy
Hardware acceleration of artificial neural network for neuromorphic computing
Advisor: Feng Xiong, Electrical and Computer Engineering