Undergraduate Research

Undergraduate students (sophomores, juniors and seniors) participating in the Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) are mentored by graduate students and by each other, under the overall supervision of a Professor. Undergraduate students earn course credit that counts towards their degree. The grade is based on their technical accomplishments, contributions to project and team management, and participation in meetings. Each student maintains a design/lab notebook/portfolio in which they document research activities, plans, ideas, reflections. The size and structure of a VIP team: (i) allow students to participate in the project several semesters, with returning students mentoring new students; (ii) allow Professors to recruit students from all disciplines. Students thus have the time to learn how to work together in an inter-disciplinary setting. More information about the VIP here.

The goals of Arson's VIP on computational modeling and visualization for geomechanics are to understand the role of microstructure and fabric on the hydro-mechanical behavior of geomaterials; to model the macroscopic behavior of geomaterials from the knowledge of microscopic processes; to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to inform and improve these models; to predict deformation, fluid flow and instabilities in geomaterials based on these AI-informed models; to simulate the effects of climate change on soils and rocks and predict landscape evolution and greenhouse gas emissions; to design self-propelled geotechnical probes inspired by burrowing organisms; to optimize the trajectory of these self-propelled probes and back-calculate soil properties from the data that they collect from sensors. More details are available in the syllabus.

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