Summer research students in SRI or FtRI conduct research in what are known as research streams, or research courses dedicated to a specific field in science and engineering. Each research stream has a dedicated laboratory designed and equipped for its specific type of research and led by a Research Educator.
Potential Summer Research Streams
Each summer two to three of Binghamton University's First-year Research Immersion (FRI) program research streams are run during the SRI or FtRI programs. The FRI program currently has 11 research streams.
Research Streams for Summer 2023
The Summer Research Immersion (SRI) program will be running the Clean Energy research stream and the Fast-track Research Imersion (FtRI) program will be running a research collaboration between the Ecological Genetics and Biogeochemistry research streams. See the table below for more information on each of these specific streams. *Once determined, 2024 stream options will be updated here.
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Clean Energy
Focus on harvesting and storing energy. Demand for energy, particularly alternative and sustainable energy, will increase substantially over the coming years. The research carried out by students encompasses new materials and devices for better energy generation and storage, such as photovoltaic systems, thin film electronics, thermoelectric systems, lithium-ion batteries and super-capacitors. The stream is led by Research Educator Dr. Yiliang Luan, and the team of faculty stream collaborators include Professors Nikolay Dimitrov, Stan Whittingham, Bruce White, Manuel Smeu, and Tara Dhakal.
This stream is available to both HARPUR and WATSON admitted students.
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Ecological Genetics
Focus on current issues on how ecological factors influence the evolutionary trajectory of populations by using state-of-the-art techniques in genetics, bioinformatics and ecophysiology. Given the many ways that we humans have and are influencing our environments -- natural, agricultural, urban and human-body -- there are many important questions to answer. The stream is led by Research Educator Dr. Christina Baer, and the team of faculty stream collaborators include Professors Jessica Hua, Thomas Powell, Kirsten Prior, and James Sobel.
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Biogeochemistry
Focus on sustainability of earth systems from perspectives of human and ecosystem health. This research stream is particularly interested in microbes and their geochemical interactions with metals and other contaminants, resulting in their coupled short- and long-term impacts on physical, chemical and biological interactions. Modern and ancient oceans, the atmosphere, watersheds and wetlands provide the field sites for our studies. The stream is led by Research Educator Dr. Jonathan Schmitkons, and the team of faculty stream collaborators include Professors Tim Lowenstein, Joseph Graney and Thomas Kulp and Weixing Zhu.
