Project Summary / General Information:

Gain experience in computer vision and artificial intelligence for agricultural applications. In this project, you will work with state-of-the-art tools for computer vision (object detection and segmentation) and support the lab's needs in tasks requiring coding, model testing, dataset preparation, etc.

College & Department:

College of Ag & Life Sciences...010300 - Ag & Bio Engineering
College of Engineering...010300 - Agricultural and Biological Engineering

Description of Responsibilities and Position Duties:

Your responsibilities will include implementing computer vision models, dataset preparation, and other tasks based on the lab's needs.

Desired Qualifications and Skills:

The ideal candidate should have strong Python skills and familiarity with computer vision.

How to Apply:

Send your CV and a list of relevant courses to Dr. Lucas Ferreira (l.ferreira@msstate.edu)
If you have any questions, please reach out.

Project Summary / General Information:

UAV operations are significantly limited by flight endurance and the need for frequent manual battery replacement. Current charging solutions either rely on manual intervention or require highly precise landing using GPS or vision-based systems. These approaches increase operational complexity and are not suitable for indoor or constrained environments.
This project aims to develop a modular, contact-based automatic charging system for UAVs that enables reliable charging without requiring precise landing. The system integrates an onboard charging module with battery telemetry capabilities and a charging station equipped with Ultra-Wideband (UWB) sensors for real-time relative positioning. An automated repositioning mechanism allows UAVs to land within a tolerance zone and still achieve proper alignment for charging.
In addition, the developed system will serve as an effective educational platform for undergraduate students. Concepts such as UAV autonomy, sensor fusion, and real-time system integration are often difficult to fully understand through traditional coursework. This project provides a hands-on, system-level learning environment where students can directly experience and understand complex autonomous system behaviors.
Project Objectives
• Design a lightweight modular onboard charging unit (

College & Department:

College of Engineering...060102 - Raspet Flight Research Laboratory

Description of Responsibilities and Position Duties:

Students will be recruited and assigned to the following roles:
• Student 1 (Electronics & PCB Design):
Design and develop the onboard charging module, including PCB design, battery telemetry interface, and sensor integration
• Student 2 (Mechanical Design):
Design and fabricate the charging station structure and automated repositioning mechanism
• Student 3 (Software & Control):
Develop firmware and ROS/MAVROS-based control systems for docking, alignment, and charging logic
All students will collaborate during system integration, testing, and documentation phases, ensuring a comprehensive and interdisciplinary research experience.

Desired Qualifications and Skills:

Senior electrical/aerospace/mechanical engineering student

How to Apply:

Send an email to wq27@msstate.edu

Project Summary / General Information:

This research lab involves all things related to parenting emerging adults, including parental psychopathology, parent-child relationships, discipline, maltreatment, and many other relevant factors. We focus on how aspects of parenting during emerging adulthood are associated with various psychological outcomes.

College & Department:

College of Arts & Sciences...038600 - Psychology

Description of Responsibilities and Position Duties:

Students typically participate through joining a directed individual study course (typically 3 credits) and attend weekly lab meetings to complete work. Participating students most often develop a research idea, learn how to complete moderation and mediation analyses, and submit their findings to conferences for presentation. Students gain valuable experience in a research lab, products to put on their resume, and access to a strong letter of recommendation if they perform well in the lab.

Desired Qualifications and Skills:

Course work in statistics, research design, and psychology are desired but not required.

How to Apply:

Students should contact Dr. Cliff McKinney at cm998@msstate.edu to express their interest. Send a brief statement expressing what interests you about the lab and your career goals along with your resume that shows your current overall GPA.

Project Summary / General Information:

The project involves eye movement monitoring in order to explore the bidirectional relationship between attention and memory. Visual attention forms the basis for many of our memories, since the information in our environment that we attend to is often what we remember from past events. However, what draws our attention within our environment is often determined by the contents of our memory, such as our eyes being drawn to a face because we remember encountering it previously in the current context. Using eye-tracking, I intend to investigate the manner in which previous experience dictates the way eye-movements are drawn to various kinds of information based on previous experience with that information and the manner in which it was originally viewed.
Dr. Jonathon Whitlock’s lab is actively recruiting well-qualified undergraduate students to gain experience in assisting in data collection as research assistants. Special emphasis will be placed on students interested in pursuing Cognitive Psychology upon graduation.
Benefits of being a research assistant in Dr. Whitlock’s lab will include, in addition to class credit (PSY 4000), opportunities to develop research skills, including data collection, research presentations, exposure to research design, training on the use of sophisticated eye-tracking equipment, as well as reference letters for graduate school or future careers. Enrolling in a research lab as a research assistant is highly recommended for any students intending to pursue graduate level training (including at the level of Ph.D.) within Psychology or other related research fields.

College & Department:

College of Arts & Sciences...038600 - Psychology

Description of Responsibilities and Position Duties:

Typical lab responsibilities will primarily involve data collection, involving the use of eye-tracking equipment. Lab training on the use of eye-tracking equipment is provided. Data collection involves being present in the lab to receive undergraduate research participants, conducting the experiment while sitting with the participant in the lab and delivering instructions, and reporting participation within the SONA system.
The amount of work per week will depend on the number of credits of PSY 4000 the student is enrolled for. For each credit of PSY 4000, three hours of lab work are required, for a maximum of three credits totaling nine lab hours per week.

Desired Qualifications and Skills:

Required:
Experience with Windows PCs, or the ability to learn quickly if student is more familiar with MAC computers
Organizational and time management skills

Preferred but not required:
Experience with eye-tracking equipment

How to Apply:

Email a personal CV or resume to Dr. Whitlock at: jw4234@msstate.edu