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:

Hair coat shedding is the seasonal process by which beef cattle lose their winter hair. In the southeast region of the United States, cows that fail to shed in a timely manner show more pronounced signs of heat stress during summer compared to their slick-coated counterparts, as animals with dark, thick, woolly coats are disadvantaged in terms of heat dissipation (Gray et al.,
2011).
For this project, we will evaluate differences in thermosensation and
heat tolerance between early and late shedders, and use
blood samples collected from this trial and previous years to perform targeted gene sequencing to confirm protein-coding variants.

College & Department:

College of Ag & Life Sciences...011300 - Animal & Dairy Science

Description of Responsibilities and Position Duties:

The specific tasks include:

1. Assisting with laboratory procedures such as DNA extraction from blood samples and sequencing library preparation.
2. Data organization.
3. Performing additional duties as needed.

Desired Qualifications and Skills:

1. Sophomore standing or above
2. Responsible, dependable, and highly organized
3. Demonstrated interest in biological research
4. Previous laboratory pipetting experience is preferred

How to Apply:

Interested candidates should send their CV to Dr. Peixin Fan (pf324@msstate.edu)