The Honors Research Assistant Program provides Honors students an opportunity to work with professors as paid research assistants. Specific projects and the type of work entailed varies with each participating professor. Twenty-five HRAP positions are funded each fall and spring semester.
Deadline for faculty applications, spring 2026 - Jan 26
Deadline for student applications, spring 2026 - Feb 6
Open HRAP positions will be listed below at the start of each fall and spring semester along with position dates. Positions are 10 hours per week for a period of 10 weeks, paid to the student at a rate of $10 per hour.
Contact honors@ou.edu with any questions or for more information.
| Professor / PI | Department / Dept | Project Title | Project Description | Student Responsibilities / Tasks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proietti | tiziana.proietti@ou.edu | Interior Design & Architecture | Architectural Proportion through the Lenses of Sensory Psychophysics | Study human perception of architectural proportion; develop Vision Training for Designers educational model | Assist with experiments, data collection, visualization, and educational toolkit development |
| Zeigler | jzeigler@ou.edu | English | The Black Press on the Left with Liberalism | Study African American newspapers’ role in Black radical liberalism; focus on Frank Marshall Davis & Ann Petry | Read & summarize sources, annotated bibliography, analyze literary representation |
| King | farinaking@ou.edu | Native American Studies | Indigenous Truthtelling of Boarding Schools | Develop educational resources from archival materials to strengthen community engagement | Research, database creation, assist publications, develop learning modules |
| Blume | Doerte.Blume-1@ou.edu | Physics & Astronomy (HLD Dept) | Polarizability of two-electron atoms | Perform quantum mechanical calculations on two-electron atoms | Develop Python code, literature search, attend research meetings, collaborate with faculty |
| Moncrieff | moncrieff@ou.edu | Biological Sciences | Song variation in the Scaly-breasted Wren species complex | Analyze vocal variation in Wrens for species classification | Work with sound databases, quantify song differences, conduct literature review |
| Lamba | manika@ou.edu | Library & Information Studies | Understanding Interdisciplinarity | Analyze ETDs to detect misclassified and emerging interdisciplinary research | Run & benchmark LLMs on datasets, compare classifications, visualize results |
| Prichard | aprichard@ou.edu | Honors, History | The Listening Project | Collaboration with OU students, faculty, alumni, and community members to preserve histories via oral history interviews for research and public education | Recruit and work with narrators; transcribe and edit interviews; collaborate with TLP students to produce deliverables or scholarship |
| Wang | wang@ou.edu | Mathematics | Mathematical understanding of Physics-informed neural networks | Study mathematics supporting Physics-informed neural networks | Literature review and simulations; advanced students may apply networks to real-world problems |
| Senkowski | valerie@ou.edu | Health and Exercise Science | Respite Care and Goal Setting | Design and validate a survey tool to understand parents' beliefs about respite care; learn measurement and instrument development principles | Participate in weekly meetings; maintain records; build skills in literature analysis, survey design, and validation |
| Moses | pmoses@ou.edu | School of Electrical and Computer Engineering | Wireless Roadway Charging for Electric Vehicles | Study dynamic wireless charging impacts on EV power systems, grid stability, loading, and efficiency | Formulate EV models, implement simulations, develop/test optimization algorithms, document code, provide progress updates, analyze and present results |
| Moses | pmoses@ou.edu | School of Electrical and Computer Engineering | Investigating aging of electrical motor insulation in distorted power systems | Examine insulation aging and thermal behavior in induction motors under distorted and dynamic conditions | Assist in design/construction of motor test stands; perform experimental testing; collect/analyze electrical/thermal data; document procedures; provide updates and final presentations |
| KERSHEN | jkershen@ou.edu | ILAC | Systematic Review of Deeper Learning in Teacher Education | Ongoing review of empiric studies in teacher education for deeper learning outcomes | Meet with grad student leader and faculty PI; write summaries; review studies; participate in manuscript development |
| Brugar | kristy.a.brugar@ou.edu | ILAC | Teaching American Literature with Primary Sources: Book Project | Develop framework pairing canonical novels with curated primary sources (photos, cartoons, maps, oral histories) | Read novels; identify/catalog primary sources; work with faculty to obtain permissions |
| KERSHEN | jkershen@ou.edu | ILAC | American Literature and Primary Sources | Same as above | Identify primary source documents from Library of Congress/National Archives; participate in bi-weekly research meetings, library work, and online database sourcing |
| Mains | dcmains@ou.edu | Anthropology/Honors | Water Infrastructure, Politics, and Urban Growth in Norman, Oklahoma | Examine water infrastructure, politics, and urban growth in Norman, OK using qualitative research methods | Select projects related to water infrastructure, politics, growth; conduct archival research, literature review, participant observation; develop timeline with PI |
| Sherinian | zsherinian@ou.edu | School of Music | Ethnomusicological fieldwork analysis of drumming in Mauritius, Reunion Island, and South Africa | Fieldwork with Tamil diasporic communities; study parai drum practices and history via interviews and archival research | Transcribe/translate interviews (French); organize and document data; optional: music/drumming knowledge, anthropology interest, video editing |
| Hatami | kianoosh@ou.edu | CEES | Use of Geosynthetic Reinforcement to Improve Roadway Performance | Build, instrument, and load test reduced-scale reinforced roadway sections to improve polymer-based roadway products | Help set up/load-test model roadway sections; gain hands-on experience in soil mechanics, instrumentation, lab work |
| Sun | wsun@ou.edu | AME | Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling and Control Analysis of a Tilting Rotor Quadcopter | Create CFD simulation for a tilt-rotor quadcopter, measure actual performance, compare with simulation | Work 10 hours weekly; attend meetings; develop CFD simulations; build experimental setups; measure flight performance; adjust simulations; compare with conventional multicopters |
| Stewart | sepidehstewart@ou.edu | Mathematics | Modern Linear Algebra Applications | Explore linear algebra in real-world applications and integrate into instructional settings | Identify applications; determine linear algebra concepts; model assumptions; perform MATLAB computations; analyze properties; create classroom-ready examples; prepare summary/presentation |
| Cao | jie.cao@ou.edu | School of Computer Science | AI-Enhanced Multimodal Annotation System Built on Label-Studio | Extend Label-Studio platform for AI-assisted VideoQA annotation of visual/audio information | Implement features; evaluate usability; produce annotated samples; customize UI; integrate AI backend; design workflow; pilot evaluation; document processes |
