Vertically Integrated Projects Teams

Join a Vertically Integrated Project (VIP)

Joining a VIP team lets you collaborate on impactful research with faculty and peers, earning academic credit through RES 4000. Whether you're new or experienced, VIP enhances your skills and opens doors to academic and professional opportunities. Explore the details to start your journey in KSU’s research community!

These teams in undergraduate research allow students to study a variety of cutting-edge projects spanning Brain Augmented Technology, Nuclear Energy, Human Autonomy Teaming, Unmanned Aerial System Design, Fungal Problem-Solving, Concrete Reformation, Game Design, and so much more.

With hands-on experiences and innovative approaches, these research teams are paving the way for groundbreaking discoveries and real-world solutions in local communities and networks across the world!

student information

All VIP Teams

Students presenting at Symposium of Student Scholars
Students presenting at Symposium of Student Scholars
Research on Undergraduate Research

In this lab, we conduct research on undergraduate research to better understand student and mentor experiences and ultimately improve the experience for all.
Students sitting at desktop computers playing videogames with headphones on
Students sitting at desktop computers playing videogames with headphones on
KSU Game Studio

Students collaborate to create, develop, evaluate, and eventually publish video games through the KSU Game Studio.
Machine on hand to study movement to create prosthetics
Machine on hand to study movement to create prosthetics
CMART: Compliant Machine Augmented Rehabilitation Technologies

The overarching goal of this research is to design, develop, and test biologically inspired joints and rehabilitation devices that integrate compliant mechanisms, soft robotics, and intelligent control systems.
Various slides of energy detection technology
Various slides of energy detection technology
Advanced Energy Storage and Generation Technology

The overall goal of this project is to synergistically enhance electrode performance in the energy storage process, and to train student the theory and gain necessary skills to fabricate Advanced Energy storage devices.
Two students using virtual reality headset in office setting
Two students using virtual reality headset in office setting
SKYE Research Lab

SKYE Research Lab will be studying parent home safety behaviors and developing parent-directed prevention strategies to have a public health impact on injuries among children and youth.
Cartoon graphic of a hand holding a phone with different medical and technology symbols
Cartoon graphic of a hand holding a phone with different medical and technology symbols
Improving Health Equity through Technology

Students work in teams along with faculty and community stakeholders on long-term research projects focused on urgent issues such as rural mental health, chronic disease, maternal care access, and digital health equity.
Image of the Field Station on KSU campus
Image of the Field Station on KSU campus
SEPAL - Safeguarding, Education, Propagation, and Applied Research Laboratory

Housed at the KSU Field Station and aligned with its strategic goals, SEPAL addresses the urgent need for research, propagation, and outreach involving native species that are under pressure from habitat degradation and loss.
group picture of the latinx teachers.
group picture of the latinx teachers.
GA Future Maestr@s

Through this work we hope to contribute to create a support system for Latinx future teachers in GA, so more and better Latinx teachers can serve students in our schools.
aerial graphical repensentation of a city.
aerial graphical repensentation of a city.
AI for Resilient &

Smart Communities (ARSC)

Our research theme is broad, encompassing issues such as community environmental pollution, transportation, energy efficiency, and decarbonization.
virtual classroom
virtual classroom
XRAI-E – Extended

Reality with

Artificial Intelligence in Education

Our research team aims to generate individual adaptive XR platforms for enhanced experience and task performance in education, training, agriculture, and healthcare.
teacher helping a young child with their class work.
teacher helping a young child with their class work.
Supporting Teachers

Working with Children

Experiencing Homelessness

The research project aims to identify the challenges and needs of teachers working with children experiencing homelessness and to fill the paucity of literature on children experiencing homelessness in teacher education.
ksu student wearing a vr headset.
ksu student wearing a vr headset.
Dementia Healthcare XR

Our research project aims to develop a gamified, extended reality-enabled, self-paced behavioral training application (G-XRBT app) to enhance competence among healthcare students through the combination of Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and Mixed Reality to provide seamless immersive experiential learning experiences in a virtual environment.
Immunology VR.
Immunology VR.
Extended Reality (XR)

and Storytelling for

STEAM Education

Our research project seeks to leverage unique affordances of extended reality (XR) technologies, including virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR), to build an experiential and embodied learning framework that utilizes digital storytelling and art creation as core strategies to craft engaging narratives that weave through the complex STEM concepts.
human artificial intelligence concept, deep machine learning technology.
human artificial intelligence concept, deep machine learning technology.
Emotional AI:

A Human-AI Teaming

for Emotional Well-being

We plan to develop and deploy natural language and wearable sensing-based multimodal techniques to form an AI-human system as a personalized emotional well-being companion for a large-scale student population.
networking image with variety of technology icons.
networking image with variety of technology icons.
Smart IoT

Product Development

This project aims to conduct engineering research and develop various futuristic IoT products and IoT technology solutions by designing and developing an IoT-enabled electronic device equipped with multiple sensors to monitor soil moisture, pH, conductivity, temperature, and light intensity to facilitate automated irrigation control.
picture of dna.
picture of dna.
X-Lab: Fight with

Diseases – Computational

Biology

Our lab is committed to advancing computational approaches to understand biomolecular interactions and biomedical information. We apply artificial intelligence and molecular simulations to uncover mechanisms in neurodegenerative diseases, aiming to inform drug discovery, improve diagnostics, and ultimately enhance human health and well-being.
Cybersecurity Education.
Cybersecurity Education.
Cybersecurity Education

Research Lab

The expected outcome of this project is to provide a comprehensive, ready-to-use, standards-based, hands-on cybersecurity curriculum that is readily available for secondary education teachers to implement in their classrooms.
several children's letters and drawings in different Asian languages
several children's letters and drawings in different Asian languages
Supporting Multilingual,

Immigrant-Origin Students

The collective, inter-connected research projects aim to unpack the ways in which language, culture, identity, agency, power, and ideology affects learning and teaching for immigrant multilingual learners.
sun shining down on solar panels.
sun shining down on solar panels.
Commercializing the

Next Solar Energy

Technology

The project aims to build a final prototype for the next generation solar energy technology. The overall objective of the VIP project is to build, test and prepare a prototype ready for a startup commercialization.
Long Range Radio (LoRa) logo.
Long Range Radio (LoRa) logo.
L3BN: Low-Power

Low-Cost Long-Range

Broadband Networking Lab

This project aims to explore new techniques for the design of efficient algorithms on energy-starved IoT cloud computing networks, and a new cloud network paradigm such as a consolidation of Low-Power Wide-Area Network (LPWAN) such as using Long Range Radio (LoRa) technology.
circle flow chart for Micro-Materials for Macro-Applications - design, processing, microstructure, properties, performance, recycling.
circle flow chart for Micro-Materials for Macro-Applications - design, processing, microstructure, properties, performance, recycling.
Micro-Materials for

Macro-Applications

We employ cutting-edge materials technology such as 3-D printing fabrication, thermochemical processing of self-repairing polymers, nanostructured synthesis of DNA-based biopolymeric human bone, smart shape-memory metal alloys, ceramic organosilicates, and composite metamaterials.
work zone of a concrete wall being built.
work zone of a concrete wall being built.
Re-forming Concrete:

Use of Formwork

This team will explore the use of non-rigid formwork systems for reinforced concrete structures and, consequentially, the necessary call for innovation in terms of concrete materials, construction techniques, and computational methods.
a white fungi sitting on a shelf.
a white fungi sitting on a shelf.
Solving Problems with Fungi

We hope to leverage the intriguing capacities of this diverse and cryptic group of fungi to make the world more sustainable, safe, and delicious.
unmanned aerial system design
unmanned aerial system design
Unmanned Aerial

System Design for

Civilian Applications

We are focused on designing, building, and flying Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) for industry specific applications.
a human hand shaking a robotic hand.
a human hand shaking a robotic hand.
Human Autonomy Teaming

We are interested in learning and predicting variability that arises from naturalistic fluctuations in cognitive state, indexed by gait and daily estimates of risk preferences of a pedestrian.
molecular structures, with a blue rectangle labeled "cold bath" and a red rectangle labeled "hot bath."
molecular structures, with a blue rectangle labeled "cold bath" and a red rectangle labeled "hot bath."
Nuclear Energy,

Science, & Engineering

Laboratory

Our research team, consisting of engineering faculty and students, aims to study novel nanostructured materials for the safer use of nuclear energy.
photo collage of student sitting in front of a projector screen.
photo collage of student sitting in front of a projector screen.
Brain Augmented Technology

This study will research event-related potentials (ERPs) which reflect the electrical activity of neurons that underlie cognitive and sensory processing.

Join a Vertically Integrated Project (VIP)

Assistive Options