Emerging Scholars Projects
2026-2027
Echoes of the Unseen
Professor: Pouya Afshar, Art & Design
Echoes of the Unseen is a trilogy of poetic animated short films focusing on story, visual design, and character-driven, minimalist animation. Inspired by the spiritual parables of Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi, the project explores themes of perception, liberation, and transformation through metaphor, silence, and motion. Each short film stands alone as a contemplative experience, while together they trace a cyclical journey from confusion to clarity, from captivity to release, and from form to formlessness.
As an Emerging Scholar, you will play a crucial role in the pre-production phase of this project, contributing to storyboarding, visual development, character and environment design, and exploratory animation tests. You will work closely with Professor Pouya Afshar, receiving mentorship in professional animation workflows and poetic visual storytelling approaches.
This opportunity is ideal for students interested in 2D animation, concept art, experimental or minimalist animation, and sequential or symbolic storytelling. You will gain hands-on experience using industry-standard software such as Toon Boom Harmony and Photoshop, while helping develop a refined short film intended for both festival and installation-based exhibition contexts. If you’re eager to engage with meaningful narrative work, explore animation as a contemplative medium, and build a strong portfolio piece grounded in artistic intention, apply to the Emerging Scholars program and become part of Echoes of the Unseen.
The Emergence of the Far-Right in Latin America
Professor: Rodrigo Castro Cornejo, Political Science
This research project seeks to study why the far-right in Latin America—particularly populist authoritarian candidates—is electorally relevant in some countries but not in others. The focus of this project will be on Latin America, specifically Mexico and Brazil. While Brazil has experienced significant backlash from conservative groups, leading to the rise of figures like Jair Bolsonaro, Mexico has not seen the emergence of a comparable far-right movement despite progressive legal reforms. This research project examines how conservative political actors, NGOs, and media outlets in Brazil and Mexico have responded to progressive legislation, particularly regarding LGBTQ+ rights, abortion, and other socio-cultural policies. What factors contribute to strong conservative backlash in some contexts but not others? How do media narratives shape public perception of progressive policies? The project will employ qualitative and quantitative methods, including literature review and public opinion data analysis. The student collaborator will assist with conducting literature reviews on progressive legislation in Brazil and Mexico, analyzing reactions from conservative political parties, NGOs, and media, examining media coverage of progressive policies, and assisting in the analysis of survey data (training will be provided). The ideal student should have strong research and analytical skills, attention to detail, and an interest in political science and public opinion. Ability to speak/understand Spanish and/or Portuguese preferred but not required.
Exploring the Nexus of Human Trafficking and Drug Trafficking in a Border County
Professor: Amber Horning Ruf, Criminology and Justice Studies
This project titled Exploring the Nexus of Human Trafficking and Drug Trafficking in a Border County is funded by the National Institute of Justice and investigates how criminal networks operate across multiple illicit markets, focusing on the intersection of drug trafficking and human trafficking in a U.S. border region. Rather than treating these activities as separate phenomena, the study examines how organized criminal groups may overlap, coordinate, or adapt their operations across markets, particularly in ways that exploit individuals facing heightened social and economic vulnerability. By centering network dynamics and organizational behavior, the project seeks to better understand how exploitation is structured, sustained, and normalized within interconnected criminal enterprises. Using a mixed-methods research approach that combines qualitative interviews with analysis of legal and investigative records, the study aims to generate new insights into how these networks recruit, manage, and control people within illicit economies, as well as the challenges authorities face in disrupting them. The findings will contribute to scholarly knowledge on organized crime and trafficking while also informing
policy and practice by identifying points of intervention that may reduce victimization and weaken multi-market criminal operations.
As an Emerging Scholar, you will collaborate in conducting literature reviews, coding legal cases to understand organized criminal social networks (sex trafficking/drug trafficking and those who do both). This will be used for a social network analysis. Also, you will code qualitative interviews with ex-offenders, survivors and law enforcement. Students may be involved in presenting the preliminary findings at academic conferences or later on co-authoring publications. This study is one of the first investigating the contours of blended markets, including how these groups are organized and how they operate. From a policy perspective, this information is useful to border towns and cities in the United States where this phenomenon may be more prevalent.
Examining Health Insurance Literacy Through Behavioral Measurement and Intervention
Professor: Anita Li, Psychology
The U.S. healthcare system can be difficult to navigate, and many people struggle to understand health insurance coverage, costs, and benefits. Low health insurance literacy is often linked to avoiding healthcare, which can delay treatment and prevent people from seeking important information. This research project aims to improve people’s understanding of health insurance and increase confidence in using it. The project will first focus on developing a health insurance literacy assessment that includes behavioral measures. Next, a pilot training program will be created to help people better understand how health insurance works. Ultimately, this work will help inform future interventions designed to improve health insurance literacy. Ideal applicants will have a background or interest in learning and behavior, comfort reading and summarizing scholarly research articles, and strong attention to detail. Students with an interest in healthcare are especially encouraged to apply. This project offers opportunities to develop valuable research skills, collaborate closely with a faculty mentor, and contribute as a co-author on conference presentations and academic manuscripts in a supportive and collaborative learning environment.
Second-Gen Muslims: Growing up Muslim and American
Professor: Maheen Haider, Sociology
This study examines how second-generation Muslims in the United States experience citizenship, belonging, and integration. Although U.S. citizenship is officially granted by birthright (jus soli), research shows that many Muslims still face racialization, discrimination, and conditional forms of belonging. This project aims to understand how young Muslim Americans reconcile their legal citizenship with social experiences of exclusion, navigate their identity and community ties, and use strategies to integrate into American society. The study will examine factors such as residential segregation, intermarried relationships, economic mobility, and the preservation of cultural and religious traditions to better understand the integration of second-generation Muslim immigrants. Student tasks include participant recruitment and outreach, conducting and transcribing interviews, and assisting with data collection. Students interested in migration and immigrant communities, committed to social justice, and eager to connect and collaborate with other students and Muslim communities/organizations are encouraged to apply.
Legitimizing Evolution: Social Implications of a New Discipline
Professor: Allison McConwell, Philosophy
Evolutionary biology is a subfield that examines life processes such as natural selection and speciation. A critical turning point in the study of evolutionary biology emerged between 1930-1950, in what scientists call the “modern synthesis” that united fields like genetics, paleontology, and systematics. While the technical aspects of this important scientific advance have been analyzed with some care by sociologists, historians, and scientists themselves, philosophers have not yet carefully considered the social implications of this new discipline. This research project will assess the social and scientific consequences of proposing biologists as the new authority over social issues following the turn of the 20th century. For the decades on either side of World War Two (WWII), how did the new role of biologists as “social engineers” emerge, evolve, and impact broader social problems? And can any lessons be drawn about the emergence of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), such as at UMass Lowell and in other universities and academic settings, concerning STEM’s current influence on social controversies in society? This project seeks to process archival items already gathered from university Special Collections, generate chronologies of correspondence and technical research using timeline software, discuss and curate primary and secondary literature reviews and bibliographies, and generate analyses of significant celebrity evolutionary scientists working during and just after this time. Such scientists included Theodosius Dobzhansky, J.B.S. Haldane, Julian S. Huxley, George G. Simpson, and G. Ledyard Stebbins, as well as others like Ernst Mayr, R.A. Fisher, and Sewell Wright, and following that period Stephen J. Gould. Students with a critical lens on knowledge and society and an interest in archival research are encouraged to apply.
A Short Documentary Film about Portuguese Community of Lowell, MA
Professor: Pavel Romaniko, Art & Design / Digital Media
This Emerging Scholars project centers on the production of a documentary film exploring the history and cultural impact of the Azorean diaspora in Lowell’s Back Central neighborhood. Using documentary filmmaking as a research method, the project examines how Portuguese-American communities formed, sustained cultural traditions, and shaped the city’s social and cultural landscape. The documentary draws on historical research, archival materials from the PADA Portuguese archive, a LUPA-sponsored photography project by Kevin Harkins from the early 1980s, and community-based video interviews conducted as part of ongoing research. These materials inform the film’s narrative and visual approach while grounding the project in local history and lived experience. The Emerging Scholar will work closely with faculty during the 2026–2027 academic year, collaborating on documentary research and content development, organizing and reviewing video interviews and media materials, and supporting filming. This opportunity is ideal for students with an interest in media production or documentary storytelling, basic video production or editing experience, strong organizational and research skills, and the ability to work independently and collaboratively.
Criminal Exploitation and Vulnerabilities: Understanding Modern Human Trafficking and Protecting Marginalized Populations
Professor: Wilson R. Palacios, Criminology and Justice Studies, Amber Horning-Ruf, Criminology and Justice Studies, and Joselyne L. Chenane, Criminology and Justice Studies
Are you interested in social justice, human rights, and the systemic roots of victimization? This project investigates "criminal exploitation"—a modern form of human trafficking—focusing on how structural factors like precarious legal status, labor market exclusion, and language barriers leave immigrants and marginalized groups vulnerable to coercion. Rather than focusing on individual choices, we examine how systemic failures and illicit economies allow exploitation to thrive. By foregrounding the lived experiences of survivors, our goal is to influence criminal justice policy and improve survivor-centered interventions. As an Emerging Scholar, you will be an integral part of our research team. You will develop professional research skills by conducting a scoping literature review on human trafficking and exploitation, coding academic literature and legal cases to identify patterns of abuse, assisting with data organization and potentially participating in interviews with survivors. We are looking for a student partner who is responsible, curious, and open-minded. Strong communication skills are essential. Familiarity with APA style is a plus. We are primarily seeking a student who is passionate about understanding and protecting marginalized communities.
Planteable Futures: A Series of Fine Art Prints on Handmade Seed Paper
Professor: Caitlin Foley, Art and Design
Lush green lawns require frequent watering and fertilizer. This tidy version of beauty allows one to run barefoot without risking the sting of a bee, but there is a cost. A healthy and sustainable world is dependent on biodiversity. Local forests and wetlands do tremendous work for us. When this type of “wild” ecosystem flourishes in a neighborhood yard, it can sometimes be perceived as overgrown and messy. This printmaking/papermaking project is meant to celebrate the seemingly messy aesthetic of native plant ecosystems. Imagery for the screen prints will be inspired by native plants in New England. Layering colors and images will highlight the importance of diverse plant communities. The project includes making a series of screen prints using traditional inks to develop a visual language for the project. Then making handmade seed paper and screen printing with natural dyes: prints which can be planted. As an Emerging Scholar you will work closely with Prof. Caitlin Foley, developing creative problem solving skills and learning how to translate research into imagery. You will play an important role in researching content, testing materials, participating in iterative design development, making paper, and running editions of screen prints. The ideal student will have some printmaking experience and an interest in local ecology.
Children on the Move through Mexico to the U.S.: Understanding Trafficking Risks and Protecting Migrant Youth
Professor: Jana Sladkova, Psychology
This research project examines the experiences of Children on the Move - children ages 8–15 who migrate through Mexico to the United States without adults - and the risks of exploitation and human trafficking they face along the way. Thousands of children flee violence, poverty, and climate disasters, yet little research focuses on what happens during their journeys. This project asks: What risks do migrant children encounter while traveling? How do migration policies and local conditions increase or reduce those risks? And how can this knowledge help organizations better protect children on the move? Using a qualitative, ethnographic approach, the research team will analyze children’s narratives, drawings, and interviews with shelter workers. The goal is to develop a framework that helps identify trafficking risks and inform prevention efforts.
How Reproducible Is Human Epigenetics Research? A Systematic Review of Exposome EWAS Reproducibility Current Practice
Professor: Sarah Merrill, Psychology
The proposed project is a meta-science study, meaning it examines how scientific research is conducted and reported rather than generating new biological data. Specifically, the project is a structured survey of the field of epigenetics. Epigenetics refers to chemical modifications to DNA that influence how genes are regulated without changing the underlying genetic code.
One common epigenetic marker, DNA methylation, is widely studied, and researchers often conduct large-scale studies that scan across the genome to test whether patterns of DNA methylation are associated with social experiences, environmental exposures, or health outcomes. These studies are frequently described as reproducible or validated. However, there is substantial variation in what researchers mean by “replication,” “validation,” and “reproducibility,” and in how these standards are implemented in practice. The central question of this project is straightforward: What do scientists studying epigenetics actually do to demonstrate reproducibility, and how does that compare to what the field says should be done?
The project is already in an advanced planning stage. A detailed protocol specifies which published studies will be included, which features of reproducibility will be recorded, how key terms such as replication and validation will be defined, and how ambiguous cases will be handled. The next phase involves systematically applying this protocol to a defined set of published epigenetic studies. An Emerging Scholar would play a central role in this implementation phase. The student would be trained to review articles and supplementary materials and to extract information about reproducibility practices using a standardized template. The student would not design the protocol or make final adjudications but would contribute directly to building the empirical dataset that allows the field to evaluate its own standards. The project includes collaboration with senior researchers at other institutions, who will contribute to interpretation and manuscript preparation. All extracted data will be reviewed by senior investigators, and discrepancies will be resolved collaboratively. This structure ensures that the student’s contributions are well-supported, intellectually meaningful, and integrated into a publishable meta-scientific analysis of research practice in epigenetics.