Gain Research Experience
Participating in research during your undergraduate studies can help you improve your chances of landing a job or being accepted into graduate school by giving you:
- Real-world experience and research skills
- A stronger resume and application package
- References from supervisors and colleagues
- A deeper understanding of your field of study
You will also experience the day-to-day work of researchers in your field, helping you decide if it's an area you want to explore after graduation.
Undergraduate Research Poster Fair
Students who have completed the Research Opportunities Program will present their research during the Undergraduate Research Poster Fair. The presenters will share insights about their research experience and how they secured their research projects.
ROP/REP program staff will also be onsite to answer any questions about how to apply to these courses. All U of T students, faculty and staff are invited.
- March 11, 2026
- 10:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.
- Hart House, The Great Hall
Schedule
- The Test of Narrative Language in Evaluating Bilingual Immigrant Children’s Narrative Microstructure
Dr. Becky Chen
Ella Zhang, Sophie Jennings
Applied Psychology and Human Development, OISE - An Impact Evaluation of BookSmart and Vroom Tips on Families in South Africa
Dr. Kaja Jasińska
Kaija Taylor
Applied Psychology and Human Development, OISE - The Role of Heritage Language Maintenance on Socio-Emotional Wellbeing: Insights from Syrian and Afghan Refugee Children and Youth
Dr. Kaja Jasińska
Yomna Elshabrawy
Applied Psychology and Human Development, OISE - Investigating the Validity of a Mental Health Screener and Parent-Child Reporting Discrepancies in Rural Côte d’Ivoire
Dr. Kaja Jasińska
Kenda Sinjab
Applied Psychology and Human Development, OISE - Em-POWER-ing the Writer: Examining the Impact of Intervention on Ethical AI Use in Education
Dr. Todd Cunningham
Niki Zirak, Emily Zhang
Applied Psychology and Human Development, OISE - Lipoprotein(a) Triggers Activin Receptor-like Kinase 1 (ALK1)-dependent SMAD1/5 Signaling
Dr. Warren Lee
Sarah Fidora
Biochemistry - The Effects of beta-catenin and APC Downregulation on Anterior-Posterior Polarity in Planarian Regeneration
Dr. Ritu Sarpal
Edlin Liang
Cell and Systems Biology - Identifying an Unknown Karrikin-Like Hormone Signalling Pathway in Arabidopsis
Dr. Shelley Lumba, Jenna Hountalas
Nazenin Sara Akyurekli
Cell and Systems Biology - Quantifying Biogenic (and Bio-anthropogenic) CH4 Emissions from Sewage Grates throughout Toronto and the GTA
Dr. Jennifer Murphy, Dr. Debra Wunch, Dr. Lawson Gillespie
Sofiya Berzhanskaya
Chemistry - Remote Calibration of Low-cost Sensors with National Air Pollution Surveillance (NAPS) Program Data
Dr. Jennifer Murphy, Dr. Debra Wunch, Dr. Mark Panas
Emily Yen
Chemistry - Understanding Urban Methane Sources using Mobile Measurements of Methane and Ethane
Dr. Jennifer Murphy, Dr. Debra Wunch
Nicolas Heer
Chemistry - Low-Cost Sensor CO2 Variability and Time Averaging
Dr. Jennifer Murphy, Dr. Debra Wunch, Mark Panas
Karen Zhu
Chemistry - Ozone Weekend Effect Observable with TAME Low-Cost Sensor Network
Dr. Jennifer Murphy, Dr. Debra Wunch, Mark Panas
Miya Sá
Chemistry - Identifying Nitrous Oxide (N₂O) Hotspots and Quantifying Emissions in the Greater Toronto Area Using Mobile Sensor Data
Dr. Jennifer Murphy, Dr. Debra Wunch, Dr. Sebastien Ars
Stefanos Grigorakis
Chemistry - Rapid Hyperspectral Identification of Sperm Cells in Forensic Samples Using a Variable Multi-spectral LED Array
Dr. Alex Mariakakis
Harpuneet Singh
Computer Science - The Timing of Speciation: Quantifying Reproductive Isolation in C. briggsae hybrids
Dr. Asher Cutter
Margaret Wilde, Adrija Paul
Ecology and Evolution Biology - DNA Quantification and Copy Number Analysis of Circulating Tumor Cells from Breast Cancer
Dr. Susan Done
Elizabeth Chen
Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology - Understanding Migration and Belief Responses to Climate Change-Driven Flooding and Heatwaves
Dr. Jeffrey Sun
Elizabeth Riddolls, Oceane Yembiline, Shaurya Saxena, Qiujia Jin, Harry Dai
Economics - Predicting and Designing Red Fluorescent Protein Variants Using Machine Learning Models
Dr. Yufeng Zhao
Aksshatt Bariar
Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy - Cause Cake: A 3D Model of Causality
Dr. Samuel Lucas
Callie Zhang
Leadership, Higher and Adult Education, OISE - So What is Causality?
Dr. Samuel Lucas
Sarah Shah
Leadership, Higher and Adult Education, OISE - Transcribing Causality: What does causality look like?
Dr. Samuel Lucas
Nora Kuo
Leadership, Higher and Adult Education, OISE - Vowel Duration in Heritage Hungarian: Is it Slowly Getting Lost?
Dr. Naomi Nagy
Athena Manousakas
Linguistics - N/A
- Spatial Mapping of Vasopressin-expressing Sensory Neurons in the Olfactory System
Dr. Tatsuya Tsukahara
Keren Idel
Molecular Genetics - The Single-Motive Structure of Deontic Action: Medhātithi on Motive, Result, and Deontic Authority
Dr. Elisa Freschi
Ella Lombardi
Philosophy - Precision Wavemeter Using Disorder
Dr. Boris Braverman
Chris Cheng
Physics - BRCA1, DNA Repair, and Metabolism: Insights from Mouse Oocytes
Dr. Andrea Jurisicova
Lavinia Ricca
Physiology - Investigating the Precise Regulation of Neurotransmitter Exocytosis
Dr. Shuzo Sugita
Yuchen Guo
Physiology - Analyzing Pre Synaptic Transmission Defects in C.elegans Genetic Mutant
Dr. Shuzo Sugita
Erica Chu
Physiology - Global and Feature-Based Processing During the Body Inversion Effect in Anorexia Nervosa
Dr. Hayden J. Peel, Joel P. Diaz-Fong, Dr. Jamie D. Feusner
DeeDee Ng
Psychiatry, Division of Neuroscience and Clinical Translation, Temerty - Quantifying Body Dissatisfaction and Actual-Ideal Discrepancy Scores Using a 3D Avatar
Dr. Jamie D. Feusner
Maya Rueda-Cohen
Psychiatry, Division of Neuroscience and Clinical Translation, Temerty - Multimodal Neuroimaging Signatures of Symptom Severity in Body Image Disturbance
Dr. Jamie D. Feusner, Joel P. Diaz-Fong
Sophie P. Williams
Psychiatry, Division of Neuroscience and Clinical Translation, Temerty - Reshaping Self-Identity via Memory Replay: Integrating Schema Learning with a Smartphone-Based Intervention
Dr. Morgan Barense, Aidan Steeves
Gen Kubo, Baran Aghdasi
Psychology - Generational End of History Illusion
Dr. Christina Starman, Alexa Saachi
Shanzeh Omar
Psychology - From Feed to Friendship: Context Matters in Perceptions of Older Adults
Dr. Alison Chasteen
Luxi Wang
Psychology - Language Framing on Prescriptive Expectations of Older Adults with Intersecting Identities in the Workplace
Dr. Alison Chasteen, Dr. Hannah Gans
Irene Guo
Psychology - The Effects of Language Framing on People’s Perceptions of Older Adults in Healthcare
Dr. Alison Chasteen, Dr. Hannah Gans
Hana Yaacoub
Psychology - The Mediating Role of Attention on the Relationship between SES and Memory
Dr. Amy Finn
Sangje Park
Psychology - The Role of Autonomy Supportive Language in Shaping Infant Persistence
Dr. Jessica Sommerville, Grace Sun
Mildred Noronha
Psychology - Are We Stuck in the Past? People's Changing Impressions of Others Across Their Lifespan
Dr. Nicholas Rule, Dr. Arin Korkmaz
Adrian Cheng
Psychology - Perceptual Grouping in Humans and Machines: SAM cannot do contour integration
Dr. Dirk Bernhardt-Walther, Matthias Tangemann
Vennise Ho
Psychology - The Social Cost of Solidarity: Who We Advocate For, Who We Fear to Support, and Why
Dr. Rebecca Neel
Mahika Varma
Psychology - Too Good to Be Your Friend? Investigating the Moral Sweet Spot
Dr. Christina Starmans, Umang Khan
Laura Bittman
Psychology - Green Innovation in the Urban Environment
Dr. Brad Bass
Zijian Li, Rachel Tsai, Lilianna Xing, Natalie Su van Lieshout, Sum Yee Avina Chan, Lilly Haughton, Allin Alya Yasmin
School of the Environment - Funny Face Study
Dr. Hayley Liebenow
Kimberly Lee
Psychology - Moral Development
Dr. Jessica Sommerville
Janeth Aguirre
Psychology - Inhibition of Microglia in the DMS Impacts Goal-Directed Behaviors in a Rat Model of Diet-Induced Obesity
Dr. Laura Corbit
Jayden Tang
Psychology - Assessing the Impact of Unsupervised Clustering for Tinnitus Classification at the Population-Level
Dr. Pascal Tyrrell
Nicolas Wojtarowicz
Statistical Sciences - Uncertainty-Aware Disease Classification in Retinal OCT Imaging
Dr. Pascal Tyrrell
Abigail Chen
Statistical Sciences - Beyond More Labels: Self-Supervised Foundation Models for Rare Disease Detection in Imbalanced Medical Imaging
Dr. Pascal Tyrrell
Navnoor Singh Mahal
Statistical Sciences - Simulating Agent-Based Behaviour in the Environment
Dr. Brad Bass
Xiaotong Shen, Lu Wang, Ching-Yu (Jenny) Hwang
School of the Environment - Simulating complexity in biological and environmental systems
Dr. Brad Bass
Elaine Wang, Jianlin Zhang
School of the Environment - Agent-Based Modeling in Economics: Three Simulations
Dr. Brad Bass
Ishan Datta, Mustafa Qureshi, Will Wang, Vedant Rajgopal Iyer, Samuel Xiong, Mariam Mahmood, Winston Zhu, Hannah Huynh, Tassneem Selman, Oluchi Ibekwe
School of the Environment
- AI-Delivered Psychological Support for Chronic Pain Management: A Directed Qualitative Content Analysis
Dr. Hance Clarke, Dr. Anna Lomanowska, Zhaorong (Karen) Hong
Eileen Liang
Anesthesia and Pain Management, Temerty - Evaluating Solace, an AI Chatbot for Chronic Pain Management: Insights from an Inductive Qualitative Analysis of User Feedback
Dr. Hance Clarke, Dr. Anna Lomanowska, Zhaorong (Karen) Hong
Veronika Kolarska
Anesthesia and Pain Management, Temerty - Investigating Gastrointestinal Symptoms in Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder Patients
Dr. Hance Clarke, Michelle Vinod, Dr. Dorothy Wong, Jo Carroll
Maya Honda-Granirer
Anesthesia and Pain Management, Temerty - An Investigation on the Association Between Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome/Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder and Respiratory Comorbidities: A Retrospective Cohort Study
Dr. Hance Clarke, Michelle Vinod, Dr. Dorothy Wong, Jo Carroll
Inaya Karmali
Anesthesia and Pain Management, Temerty - Quantum Electronic Behaviour Engineered from the Bottom-Up
Dr. Al-Amin Dhirani, Sean Colford
Canberk Soytekin, Kyra Sommerhalder
Chemistry - Deaminative Fluorination for Radiochemistry Automation
Dr. Chao Zheng
Cynthia Qu
Chemistry - Benchmarking the Prediction of Reaction Selectivities with Computational Chemistry
Dr. Cher-Tian Ser
Jacob Zhu
Chemistry - Quantifying Urban Greenhouse Gas Gradients in Toronto Using Total-Column CO₂, CH₄, and CO
Dr. Debra Wunch, Dr. Jennifer Murphy, Niki Jacobs
Chiara-Marie Marchesano
Chemistry - Financial Literacy Self-Efficacy vs Conceptual Competency among Teacher Candidates
Dr. Alexandre Cavalcante, Deborah Benhamu
Celine Yang
Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, OISE - Mathematics and Financial Literacy Teaching Self-Efficacy in Ontario Pre-Service Teachers
Dr. Alexandre Cavalcante, Deborah Benhamu Encaoua
Helen Wei Jia Chen
Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, OISE - Exploring Financial Literacy and Stock Market Participation of Teacher Candidates
Dr. Alexandre Cavalcante, Deborah Benhamu
Mariana Garcia Mejia
Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, OISE - Economics of Waste: A Study of Waste Management Labour
Dr. Yanyou Chen
Shawn Capper, Xin Gao, Simon Tan
Economics - Chemotherapy-Associated Decline in VO₂ Max and Cardiovascular Implications in Women with Breast Cancer
Dr. Amy Kirkham, Dr. Kerri Scherbinsky
Zoya Khan
Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education - Machine Learning-Assisted Fluorescent Protein Engineering
Dr. Yufeng Zhao
Serena Ganbaatar
Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy - Heritage Language Variation and Change: Does English Phonology Influence Heritage Russian Vowels?
Dr. Naomi Nagy, Dr. Hilary Walton
Eliana SanFilippo
Linguistics - Is He a Lion or a Turtle? The Development of Metaphor between Ages 3 and 4
Claudia Raihert, Dr. Myrto Grigoroglou
Meixuan (Mei) Fan
Linguistics - Counterfactual Conditionals Processing in Adults
Lucy Li, Dr. Myrto Grigoroglou
Tsz Kiu Ariel Yeung
Linguistics - From Paper to Online Database: Digital Indipitae
Dr. Andreas Motsch, Dr. Jean-Olivier Richard
Ella Dooling, Kristine Nguyen, Raphaela Kim, Bea Sellen, Tianyi Li
French, Christianity & Culture - Optogenetic Modulation of GABAergic Neurons that Mediate Reward in Mice
Dr. Derek van der Kooy
Frederick Sulowski
Molecular Genetics - Estrogen Signaling Suppresses Gastric Tumorigenesis in Old Female Mice
Dr. Tae-Hee Kim
Krystal Lee Wen Xin
Molecular Genetics - Punishment and Privilege in Manusmriti
Dr. Elisa Freschi
Pranav Chaturvedi
Philosophy - Medhātithi’s Ethics of Response in Manusmṛti’s Law of Violence
Dr. Elisa Freschi
Janhavi Pasricha
Philosophy - Nonreciprocal Optical Cavities
Dr. Boris Braverman
Rajan Roberts
Physics - The Effects of NEMP1 Disruption on Mice Ovarian Reserve in Response to Transposable Element Regulation
Dr. Andrea Jurisicova
Helen He
Physiology - PDSS2 Deficiency in Primordial Oocytes May Trigger Ferroptosis Cell Death
Dr. Andrea Jurisicova
Hanyu Xiong
Physiology - Generation and Functional Characterization of an Immortalized GLP-1R-Expressing Medullary (DVC) Cell Line
Dr. Denise Belsham
Shaden Mehdi
Physiology - Investigating the Role of Purkinje Cells in Motor Impairments of the NALCN p.R1181Q Gain-of-function CLIFAHDD Mouse Model
Dr. Mei Zhen
Anushka Patel
Physiology - Do Age Concealment Methods Affect Young Adults' Evaluations of Older Adults Who Age Conceal?
Dr. Alison Chasteen
Sybil Zhang
Psychology - The Influence of Socioeconomic Status and Age Differences on Perceptual Distortion
Dr. Amy Finn
Serena Ho
Psychology - Investigating the Link Between Self Report Memory Traits and Episodic Memory Performance
Dr. Catalina Yang
Julia Summerfield
Psychology - Perceptual Privilege in Scenes
Dr. Dirk B. Walther
Amber Liu
Psychology - Into the Mind's Eye: Predicting Human Canonical Perspectives with Neural Networks
Dr. Dirk B. Walther
Aerize Conde
Psychology - Reconstructing the Representational Space of Curvature
Dr. Dirk Bernhardt-Walther
Mira Icgoren
Psychology - Ingredients to a Good Life: A Thematic Analysis of First-Person Accounts Examining Life Satisfaction Appraisals
Dr. Felix Cheung, Sofia Panasiuk
Cynthia Lin, Tara Chahine, Choy Tsz Kiu (Natalie)
Psychology - How Does Children’s Moral Reasoning Relate to Their Own Cheating Behaviours?
Dr. Kang Lee
Jasmine Collins
Psychology - Comparing Life Satisfaction Across Groups When People Use Scales Differently
Dr. Felix Cheung
Yulia Miyajima, Clelia de Ferrieres, Lacrecia Kang, Joses Ng
Psychology - Language Comprehension Without Speech: Evidence from a Non-Speaking Autistic Individual
Dr. Emily E. Davis, Dr. Lars Kasper, Dr. Morgan D. Barense
Mohan Yuan
Psychology - The Impact of Ingroup Prejudice on Mental Well-Being Among East Asian International Students
Dr. Rebecca Neel
En-Tzu Chen
Psychology - The Influence of Goal-Directed Locomotion on the Real-World Object Advantage
Dr. Katherine Duncan
Linus Chan
Psychology - Differentiating Noradrenaline and Dopamine in Appetitive Pavlovian Learning
Dr. Laura Corbit
Agnes Chuk
Psychology - Openness to Diversity and Student Adjustment in University Settings
Dr. Odilia Yim
Cindy Qiao, Zoë Kostenas
Psychology - Where Do Men and Women Feel Invisible? How Gender and Environment Relate to Interpersonal Invisibility
Dr. Rebecca Neel
Yu-Tung (Hina) Huang
Psychology - The Effect of Race on Interpersonal Invisibility
Dr. Rebecca Neel
Erica Lucero
Psychology - Predicting Regional Anti-LGBTQ+ Hate Crimes Using Alternative Prejudice Metrics
Dr. Rebecca Neel
Diana Kuznetsova
Psychology - Zero-Sum vs Positive-Sum Mindsets: How Framing Shapes Solidarity Between Cis and Trans Women
Dr. Rebecca Neel
Amanda Dong
Psychology - Decoding Neural Networks: Analyzing Alignment Between CNN Feature Detection and Human Visual Perception
Soehee Han, Dr. Dirk Bernhardt Walther
Napasorn (Pongpang) Kao-ian
Psychology - Mounds & Memory
Dr. Pamela Klassen
Annika Kohli, Teri Mekanak
Religion - Mounds & Memory around the Great Lakes
Dr. Pamela Klassen, Dr. Megan Hull, Sarina Simmons
Grace Blumell, Annika Kohli
Religion - Simulating Emergent Urban Heat Islands in Complexity
Dr. Brad Bass
Zijian Li, Brian Ray-Sean Huang
School of the Environment - Farm-Based Education Strategies for Regenerative Agriculture
Dr. Nicole Spiegelaar, Brandi Bechard
Nicole Stochmal
School of the Environment - Engagement strategies for university campus citizen science
Dr. Nicole Spiegelaar, Dr. Daniel Newman
Nick Amenta
School of the Environment
Types of Research Opportunities
There are several types of research opportunities available to Arts & Science students. You can earn course credit by joining a faculty supervisor’s research project on campus or abroad, or by creating your own opportunity.
Research Opportunities Program
The Research Opportunities Program (ROP) offers course credit to second- and third-year students for participating in a professor's research project.
Research Excursions Program
The Research Excursions Program (REP) allows third-year students to travel off campus — most often to an international location — as part of an instructor’s research project, while earning course credit. Students only pay course tuition fees; all travel and accommodation costs are free.
Other Opportunities
- Learn about the 11 different types of research opportunities available to U of T students and how to navigate them using the Undergraduate Research Hub.
- You can find research-based courses within most Arts & Science programs. Check the Arts & Science Calendar for options.
- You may be able to undertake a summer research program through your academic unit. Connect with them directly to inquire about opportunities.
- If you are interested in pursuing your own research project with the support of a faculty member, your academic unit might offer independent study courses for upper-year students. Check your department for details and information.
- If you are seeking research opportunities that relate to health care, you may be able to secure a summer research opportunity with a U of T-affiliated teaching hospital. Check the hospital websites for details.
- Or create your own research opportunity. The Undergraduate Research Fund provides students with funding to develop their own research project.
The Research Opportunities Program is a good introduction to the field of undergraduate research. It was my first lab experience, so it was valuable for learning lab techniques and showing me how to conduct myself in a lab setting with graduate students.
— Katie, ecology specialist, genetics major and computer science minor
