ASU summer research opportunity shapes student futures

Hannah Collins, a civil, environmental and sustainable engineering doctoral candidate, says that her involvement in the Summer Research Initiative, or SURI, put her on the path to graduate school at Arizona State University and a career in research. Photographer: Erika Gronek/ASU

Graduate school cultivates a student’s abilities to take the skills from their undergrad experience and challenges them to ask questions that have not yet been explored. As students commit to furthering their education, they are thrust into research — a different tier of academia that can vary depending on the discipline and nature of what is being explored.

Programs like the Summer Research Initiative, or SURI, offered through the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University give participants an eight-week glimpse into what it would be like to pursue a full-time doctoral degree. SURI allows students from institutions across the globe to spend their summer in active engineering research projects and gain exposure to what a graduate engineering program entails. Some students become inspired to pursue advanced degrees at ASU.

From mid-May to late July, students can learn about additive manufacturing methods, semiconductor nanomaterials, solar energy systems, cybersecurity, AI-enhanced hardware design and much more.

From fraternizing with formulas to embracing the joys of failure, students get hands-on experience and a glimpse into the inner workings of leading-edge research.

Facing failure for a brighter future

The realm of research is one of the only academic environments where the question is often more important than the answer.

Nick Rolston, an assistant professor of electrical engineering for the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University, says that SURI students have the freedom to experience all the highs and lows that come with autonomously navigating unknowns.

“I think it makes students think independently and brings out the creative process,” Rolston says. “SURI allows students to form their own opinion — whether negative or positive — about whether research is a good fit for them and something they want to pursue.”

Marco Casareto, a doctoral student in Rolston’s lab, was a third-year undergraduate materials science engineering student at the University of Maryland when he worked with Rolston as a SURI student during the summer of 2022.

“Nick had a very positive and persistent messaging that as long as I was learning, I was on the right track,” Casareto says. “He showed me that a lot of times in research, you rarely prove what you had originally sought to prove, so you realize new things along the way and adapt. I really liked his mentality.”

Casareto says that before SURI, he hadn’t been challenged to conduct independent work or pitch ideas in a way that reflected a research environment.

“One of the biggest lessons that students need to learn is that not doing what you set out to do is not failing,” Rolston says. “It does not mean you’re unsuccessful or indicate a lack of success. Failure means learning something and revisiting your questions, revising your hypotheses and taking a new angle.”

Casareto returned to ASU the following year as a doctoral student in Rolston’s lab.

“That experience solidified for me that I wanted to pursue a PhD,” Casareto says, “and that working with Rolston at ASU was my top choice.”

Testing reality

When Mohammed Bawareth was a mechanical engineering sophomore signing up for a SURI project to test the reality of materials, he was also testing out a future in research. Bawareth recalls not being sure what he wanted to do but appreciated the opportunity to learn more.

“I was lucky to join a laboratory with very impressive individuals — Fulton Schools Associate Professor Keng Hsu and research assistant Weiheng Xu — in an environment that encouraged me to think about why we were doing what we did,” he says.

His SURI project was a collaboration with the Salt River Project to recycle a material used in electrical cables, known as cross-linked polyethylene, to be sustainably repurposed into a thermal insulation foam.

A key part of the project was confirming the material behaved as expected, which is also referred to as testing the reality of the material. Bawareth admits that at first, the notion didn’t make sense to him.

“I remember a PhD student asked me about my favorite food, and would it bother me if the snack was extra soggy or firm? Would I still want to eat it if it wasn’t made to the standard I expected?” Bawareth says. “Those details change how you experience the snack, and the same goes for anything else being manufactured. It is necessary to ensure products are built to standard to perform their function.”

Since graduating with his manufacturing engineering master’s degree in 2023, Bawareth has become a process integration development engineer at Intel, where he works on the thermal diffusion and etching of wafers.

He says that his current role relies on understanding complex systems, data analysis and effective communication — all of which were the foundation of his research education.

“The scope of the research that I did in SURI is not aligned with the scope of my work currently,” he says, “but it prepared me with the tools, mindset, attitude and communication skills to perform well at my current job.”

Bawareth encourages unsure students not to worry about uncertainties and instead, push themselves out of their comfort zones to try new things.

“It’s okay if you don’t know what you want or what exactly you’re trying to achieve,” Bawareth says. “This is the whole point of going to university.  It’s the place to unify different ideas and points of view. So, engage with people, try to take the most out of each day and enjoy the process.”

Fellowship, friendship and paying it forward

Hannah Collins, a civil, environmental and sustainable engineering doctoral student and three-time SURI participant, says her involvement in SURI solidified her interest in pursuing a doctoral degree.

“Ever since I was in high school, I knew I’d go to ASU and get an Accelerated Master’s degree,” Collins says. “After participating in SURI, I developed my passion for research and contributing to the knowledge base for environmental engineering.”

When Collins started SURI, she had no lab experience beyond the classroom.

“Going into it, I was very inexperienced,” Collins says, “but I’ve learned so much over those three years and am continuing to learn a lot to this day. In terms of doing lab work, writing, publishing high-impact papers and reading critically, my growth has been exponential.”

Collins now strives to pay it forward by mentoring undergraduate students, noting it is valuable for testing her own knowledge and building community.

“The moments where people took the time to help me understand lab methods I’d never used before are what set me up for success,” she says. “They taught me how to work through obstacles in and out of the lab, which has helped me navigate stress and burnout.”

Collins keeps in touch with her SURI lab mates as they pursue doctoral degrees across the country. Her research efforts secured her a fellowship with the Fulton Schools and eased her transition into graduate school.

“In SURI, I found mentors who challenged me, friends who made it fun and research topics that inspired me,” Collins says. “These things seem small at the time but those experiences increased my familiarity with the research process that really helped me throughout my PhD.”