
Meet student researchers advancing computing, AI and more

This article is part two of a two-part series highlighting student researchers presenting at the Spring 2025 Fulton Forge Student Research Expo on Friday, April 25, 2025. Read part one and learn more about the expo.
Furthering knowledge for water resource management, speeding up machine learning processes, increasing the efficiency of manufacturing point-of-care health diagnostic tools and exploring new uses for emerging computer memory technology are just some of the ways Arizona State University students are addressing real-world challenges through hands-on research.
Undergraduate and graduate students in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at ASU have several opportunities to conduct use-inspired research that has real-world impact. Through individual projects mentored by Fulton Schools faculty members, students apply their classroom knowledge, build new skills and forge meaningful advances in the research themes of data science, education, energy, health, security, semiconductor manufacturing and sustainability.
In the Fulton Undergraduate Research Initiative, also known as FURI, and the Master’s Opportunity for Research in Engineering, or MORE, programs, participants conceptualize ideas, develop plans and investigate research questions during a semester.
Students participating in the Grand Challenges Scholars Program, or GCSP, can apply for additional funding to conduct research through the GCSP research stipend program. Conducting research is one part of the rigorous GCSP competency requirements designed to prepare students to solve the world’s most complex societal challenges.
These three programs enhance students’ ability to innovate, think independently and solve problems in their communities. They also benefit from the technical and soft skills they gain, which prepare them for their careers and the pursuit of advanced degrees.
Each semester, students who participate in FURI, MORE and the GCSP research stipend program are invited to present their findings at the Fulton Forge Student Research Expo. Learn more about four of the researchers participating in the spring 2025 event.
Meet them and more than 200 other student investigators at the Spring 2025 Fulton Forge Student Research Expo, which is open to the public, on Friday, April 25, from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Memorial Union on the ASU Tempe campus.

Shriya Danekar Photographer: Erika Gronek/ASU
Shriya Danekar
Shriya Danekar, an undergraduate environmental engineering student, used her GCSP research stipend to explore her passion for sustainability. Danekar aims to improve the management of the limited water resources in the western U.S. under the supervision of Margaret Garcia, a Fulton Schools associate professor of civil, environmental and sustainable engineering.

Kyle Hu Photographer: Erika Gronek/ASU
Kyle Hu
Kyle Hu, a computer science undergraduate student, joined the spring 2025 FURI cohort because he desired to gain experience working with databases and artificial intelligence, or AI, research. Working under his faculty mentor Jia Zou, a Fulton Schools assistant professor of computer science and engineering, Hu is creating new standards for processes in machine learning, a type of AI, to speed up algorithms’ performance and reduce their power consumption.

Megan Murphy Photographer: Erika Gronek/ASU
Megan Murphy
After receiving encouragement from Jennifer Blain, a Fulton Schools electrical engineering professor, biomedical engineering master’s degree student Megan Murphy applied to join MORE. Blain now serves as Murphy’s faculty mentor for her project, in which she investigates how to make the manufacturing process of point-of-care health diagnostic devices more efficient, increasing health care access.

Andrew Rubio Photographer: Erika Gronek/ASU
Andrew Rubio
After gaining research experience and learning about semiconductor devices throughout his time at ASU, electrical engineering undergraduate student Andrew Rubio decided he wanted to participate in FURI to push the boundaries of what’s possible with microelectronics. Rubio works under Ying-Chen “Daphne” Chen, a Fulton Schools assistant professor of electrical engineering, to further understand how a type of memory device known as resistive random access memory, or RRAM, works to unlock new applications for its use.