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The University of Texas at Austin

Fall 2025

  • Why Do People Feel Most Authentic When They Betray Their True Nature?

     Department: Psychology
    Faculty Leads: Jennifer Beer

    This research cohort explores why people often feel most authentic when conforming to societal norms rather than expressing their true selves. Students will gain hands-on experience with human subject research, engage with psychological theory and research design, and critically evaluate how scientific findings are communicated in the media. 

  • Oral History Project: Italians in Texas

    Department: French & Italian 
    Faculty Leads: Paola Bonifazio & Valerie McGuire 

    This research cohort trains students in oral history methodology through the lens of Italian immigration to Texas. Apprentices will conduct and catalog interviews across different regions of the state, contributing to a public-facing digital archive that preserves firsthand accounts of the Italian-American experience. 

  • Categorizing Migration: Methods for Ancient and Modern Populations

    Department: Classics 
    Faculty Lead: Naomi T. Campa 

      This research cohort introduces students to the foundational stages of a digital humanities project focused on how ancient and modern migrants are categorized across disciplines. Apprentices will conduct literature reviews, explore metadata design, and contribute to shaping a database that documents historical migration patterns. 

  • Archaeology and Everyday Life at an Inca City

    Department: Anthropology 
    Faculty Lead: R. Alan Covey 

    This research cohort offers students hands-on experience with archaeological data from the Inca city of Huánuco Pampa, focusing on urban life in the Andean world. Apprentices will work with excavation records, images, and material datasets to produce building-level analyses, with opportunities to develop skills in data synthesis, GIS, and visual documentation. 

  • Researching International Politics

    Unit: Innovations for Peace & Development Lab (IPD) 
    Faculty Leads: Mike Findley & Dan Nielson 

    This research cohort engages students in a transnational study on government discrimination and responsiveness, offering practical experience in political science research and experimental design. Apprentices will explore topics in democracy and governance, gain skills in data analysis and coding (including R), and contribute to a global investigation of bias in political systems. 

  • Community Oversight and Youth Safety

    Unit: Latino Research Institute (LRI) 
    Faculty Lead: Michael Hames-Garcia 

    This research cohort offers students the opportunity to contribute to two community-based projects: one analyzing interviews on police oversight and the other launching a youth-centered safety study in Austin. Apprentices will gain hands-on experience with qualitative research methods, including transcript coding, study design, and participatory research, while working with confidential data and contributing to publishable research outcomes. 

  • A Database of White Supremacist Medieval Propaganda

    Department: English 
    Faculty Lead: Geraldine Heng   

    This research cohort contributes to a digital humanities project that examines how white supremacist groups misuse medieval literature, art, and culture for modern extremist agendas. Students will engage in both traditional and digital scholarship—learning digital tools like Scalar, conducting source analysis, and helping build a searchable online database—while critically confronting and contextualizing dangerous ideologies through academic research. 

  • Race, Inequality, and Public Policy

    Unit: Institute for Urban Policy Research & Analysis (IUPRA) 
    Faculty Lead: Ted Gordon 

     This research cohort immerses students in social science investigations of race and inequality with direct relevance to public policy. Working within one of IUPRA’s interdisciplinary research teams, apprentices will gain hands-on experience with literature reviews, data collection, and policy analysis, while exploring how research can shape real-world outcomes through legislation, advocacy, and community engagement. 

  • Recovering Ancient and Underrepresented Words and Worlds with Digital Tools

    Unit: Linguistics Research Center
    Faculty Lead: Danny Law 

    This research cohort explores ancient and underrepresented languages by contributing to the development of online lexical databases for Indo-European, Mayan, and Semitic language families. Students will gain experience in historical linguistics, database design, and digital tools such as OpenRefine, Python, and GitHub, while learning how digital infrastructures shape the way language data can be accessed and analyzed by both scholars and the public. 

  • Study of Public History in Texas: What Histories Can Texas Residents Access in Cities Across the State?

    Department: History 
    Faculty Lead: Monica Muñoz Martinez   

    This research cohort investigates the landscape of public history in Texas by analyzing historical markers, monuments, and museums across multiple regions. Students will conduct archival and digital research to assess which histories are accessible or underrepresented in public commemorations. Using tagging systems and mapping tools, the cohort will create visualizations and contribute to a report with findings and recommendations to enhance public engagement with Texas history. 

  • How to Learn Another Language

    Units: Department of Spanish & Portuguese and The Speech Learning Lab 
    Faculty Lead: Charlie Nagle 

    This research cohort investigates how learners perceive and produce sounds in new languages to improve language training. Apprentices will analyze speech data from languages like Spanish, Thai, and Korean, engage with experimental design, and develop skills in acoustic analysis and data processing. 

  • “LLMpathy”: Understanding the Language of Empathy in Humans & AI

    Departments: Psychology and Linguistics 
    Faculty Leads: Desmond Ong & Jessy Li 

    This research cohort explores how empathy is conveyed in human and AI language. Apprentices will engage in creating experimental stimuli, qualitative coding, and cross-disciplinary literature reviews while developing computational skills in R and GitHub. Students will contribute to identifying which empathetic behaviors are most effective in AI and human communication, advancing knowledge in psychology, linguistics, and computational social science. 

  • Mobile Reproductive Health Lab

    Department: Humanities Institute
    Faculty Lead: Samantha Pinto

    This research cohort launches the UT Mobile Reproductive Health Lab, studying access to reproductive health through legal, technological, and cultural lenses. Apprentices will code interviews with Texas healthcare providers and analyze global mobile health apps to identify best practices. Students will gain skills in qualitative coding, legal research, comparative health studies, and cultural analysis, contributing to research papers and public-facing resources for healthcare and legal professionals. 

  • The Policy Agenda in the U.S. Congress

    Department: Government
    Faculty Lead: Sean Theriault

    This research cohort supports the Policy Agendas Project by coding congressional bills by policy topic to track legislative priorities over time. Apprentices will develop expertise in public policy coding through training, independent work, and collaborative reconciliation. Students will gain knowledge of U.S. policy issues and experience with widely-used political science datasets.  

  • Accordion 5
    Panel 5. Add body text in this space.