UNMC Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) Opportunities at MMI
The MMI SURP provides undergraduate students with an immersive summer research experience in one of MMI’s clinical research labs. Students obtain first-hand experience by becoming part of the research team and having a dedicated mentor. MMI also provides accepted students with professional development opportunities, weekly educational activities at MMI and several team-building activities across the summer. All positions include a $6,000 stipend for the summer.
Summer 2022 MMI SURP students - from left: Toluwa Davies, Maggie Kramer, Jessica Stump, Katelyn Malick, Carter Welch, and Chethana Deeduvanu.
Application Details
We are looking for applicants with diverse backgrounds, experiences and interests who want to be part of an inclusive and cooperative research environment.
Application deadline: February 1, 2024, at 11:59 p.m. CST
Required documents:- Resume
- Personal Statement
- Unofficial Transcript
- Two letters of recommendation
- Secondary Essays — due February 16, 2024
- Essay prompts will be sent out after the application deadline.
- Interview (Zoom or in-person)
- Invites will be sent after secondary essays are completed.
Why MMI?
Learn More and Apply
Take the next step today!- Visit UNMC Division of Student Success online.
Contact Us
Katelyn Kelley | Send email
MMI SURP Coordinator
Research Opportunities | Summer 2024
Blackford Lab
- Research Program: Emotional Neuroscience Research Lab
- Project Lead: Dr. Blackford
- Project Description: The Emotional Neuroscience Lab (Blackford Lab) focuses on anxiety and how it relates to an extension of the amygdala, the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST). The SURP summer intern will be helping with neuroimaging studies involving adults with an alcohol use disorder or adolescents with autism. Additionally, students can participate in analyzing data from studies of anxiety or alcohol use disorder.
Play Lab
- Department: Physical Therapy
- Project Lead: Dr. Cunha
- Project Description: The Play lab focuses on designing and testing play-based interventions and technologies to improve function, activity and participation in children with motor delays. The SURP summer intern will help with understanding and implementing the use of modified ride-on toy cars in children’s environment.
Virtual Reality Lab (VR) / Biomechanics Lab
- Department: Physical Therapy
- Project Lead: Dr. Gehringer
- Project Description: The physical therapy department uses the Virtual Reality Lab to create games and simulators to help people with disabilities either practice real world skills or gamify PT activities. The SURP summer intern will help with developing and implementing the virtual reality programs.
Autism Care for Toddlers (ACT) Clinics
- Department: integrated Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders (iCASD)
- Project Lead: Dr. Halbur and Dr. Carroll
- Project Description: The Autism Care for Toddlers (ACT) Clinics are community outreach programs. The clinics provide early intervention services using applied behavior analysis (ABA) to children 2 to 6 years old. The research team investigates components of early behavioral intervention and treatment team member (i.e., caregiver, staff) involvement in behavior analytic service delivery. The SURP summer intern will assist with ongoing projects including data collection, graphing and analyzing data and preparing for sessions.
Building Relationships in Dyad and Group Environments (BRIDGE)
- Department: integrated Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders (iCASD)
- Project Lead: Dr. Connolly
- Project Description: The iCASD Building Relationships in Dyad and Group Environments (BRIDGE) Program offers specially designed small group intervention for children with autism aimed at promoting skills necessary for positive peer interactions and social play, social communication skills, and classroom readiness. The SURP summer intern will receive training and mentorship from a clinical psychologist in applied research opportunities to evaluate the effectiveness of group-based behavior analytic interventions.
Early Intervention
- Department: integrated Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders (iCASD)
- Project Lead: Dr. Rey
- Project Description: iCASD provides comprehensive treatment services for children with autism spectrum disorder. The SURP summer intern will help Dr. Rey with evaluating the effectiveness of efficiency of interventions for teaching children with autism.
Autism Diagnostic Clinic
- Department: integrated Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders (iCASD)
- Project Leads: Dr. Shillingsburg, Dr. Zematic, Dr. Courson
- Project Description: Students will assist with an FDA clinical trial evaluating the use of an eye-tracking device to diagnose autism spectrum disorder in young children. Roles will primarily involve supporting the consenting process, as well as data checking and entry. We have some additional projects that may be in data collection at this time, including a collaborative study evaluating the use of a haircutting simulator to increase tolerance for receiving haircuts in real life. Students will get to attend research meetings and get more in-depth exposure to research in clinical settings.
Pediatric Feeding Disorders
- Department: Pediatric Feeding Disorders
- Project Leads: Dr. Phipps
- Project Description: The Pediatric Feeding department teaches young children with medical and developmental challenges how to eat. Our team has been collecting data on treatment outcomes. The SURP summer intern will work with this team to organize and analyze our treatment outcome data in order to determine how best to help our patients.
Severe Behavior
- Department: Severe Behavior
- Project Leads: Dr. Fahmie
- Project Description: The severe behavior department is recruiting an undergraduate student to assist on several ongoing studies related to the assessment and treatment of severe challenging behavior in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. The research assistant will gain hands-on and supervised experience conducting literature reviews, collecting real-time and retrospective behavioral data, making graphs, analyzing data, and participating in a weekly research lab meeting.
Speech-Language Pathology
- Department: Speech-Language Pathology
- Project Leads: Dr. Gormley
- Project Description: In the speech-language pathology department, the SURP student will assist with several ongoing studies related to the development and evaluation of augmentative and alternative (AAC) tools and trainings for children and adults who have limited speech. Studies include investigating the effects of "just-in-time" AAC trainings on parent and healthcare provider communication skills while interacting with people with limited speech. The student will gain hands-on and supervised experiences with data collection and analysis in clinical environments such as outpatient and inpatient hospital settings.