Undergraduate Research Opportunities
Thank You for Your Interest
This page is for current Purdue undergraduate students who are interested in research opportunities with our group. If you are not currently enrolled at Purdue, you are welcome to explore the information on this page, but unfortunately, we are unable to collaborate remotely.
Expected Prior Experience
Many talented undergraduates are exceptionally well-qualified to contribute to research opportunities at Purdue. Typically, we recommend that students be juniors or seniors who have completed several 300- or 400-level courses. First-year students are encouraged to strengthen their background through advanced coursework before applying unless they have exceptional prior experience. We generally recommend some (not necessarily all) of the following before seeking research opportunities with us:
- Take ECE 362 (Microprocessor Systems and Interfacing) or have equivalent experience/knowledge
- Take ECE 337 (ASIC Design Laboratory) or have equivalent experience/knowledge
- Have some machine learning project experience
- Be proficient in C, Python, or Verilog
You do not need to check every box to get involved. If any of the projects below align with your interests and experience, please contact Prof. Kim.
Not ready to join right away? We would still love to talk about your interests, background, and goals. Please do not hesitate to reach out to Prof. Kim.
Projects for Undergraduate Students
We invite undergraduate students to explore the following list of potential research projects. This list is updated periodically (last updated: Fall 2025). Interested students are encouraged to reach out to Prof. Kim. You may also propose a new project or inquire about other available opportunities. However, students expressing interest in the projects listed below will be given priority.
- Improving the MmCows Dataset and Benchmarks: We recently published the MmCows dataset, which contains multi-modal data (vision, IMU, UWB, temperature, etc.) for dairy cow monitoring. The dataset includes YOLOv8-based object detection and EfficientNet-B0-based cow identification and behavior classification. Please refer to our NeurIPS paper and supplemental material. Potential projects include: (1) improving vision models for identification, classification, and tracking, (2) generating 3D models to augment the dataset, (3) enhancing accuracy and energy efficiency of UWB-based localization, and (4) porting ML models onto wearable devices.
Funding Opportunities for Undergraduate Students
Undergraduate research positions are typically unpaid; however, Purdue students may apply for the following funding opportunities. Students who pursue these opportunities will receive priority consideration.
- Purdue Office of Undergraduate Research Scholarships and Grants
- Purdue Engineering Undergraduate Research Opportunities
- NSF Athena AI Institute Summer Research Opportunities
Expectations of Participating Undergraduate Students
Participating undergraduate students are expected to:
- Spend at least 8 hours per week on the project on average, with reasonable variation across weeks depending on coursework
- Meet with Prof. Kim or the collaborating graduate student weekly or bi-weekly to report progress and discuss next steps
- Present their work at the Lab Workshop at the end of the semester (spring or fall)
Students who are interested in presenting at the Undergraduate Research Conference and/or publishing in the Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research will be given priority consideration.
How to Apply
Email Prof. Kim with (1) a brief description of your research interests, (2) transcripts, and (3) a CV/resume (if available). Include “NEISUG” in the subject line to indicate you have read this page.
Embedded Systems at Purdue (ES@P) Student Club
Prof. Kim serves as the faculty advisor for the student organization Embedded Systems at Purdue (ES@P). The club meets weekly to work on a variety of embedded software and hardware projects, applying embedded systems concepts using microcontrollers, FPGAs, and modern development tools. Members also organize workshops on embedded software, hardware, and career opportunities in the embedded systems field. Reach out to the club if you are interested in student-driven projects.
Design Contests
There are many embedded system design contests available for undergraduate students. If you are interested in participating or need a faculty advisor, please contact Prof. Kim. Below are several examples (note that some links may be outdated; please verify the latest information):
- Spark Challenge: Purdue ECE student design projects
- AMD Open Hardware Competition: FPGA- and GPU-based design projects
- Arm AI Developer Challenge: Arm-based AI projects
- Low Power Computer Vision Challenge: Low-power AI projects
- NXP MCU Design Contest: NXP MCU-based design projects
- NXP Cup: Autonomous model car racing
- National Instruments Global Student Design Showcase: NI LabVIEW design projects
- Microchip Configurable Logic Design Challenge: CLB design projects
- PCBWay Project Design Contest: PCB-based electronic/mechanical/AIoT design projects
- Solid State Circuits Society Arduino Contest: Arduino-based design projects
- STM32 Edge AI Contest: STM32-based AI projects
Design Contests at Research Conferences
Many research conferences host co-located design contests for undergraduate students. Here are several examples (please check out the latest events):
- Asia and South Pacific Design Automation Conference (ASP-DAC)
- Global Health Technologies Design Competition
- Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI)
- Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing (UbiComp)
- Design Automation Conference (DAC)
- International Conference on Field Programmable Technology (FPT)
- International Symposium on Low Power Electronics and Design (ISLPED)