The UPERSS program provides opportunities for undergraduate Social Sciences students to work closely with faculty (or an advanced graduate student) to do research, creative work, or a community-based project.
How UPERSS Works
Students enroll in SS 3090 Exploring Undergrad Research in Social Sciences for between 1-3 credits. Students earn 1 unit of academic credit for every 3 hours worked per week (limited to a total of 3 credits per semester). UPERSS is open to all Social Sciences undergraduate majors who have a GPA of 2.5 or higher. Still, in order to be placed on a project, students must apply and be accepted by the respective faculty mentor.
UPERSS students share an overview of their research experiences at the annual Social Sciences Undergraduate Research Symposium (date TBD). Alternatively, students can fulfill this requirement by creating a well-developed poster, website, or visual representation of the project, or sharing a 4-5 minute recorded presentation of the project. Other options, such as co-authoring an article in a journal, presenting to a class, or presenting at a conference could also work. All decisions on this requirement should be made with the faculty mentor.
Learning Objectives
- Communicate effectively through writing, speech, and visual information
- Develop critical thinking skills
- Develop teamwork and accountability skills
- Practice presenting results and conclusions of the research
Getting Started
The first step is to review the project descriptions below and weigh decisions on time commitments and how well the opportunities match your interests. You might also approach a faculty member you know is doing research that interests you, even if they don't have a project listed here, to inquire whether they would be open to doing a UPERSS project with you. You're encouraged to reach out to mentors for any projects that you are interested in to learn more.
Application Process
To ensure consideration, the application deadline for Spring 2026 courses is Friday, November 14, 2025.
Applications should be emailed directly to the faculty mentor. They should include: Resume and a Cover Letter. Letter should be a professionally-written statement that includes: academic, personal, and/or career interests, any research experiences or courses to date; and how participation in this UPERSS project aligns with interests and goals.
The faculty mentor will review and contact you. They may wish to schedule an interview. If you are accepted/approved, your faculty mentor will contact the Social Sciences administrator to sign you up for the course.
Spring 2026 Projects
Currently available projects and faculty mentor—scroll down for full descriptions
- Treasure in trash? Aluminum, landfills, and communities in America (Robins)
- 3D Modeling of Antique Scientific Instruments (Walton)
- From the Ground Farmers Market Collective Oral History Project (Carter)
- Remembering Michigan Tech Student Boarding Houses in Houghton through the Years (S. Scarlett)
- Historic Cemeteries: Mapping, Management, and Memory (T. Scarlett)
Research Project Descriptions
Treasure in the trash? Aluminum, landfills, and communities in America (Spring 2026)
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jonathan Robins
Project Description
This project is part of a Department of Energy-sponsored investigation of the feasibility
of recovering aluminum through landfill mining(https://www.netl.doe.
Potential Benefits
-
Learn how to identify, access, and interpret records from business, government, and other sources
- Practice communication and collaboration skills with an interdisciplinary team
- Contribute to published research
- Further opportunities with MTU Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship, Senior Capstone Projects or Senior Design Team, and paid summer research positions.
Student Time and Commitment
- Option to take for 1-3 credits, with hours corresponding 3-9 hours/week
Contact
Jonathan Robins
- Associate Professor of History
- jrobins@mtu.edu
- 906-487-3080
3D Modeling of Antique Scientific Instruments (Spring 2026)
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Steven Walton
Project Description
A mid-18th century inventor left four diagrams for a navigational instrument he called the "Plato(s)meter," but they have lost their full descriptions. We can understand them more effectively if we can build a replica, and today that means modeling it in 3D software and then 3D printing it to figure out exactly how it works. This UPERSS seeks a student reasonably conversant in some form of 3D modeling software (probably Fusion 360˚, but please help me know what would be best for this!) to take these four drawings, the limited textual description that accompanies them, and build the Platosmeter in digital space. We'll then print and assemble it and learn about how to navigate like it was 1760 (or at least how one inventor thought it could be done!).
Benefits to students
- Use digital tools to answer real historical research question.
- Develop your 3D modeling software skills
- Develop your visual interpretation skills with haptic and intellectual validation considerations
- Be included as an author on a peer-reviewed article
Credits and Time Commitment
-
1cr.; 1 hour per week meeting + 2-3 hours work; 1 hr. weekly meeting
Contact
Steven Walton
- Associate Professor of History
- sawalton@mtu.edu
- 906-487-3272
From the Ground Farmers Market Collective Oral History Project (Spring 2026)
Faculty Mentor: Angie Carter
Project Description
This UPERSS project will collaborate with the From the Ground Farmers Market Collective
(From the Ground), a 501c3 non-profit organization that coordinates the Calumet, Hancock,
and Houghton Farmers Markets. From the Ground’s mission is “ to engage the community
in educational programs and events that teach and encourage people to grow, eat, preserve
and
enjoy seasonal whole foods in ways that promote health and nutrition, environmental
stewardship, food sovereignty, and local economy.” From the Ground has requested this
oral history project to document the intentional grassroots- and community-led efforts
that created this innovative farmers market collective. You will continue work started
by the Fall 2024
Communities and Research class, conducting 4-6 oral histories with the founders of
From the Ground, coding analyzing these oral histories to identify key takeaways of
the market collective’s evolutions and organization, and then collaborate with From
the Ground, the University Archivist and local history museum to share these oral
histories and their key
takeaways with the public.
Project Benefits
● Gain CITI human subjects in research training if you do not have this completed
already;
● Gain experience in conducting qualitative research, specifically, oral histories;
● Gain experience in qualitative coding and analysis;
● Gain experience in public science through collaboration with Michigan Tech University
Archives and the Carnegie Museum in coordinating the sharing of the oral histories;
● Contribute to increasing recognition of grassroots- and community-led infrastructure
that
contributes to regional ecological, economic, and social health
Credits and Time Commitment
● Option to take for 1-3 credits, with hours corresponding 3-9 hours/week
● Regularly scheduled meetings with Dr. Carter around your schedule
● Travel and meeting with local farmers to conduct oral histories and local history
museum
director in and around Houghton/Calumet
Dependent upon agency availability
Angie Carter (she/her)
- Associate Professor, Environmental/Energy Justice
- ancarter@mtu.edu
- 906-487-1431
Remembering Michigan Tech Student Boarding Houses in Houghton through the Years (Spring 2026)
Faculty Mentor: Sarah Scarlett and Elise Nelson, Director of the Carnegie Museum of the Keweenaw (Houghton)
Work with Prof Sarah Scarlett and Director of the Carnegie Museum of the Keweenaw, Elise Nelson, to contribute to ongoing research and museum exhibition development related to student boarding-houses through the years in Houghton. Michigan Tech was founded in 1885 but didn’t build its first dormitory, Douglass Houghton Hall, until 1938. Where did all those students live? Mostly in Houghton’s neighborhoods in many of the same houses students have occupied for decades. Today, students and Houghton residents alike are clamoring for comfortable and affordable housing, putting increasing pressure on aging buildings and infrastructure. This project will document the spaces and stories of Michigan Tech boarding house experiences through the years, develop a public exhibition for sharing these histories, and investigate the politics of economic, cultural, and environmental sustainability with respect to historic preservation.
Potential Benefits
Learn more about the field of public history, museum practice, methods of historical analysis, and community-driven history projects. Experiences could include any of the following, depending on student interest and timing : -- Archival research and historical evidence analysis -- Built environment documentation and analysis -- Storyboarding for exhibition development -- Writing exhibition text for public audiences -- Organizing community story-telling events -- Docent duties at the Carnegie Museum -- Communicating with the Houghton city planning commission.
Credits and Time Commitment
1-3 credits (3 to 9 hours per week)
Sarah Scarlett
- Associate Professor of History
- sfscarle@mtu.edu
- 906-487-2110
Historic Cemeteries: Mapping, Management, and Memory (Spring 2026)
Faculty Mentor: Tim Scarlett
Help Copper Country community organizations with their legacy cemeteries. Community organizations have asked us to help with mapping and remote sensing, geospatial visualization, planning for sustainable management, enhanced protection, and potential public interpretation of neglected cemeteries. During the Spring term, communities may ask students to focus on geospatial tools, archival, and oral history research connected with digitalization initiatives. In the Fall and Summer terms, students might also use GPR and other remote sensing or mapping technologies, along with other field-based techniques. Each project helps digitize inventories of burial grounds and build management tools. Through a review of published literature on cemetery archaeology and management, provide recommendations on best practices for community organizations and municipalities for a problem facing many rural towns in the United States. Help to build connections between the cemetery inventory and online geospatial research tools, like FindAGrave.com and Ancestry.com, with an eye to building a robust management tool, facilitating heritage building/place making among local and the online communities of the “Copper Country Diaspora,” creating useful interpretive material, and enhancing heritage tourism development in these communities.
Potential Benefits
Student team members can choose which parts of the project to undertake, so commitments of time and tasks can vary. Projects will dovetail with other student classes, individual skill learning choices, and career plans. They may therefore place more emphasis on remote sensing and geospatial technologies; community-engaged or collaborative study; development of web resources, tools, or data structures; archival and/or oral history work; or heritage tourism, policy and management planning, or educational program development.
Credits and Time Commitment
Option to take for 1-3 credits, with hours corresponding 3-9 hours/week
Timothy Scarlett
- Associate Professor of Archaeology and Anthropology
- Co-Director, Keweenaw Energy Transitions Lab
- scarlett@mtu.edu
- 906-487-2359
Program Contact
Kari Henquinet
- Teaching Professor, Social Sciences Undergraduate Studies Director
- Peace Corps Prep Program Director
- Sustainability Science and Society Program Advisor
- kbhenqui@mtu.edu
- 906-487-2116