About IURA:

Illinois Undergraduate Research Ambassadors (IURAs) are a collaborative cohort of accomplished and experienced students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

IURAs help to promote undergraduate research at the U of I and help the Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) develop and maintain student-focused programs that represent the U of I’s diverse array of disciplines. As representatives of OUR, IURAs will be responsible for promoting undergraduate research to peers by holding informational workshops on undergraduate research, serving as a liaison between OUR and academic departments, and being knowledgeable about the resources that the U of I offers its undergraduate students interested in research and creative inquiry.

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Curtis Althaus


Major: Chemistry and Astrophysics

Experimental Battery Research through Electroanalytical Chemistry

Curtis will hold meetings in August

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Sharanya Bhardwaj


Major: Information Sciences

Affordable and Personalized Machine Learning Through Distillation

Sharanya will hold meetings in August

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Kaitlyn Ho


Major: Mathematics / Minor: Secondary Education

Professional and student development in math classes

Kaitlyn is graduating! Congratulations, Kaitlyn!

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Husna Hussaini


Major: Sociology

Human Factors Research to Create Innovative Health Technology for Aging Populations

Husna is graduating! Congratulations, Husna!

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Erica Joo


Major: Molecular & Cellular Biology Honors / Minor: Journalism

Molecular mechanisms of meiotic checkpoint pathways in mammals

Erica is graduating! Congratulations, Erica!

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Mit Kotak


Major: Engineering Physics / Minor: Statistics and Computational Science & Engineering

Scientific Simulation using Supercomputers and Machine Learning Applications to Student Success Data

Mit is graduating! Congratulations, Mit!

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Kira Martin


Major: Materials Science & Engineering

High-power impulse magnetron sputtering

Kira will hold meetings in August

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Anwesha Mishra


Major: Computer Science + Economics

Using NLP, AI, and Data Parsing to Create an Interactive bot for Patients

Anwesha will hold meetings in August

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Holly Panfil


Major: Speech & Hearing Sciences / Minor: Spanish

Aging and cognition of individuals with mild cognitive impairment

Holly will hold meetings in August

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Emma Prybylski


Major: Animal Sciences

Impact of Cecal Starch Infusion on Rumen in vitro Digestibility

Emma will hold meetings in August

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Rachel Selvaraj


Majors: Mathematics & Statistics

Neuroscientific Electrogram Analysis of Children for Prenatal Depression in Mothers

Rachel will hold meetings in August

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Vani Sharma


Major: Molecular & Cellular Biology / Minor: Public Health

Examining fall prevention methods in older adults with neurological disorders

Vani will hold meetings in August

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Tyler Swanson


Major: Agricultural & Consumer Economics

Impacts of Renewable Energy Policy on Energy Generation Outcomes

Tyler is graduating! Congratulations, Tyler!

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Anna Tsyrulnikov


Majors: Molecular & Cellular Biology and Psychology

Behavioral effects of repeated exposure to psychoactive drugs

Anna is graduating, Congratulations Anna!

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Jingyi Xiang


Major: Electrical Engineering

Perceiving and Tracking Deformable Linear Objects from RGB-D Camera Streams

Jingyi will hold meetings in August