College of Computing

SURE: Summer Undergraduate Research Experience

Spend the summer with a computer science or applied mathematics research team in a College of Computing Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) program.

Illinois Tech will host the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) 2025 from June 2 to August 8, 2025. This program offers immersive, hands-on research opportunities that allow participants to explore exciting data science and computational mathematics topics.

About SURE 2025

APPLY

At SURE, we bring the classroom to life by offerings.  Dive into real-world research experience that address today’s most pressing data science and computational mathematics challenges. Guided by Illinois Tech’s distinguished faculty and graduate mentors, SURE students will build technical skills and learn to think    critically, gaining first-hand insight into academic research. 

Program Benefits

Stipend and Free Housing: SURE candidates receive a weekly stipend of $550 for ten weeks, plus free housing on campus. This financial support allows them to focus on research and fully engage in the SURE experience without worrying about additional expenses.

  • Cutting-Edge Research Projects: Work on impactful projects in machine learning, data analytics, computational modeling, and more. Each project is designed to challenge and equip with highly valued skills in today’s job market.
  • Collaboration and Teamwork: Join a dynamic community of peers, graduate students, and faculty, working as part of a research team emphasizing cooperation and mutual growth. This experience fosters teamwork and communication skills essential for success in any career.
  • Professional Development: From technical workshops to mentorship sessions, SURE provides a well-rounded experience, helping students navigate the complexities of research, understand research ethics, and gain exposure to potential career paths in STEM.

Eligibility and Requirements

SURE 2025 is designed for undergraduate students with a foundational background in mathematics,         including calculus, differential equations, linear algebra, and some programming skills. Currently, we can only accept applications from U.S. citizens and permanent residents.

How to Apply

Are you ready to embark on a summer of discovery, innovation, and growth? Visit our application page to learn more about eligibility requirements and deadlines. You must submit your academic transcripts, essays regarding the program, and a letter of recommendation to apply. The reference letter should address your potential for conducting research and highlight your strengths and areas for growth. All applications        received by January 31, 2025, will be fully considered. Applications will be accepted until the positions are filled.

APPLY

Project Information

More detailed project information will be released soon, offering prospective students insight into the exciting research areas they’ll explore over the summer.

Supporting Diversity in STEM

SURE 2025 is committed to creating a welcoming, inclusive environment by actively recruiting students from underrepresented groups. Diverse perspectives drive innovation and aim to empower students from all backgrounds to make meaningful contributions to their fields and communities.

Join us at Illinois Tech’s SURE 2025 and discover what it takes to be a researcher, problem-solver, and collaborator. Whether aspiring to a research career or simply wanting to expand your understanding of data science and computational mathematics, SURE offers an unparalleled experience.

If you have any questions regarding the program, please contact us at yding2@iit.edu.

We welcome you to Illinois Tech’s vibrant research community this summer!

Program Funding

The SURE program gratefully acknowledges the funding provided by the National Science Foundation, whose support makes this opportunity possible for students to pursue cutting-edge research and development. 

National Science Foundation Logo

Summer 2024 projects

Topic: Speedier Simulations

Advisers: Fred Hickernell

Description: Monte Carlo methods are used to solve problems involving uncertainty, such as financial risk and geophysical problems whose parameters are not known precisely. The speedy simulations research group develops and implements algorithms in an open source Python package, called QMCPy that speeds up Monte Carlo simulations. Students will contribute to QMCPy by exploring new use cases, by implementing new algorithms, and/or by improving performance through parallel processing. By joining the speedy simulations research group, students will experience teamwork, learn to identify and solve research problems, follow good practices in technical software development, and hone their communication skills. A background in statistics and Python (or other language) programming will be an advantage.

Topic: Baseball Game Simulation

This is a collaborative project with the Chicago White Sox.

Advisers: Matt Koenig and Yuhan Ding

Descriptions: Take in two rosters, starting lineups, statistical data, and the rules of a baseball game to create a game simulator to predict the final score and statistics of a game. This simulator will simulate each at bat of a game using the present situation, players, and rules to predict the outcome. This tool could be used to test out the performance of different lineups, predict a season, or to predict a certain outcome.

      

SURE Baseball Game Simulation

Topic: Machine Learning for Traffic Accident Prediction

Advisers: Huiling Liao

Descriptions: Controlling traffic accidents is an important public safety challenge, therefore, accident prediction has been a topic of much research. With a large-scale but sparse publicly available dataset including a variety of data attributes such as traffic events and weather data, we try to tackle the traffic accident prediction through modeling the nonlinear evolution of spatio-temporal patterns. In this study, students will work together, starting from identifying research problems to coming up with a solution, to explore different spatio-temporal models and also learn to model the patterns and predict the occurrence and severity of accidents with the proper machine learning tools.

Summer 2024 Schedule

 DateTimeEventLocationSpeaker DateTime
Week 15/2810:00-12:00 pmOrientation/Kickoff MeetingPS 111 Week 15/2810:00-12:00 pm
12:00 - 2:00 pmKickoff LunchRE Atrium 12:00 - 2:00 pm
2:00 - 3:00 pmIIT Tour/HR Office VisitPS 111 2:00 - 3:00 pm
5/2910:00-12:00 pmResearch IntegrityPS 111Charles W. Uth5/2910:00-12:00 pm
5/3010:00-12:00 pmIndividualizing Biomechanical Models – How the White Sox Tune Their Biomechanics Models to Individual Player TraitsPS 111Matthew Koenig5/3010:00-12:00 pm
5/31 Project Selection/Group Meeting with Advisors Group Meetings5/31 
Week 26/310:00-12:00 pmReproducible Computational Research using Git, GitHub, and Generative-AI ToolsPS 111Sou-Cheng ChoiWeek 26/310:00-12:00 pm
6/410:00- 12:00 pmHow to Conduct ResearchPS 111Ming Zhong6/410:00- 12:00 pm
6/510:00-12:00 pmIntro to PythonPS 111Larysa Matiukha6/510:00-12:00 pm
6/610:00-12:00 pmIntro to Machine LearningPS 111Gael Dimitri Tekam Fongouo6/610:00-12:00 pm
6/710:00-12:00 pmLatex TutorialPS 111Yuanxing Cheng6/710:00-12:00 pm
Week 36/1410:00-11:30 amWeekly Report/PresentationPS 111SURE Fellows (15-20 minutes/group)Week 36/1410:00-11:30 am
Week 46/19 Juneteenth Day—No Classes  Week 46/19 
6/2110:00-11:30 amResearch Experience SharingOnlineEmily Willis6/2110:00-11:30 am
Week 46/19 Juneteenth Day—No Classes  Week 46/19 
6/2110:00-11:30 amResearch Experience SharingOnlineEmily Willis6/2110:00-11:30 am
Week 56/2410:00-1:00 pmSAMPSCI 2024 WorkshopZoom MeetingOptionalWeek 56/2410:00-1:00 pm
6/2510:00-1:00 pmSAMPSCI 2024 WorkshopZoom MeetingOptional6/2510:00-1:00 pm
6/2810:00-11:30 pmMidterm PresentationPS 111SURE Fellows (25 minutes/group)6/2810:00-11:30 pm
Week 67/110:00-11:00 amResearch Experience Sharing at National LabsOnlineAleksei SorokinWeek 67/110:00-11:00 am
7/4-7/5 Independence Day—No Classes   7/4-7/5 Independence Day—No Classes
Week 77/1210:00-12:00 pmWeekly Report/PresentationPS 111SURE Fellows (20-30 minutes/group)Week 77/1210:00-12:00 pm
Week 87/1910:00-11:00 pmCareer Experience SharingPS 111Anita ThomasWeek 87/1910:00-11:00 pm
Week 97/239:30-11:30 amField Trip Argonne National LabMarta GarciaWeek 97/239:30-11:30 am
 7/2510:00-12:00 pmCareer Exploration and Self-Assessments, with Q&APS 121Bernie Floresca 7/2510:00-12:00 pm
 7/2610:00-12:00 pmResume Writing/Cover Letter Prep/LinkedIn with Q&APS 111Bernie Floresca 7/2610:00-12:00 pm
 7/265:00-10:00 pmBaseball NightGuaranteed Rate Field  7/265:00-10:00 pm
Week 107/3010:00-11:30 amSAS Academic Resources, Demo & Applied Use CaseRE 258Tom GrantWeek 107/3010:00-11:30 am
  3:00-4:00 pmGraduate Study Application WorkshopRE 258Dr. Igor Cialenco  3:00-4:00 pm
 8/210:00-11:45 amFinal PresentationPS 111SURE Fellows (25 minutes/group) 8/210:00-11:45 am
  11:45-1:30 pmReception/Poster PresentationRE AtriumSURE Fellows  11:45-1:30 pm
SURE Speedier Simulations Team
SURE Baseball Game Simulation Team
Machine Learning for Traffic Accident Prediction Team

College of Computing

10 West 35th Street | 14th Floor | Chicago, IL | 60616
312.567.3800