Residential Research Experiences in Aurora, IL
The Summer Research and Experiential Learning Opportunities (SRELO) available in June 2026 for a two week research experience with IMSA faculty mentors. Accepted students will have the option of participating in the program as a residential student or as a commuter.Thanks to the generous contributions of private and corporate donors, we are offering this opportunity to you at no cost. We require that all students have prior research experience (other research program, research course, participation in an external science fair). Therefore students who have no research experience will be required to complete an asynchronous online Research Fundamentals course that has a fee but the fee will be refunded upon successful completion of the course and the program. In addition a scholarship for the online course will be awarded to students who demonstrate a financial need.
Applications are due by February 20, 2026.
The Molecular Modeling of Materials (Commuter or Residential)
Molecular modeling, or computational chemistry, is a broadly applicable research pursuit without a required association to experiment. Molecular modeling encompasses all theoretical and computational methodologies used to model or mimic the behavior of molecules. Modeling techniques are routinely used in the fields of drug design, computational biology and materials science to investigate the structure, dynamics, surface properties, and thermodynamics of inorganic, biological, and polymeric systems.
Molecular modeling is a predictive technique but most predictions are validated by experiment. On the other hand, experimental data is prone to error and misinterpretation. Molecular modeling provides additional, often not experimentally attainable, data to solve scientific problems more completely and can explain unusual experimental results. The combination of both experimental and computational techniques provide an excellent toolkit to probe the atomic structure and behavior of materials, new and known. In short, experiment tells us what the molecules are doing and modelling helps us understand why.
In this SIR, we will
* Become familiar with molecular modeling programs, databases, and online resources.
* Understand the factors to consider in creating and validating a structural model of a chemical compound.
* Apply Molecular Modeling to predict the physical properties of a chemical compound, e.g., geometric structure, molecular energy, dipole moment, reaction energies, molecular orbital energy differences, etc.
* Compare experimental data with calculational data, e.g., the IR spectrum characterizing the molecular structure, the predicted Heat of Formation (H°f) using an Isodesmic reaction, and the predicted Heat of Reaction (ΔHrxn) for a practical chemical reaction.
* Prepare scientific publications both oral and written.
Prerequisites: Basic chemistry knowlwdge; Algebra level math; Basic use of laptop computer including ability to download software
Category of Study: Chemistry
Organization: IMSA, Aurora Campus
Dates + Times: June 22 - July 3, 2026
Housing/Transportation: Students provide transportation to the IMSA Aurora campus and will receive breakfast and lunch. Residential students will reside in the IMSA residence halls and receive all meals.
Positions Available: 20
Primary Mentor: Dr. Joe Golab, Chemistry faculty
Drug Discovery (Commuter or Residential)
The Drug Discovery research program at IMSA is attempting to discover new medicines for various diseases. Our group collaborates with several academic, industrial, and not-for-profit institutions, both national and international, for discovery and development of new therapies against strategic areas of disease. Drug discovery is the process through which potential new medicines are identified, and involves a wide range of scientific disciplines, including biology, chemistry and pharmacology. Our drug discovery efforts combine lead generation, structure-activity investigations, organic synthesis, biochemical assays, computational methods, and pharmacology. Our strategy is to understand the relationship between the molecule and its biological activity, and our goal is to design unique compounds that have the capacity to combat diseases for a wide range of disorders. A recent area of focus of our research has been on neglected tropical diseases that are mainly prevalent in tropical areas, where they mostly affect impoverished communities and disproportionately affect women and children.
Prerequisites: n/a
Category of Study: Chemistry
Organization: IMSA, Aurora Campus
Dates + Times: June 8 - 18, 2026
Housing/Transportation: Students provide transportation to the IMSA Aurora campus and will receive breakfast and lunch. Residential students will reside in the IMSA residence halls and receive all meals.
Positions Available: 20
Primary Mentor: John Thurmond, Science Faculty
Design and Development of New Games Using Pygame and AI (Commuter or Residential)
Students will design and develop an interesting, imaginative, challenging, and fun game using Pygame. The reason for choosing Pygame is that it is easy to learn and work with. We expect students to know Python and familiarity with Pygame, so that their research time will be spent designing and developing the game. We would like students to investigate whether any AI strategy can be harnessed for their game. Students will give a presentation of their games at the conclusion of their work.
Although, the research work can be done remotely, we recommend that they are on campus, so that they get to know other researchers and get to interact with them.
If students want to use other gaming platforms such as Unity, we would consider that.
Prerequisites: Students need to know Python and familiarity with Pygame.
Category of Study: Computer Science
Organization: IMSA, Aurora Campus
Dates + Times: June 15 - 26, 2026
Housing/Transportation: Students provide transportation to the IMSA Aurora campus and will receive breakfast and lunch. Residential students will reside in the IMSA residence halls and receive all meals.
Positions Available: 20
Primary Mentor: Phadmakar Patankar, Computer Science Faculty
Researching Chinese History with English Language Resources (Commuter or Residential)
This project could involve students working with various English language resources to research some particular themes/events/phenomena in Chinese History. Because of the length of Chinese History (over 3000 years recorded) and the issue of translation and language availability for primary sources, we will be making use of some good English language collections like the Chinese Text Project, Wilson Center Archives, Foreign Broadcast Information Service, British Foreign Office Files for China, and Chinese Historical Newspapers in English. At the end of the project period, students should be able to produce a research paper and report on their selected topics.
Prerequisites: Access to IMSA IRC databases/collections, powerpoint or some similar slide presentation program, writing in word processor, willingness to read large amounts of texts (probably about the equivalent of ~80 pages per day of the project period), flexibility with changing topics depending of resource availability. Not required, but video editing, filming, audio editing, map making, and ability to generate charts of data for statistical purposes will be a strong plus to have for creating presentations.
Category of Study: History
Organization: IMSA, Aurora Campus
Dates + Times: June 15 - 26, 2026
Housing/Transportation: Students provide transportation to the IMSA Aurora campus and will receive breakfast and lunch. Residential students will reside in the IMSA residence halls and receive all meals.
Positions Available: 20
Primary Mentor: Dr. Patrick Buck, History Faculty
