Explore Teams

Below you will find all VIP teams in alphabetical order. You can search here for a particular team of interest, a team led by a particular faculty member, or simply explore all teams.

Use the filters on the left to select your particular area(s) of interest for research, design or inquiry. NOTE: If you select more that one checkbox, you will only see teams where both categories apply. For example, if you select Humanities and Science, there may be 0 teams that are tagged with both of those categories.

Filters can also be used to see if the team is accepting new students (recommended default = checked), and if the team is a new team in the upcoming semester.

StellarScape

StellarScape is a multimedia project at the University of Arizona, merging music, science, visual art, and technology to create an immersive experience. Led by Yuanyuan (Kay) He, DMA, Chris Impey, PhD, Winslow Burleson, PhD, Hayley Meier, MFA, Gustavo Almeida, PhD, and Peter A. Torpey, PhD.

The Medical Sociology Shop

The Medical Sociology Shop VIP team investigates the adoption and impact of surgical robotics on medical practice, exploring social conditions, patterns, and consequences of adoption. Led by Daniel Menchik, PhD.

Transformative AI for Residential and Transportation Safety

The Transformative AI for Residential and Transportation Safety VIP team aims to develop behavioral interaction systems to enhance vehicle safety and smart-home environments. After understanding behavior, the team may move on to identify safety issues, develop software or hardware to address these issues, and collaborate with insurance experts to understand the practical applications of team-developed solutions. Led by Winslow Burleson, PhD.

Tree-Rings, Forests, and the Climate Crisis

The Tree-Rings, Forests, and the Climate Crisis VIP team aims to quantify and better predict the feedback between forests and climate. They work toward this by creating and analyzing a spatial network of tree-ring data, and integrating that dataset with forest inventory data to advance the science underlying nature-based climate solutions (NbCS). Led by Margaret E.K. Evans, PhD.

Tucson Bee Collaborative

The Tucson Bee Collaborative VIP team works to increase knowledge, awareness, and conservation of native bees throughout the Sonoran Desert region. The team documents the morphological and genetic diversity of our region's native pollinators by 1) building a specimen collection, and producing and publishing both 2) high-resolution photographs of bees, and 3) DNA sequences from standardized regions of their genomes. Led by Wendy Moore, PhD; Kimberly Franklin, PhD; Jennifer Katcher, MS; Gene Hall, MSc; and Kathryn Thomas, PhD.

UA Holodeck: Human-Centered Computing and Design Thinking

The UA Holodeck VIP team aims to accelerate the convergence of science and innovation through work in an immersive virtual/physical research environment, the Experiential Supercomputing facility. Using human-centered design and design thinking, this team investigates issues related to health, engineering, and grand challenges known as "wicked problems." Led by Winslow Burleson, PhD.

Understanding Trauma Patient Health Literacy and Patient Discharge

The Understanding Trauma Patient Health Literacy and Patient Discharge VIP team aims to investigate the factors influencing patient attitudes and behaviors regarding the discharge summaries they receive when leaving the hospital. In addition, the team examines the impact of these factors on use of discharge summaries, and ultimately on patient health outcomes following discharge from the hospital. Led by Tawab Saljuqi, MD, DrPH.

This team is currently full for Spring 2025.

Water Whys

The Water Whys VIP team focuses on developing scientifically accurate and accessible graphical explanations of water-related topics to aid public understanding. VIP students work collaboratively with faculty/staff with expertise in hydrology, meteorology, graphic design, and journalism to learn what it takes to make scientifically accurate, visually effective and accessible communication graphics geared toward a diverse and multi-lingual public. Led by Laura Condon, PhD, Sara Kobilka, MS, Megan Roxbury, Ryan Hunt, and Garry Forger.