The Berkeley Center for New Media is pleased to announce two undergraduate research fellowships are open for application for spring 2025! Selected students will have the opportunity to work closely with new media graduate students on dissertation-level research. Each fellowship comes with a stipend of $1,000.
If you are interested in multiple projects, please submit separate applications for each project.
Applications are now open. Applications will next be due March 1, 2025. Apply here!
Projects for Undergraduate Research Assistance Spring 2025
Visualizing Crypto-Economic/Ecologic Networks
This research project focuses on “prospecting” from gold mining to crypto mining, in continued legacies of extraction, and reanimation of ruins/ruination. Using a relational geographies approach, the project researches the production of techno-natures from rural agricultural and wetland ecologies from Silicon Valley, the Caribbean, and the Rust Belt where proposed crypto-cities and crypto-mines inhabit post-industrial “ruins” and “wastelands” of prior manufacturing sites, coal power plants, and more, building on legacies of indigenous dispossession.
One key element of this project is studying blockchain-based housing financialization and digital platforms in Detroit and other Rust Belt sites. The undergraduate researcher should be experienced in webscraping and/or geocoding, or have some interest in online data collection and/or GIS and cartographic representation. Other tasks may include transcription of online videos and discourse analysis.
Designing Embodied Game Experiences for Learning Local Ecological Knowledge
How might we foster participants' understanding of local ecological knowledge through the design of embodied, playful interactive experiences? How might we encourage participants' appreciation of Native Land by creating new types of narratives and game rules? How might we engage diverse participants—such as families with children of different ages, individuals with varying mobility levels, and people from different cultural backgrounds—in learning about the human relationship with native plants and animals through playing? The researcher is developing interactive installation prototypes to support learning about local ecological knowledge in informal learning spaces. At present, they have low-fidelity prototypes and are seeking assistance in further developing them into higher-fidelity prototypes (both look-like and partially work-like) for initial user testing and evaluation in May 2025. They are looking for an undergraduate research assistant who is passionate about design and development of interactive installation prototypes. During this process, the student will also gain knowledge about local ecology and user experience design.
Desired skills for undergraduate research assistant:
1. Game developer familiar with Unity.
2. Creative coder with experience in p5.js, Scratch, or equivalent tools.
3. Graphic designer skilled in sketching and familiar with graphic design software or generative AI tools.
4. Digital 3D model designer experienced in 3D modeling and 3D scanning.
5. Physical model designer experienced in building full-scale low-fidelity prototypes, such as a tree or a boat.
In the application, please indicate which of the listed skill sets you would like to contribute to and briefly describe any relevant prior experience (or share your website/portfolio, if applicable).
Previous Undergraduate Research Fellows and Projects
2025 funded candidates and projects are here!
2024 funded candidates and projects here and here!
2023 funded candidates and projects here and here!
2022 funded candidates and projects here and here!
2021 funded candidates and projects here!
2020 funded candidates and projects here!
2019 funded candidates and projects here!
2018 funded candidates and projects here!
2017 funded candidates and projects here!