GEM Fellow Shapes Future Research Experiences for Undergraduate Students at ULRI
Groundwork for a potential Research Experiences for Undergraduates program at ULRI has been laid by GEM Fellow Makayla Headley, who worked with the Institute for Research Experiences & Education in summer 2025.
Headley, a fourth-year Ph.D. student studying engineering and science education at Clemson University, said that the work she performed went hand-in-hand with her education background and research interests.
“Social science research is human subject research — our work focuses on lived experiences and making sure we interpret it properly,” she said. “We’re trying to build a program that stretches across institutes by conducting interviews, transcribing and coding them, pulling out the themes, and getting a good scope of where the institutes are at to see what they need to do to collaborate, host, and launch a research experiences for undergraduates program.”
Headley said she can envision strong impact for her work, and that REUs hosted across institutes at ULRI would be beneficial for undergraduate students seeking opportunities.
“At ULRI, students can get a broad experience to figure out what they want, and help them with their career development,” she said. “Research work at a company like ULRI is different than at a university — you have more opportunities to rotate departments, and the work is different. It can help move students toward career readiness.”
What Headley does next in her career will be inspired by her passion for making the student experience better for those who come after her.
“A lot of what I do is because of my experience as an undergraduate student,” she said. “A lot of students in engineering or education don’t know where they might work after they graduate, and I’d like to help them see the opportunities and pathways available to them.”
