How to Join the SUPERgroup

If you have questions about any of our work, or if you might want to work as part of the SUPERgroup, please reach out to Blase. Below, we have described the most likely avenues for joining the group based on your current affiliation:

Prospective PhD students

Consider applying to be a PhD student in the next admissions cycle. If you might be interested in working as part of the SUPERgroup, select "Blase Ur" as a prospective advisor during the application and Blase will be sure to read your application. Emailing Blase before you apply won't help your application unless you have a specific question about research directions or logistics due to the volume of such messages. Note that, unless there is a really good research fit, we are most likely not going to take any new Ph.D. students in the current admissions cycle (deadline in December 2024 for starting in Fall 2025). A number of our excellent UChicago colleagues in other research groups do plan to take new students, though.

Current UChicago undergraduates

We also often welcome University of Chicago undergraduates to work on, and sometimes lead, our ongoing research projects. One could either work for course credit (independent study) or work hourly at our standard rate for research assistants. Please feel free to get in touch if you might be willing to commit to a project for at least 6 months (after hearing about the project, of course). We strongly prefer to bring students into the group in their first or second year of undergrad so that there's a possibility of a long-term collaboration if the fit is right.

Finally, University of Chicago undergraduates are welcome to complete fourth-year MS research projects as part of the UChicago SUPERgroup. In general, any projects that focus on computer security, privacy, or human-computer interaction are within scope. We used to have a list of projects, but it's basically always outdated. Please come talk to us, and we'll pitch some projects to you.

Non-UChicago undergraduates

We are usually unable to support research opportunities for undergrads at other institutions.

High school students

On a case-by-case basis, we sometimes can support research summer visits from high school students in the Chicago Public School (CPS) system, often through programs like those the Office of Special Programs runs. If you are a CPS high school student, please feel free to get in touch. We usually cannot support research assistantships for high school students from outside the Chicago Public School system, even if they are from other Chicagoland high schools.

International visitors

Except in exceptional circumstances, we are unable to support international visitors to the SUPERgroup unless you've personally discussed the possibility with Blase (e.g., at a conference) or work with some of our group's existing collaborators.