{"id":205543,"date":"2023-10-10T07:30:27","date_gmt":"2023-10-10T11:30:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=205543"},"modified":"2023-10-12T14:04:10","modified_gmt":"2023-10-12T18:04:10","slug":"meet-the-undergraduate-malik-francis-school-of-engineering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2023\/10\/meet-the-undergraduate-malik-francis-school-of-engineering\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Undergraduate: Malik Francis, School of Engineering"},"content":{"rendered":"

Malik Francis \u201924 (ENG), has taken full advantage of the research and professional opportunities UConn has to offer from researching machine learning, to developing a sustainable energy project for UConn Storrs, to interning for Raytheon Technologies.<\/span><\/p>\n

Francis, a computer engineering major, has been doing research for the past two years.<\/p>\n

As a CAPS Research Apprentice, within the Center for Access and Postsecondary Success, Francis was paired with Farhad Imani, Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, whose interests include machine learning, quality, and reliability improvement with applications in advanced manufacturing.<\/p>\n

The selective CAPS Research Apprenticeship Program pairs first-generation college students in STEM majors with faculty researchers to gain first-hand research experience and learning the foundations of academic writing, graduate school applications, and seeking summer internships.<\/p>\n

\u201cRenee Trueman of the CAPS Research office pairs you with a professor and you\u2019re able to get right into the environment you requested,\u201d Francis says. \u201cYou are able to choose from a great collection of professors on the UConn campus, studying in a diverse spectrum of fields.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additive manufacturing is 3-D printing physical objects with metals instead of plastics, Francis explains. Francis worked with Imani to research and develop machine learning algorithms to detect defects in metal objects.<\/p>\n

Francis was first introduced to machine learning through a friend. His conversations with his friend and later experience with Imani showed Francis the potential of machine learning to address real-world problems, further solidifying his interest in pursuing machine learning engineering.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great fit for me at the moment, and I was eager to learn more,\u201d Francis says. \u201cAnd, through working with Dr. Imani\u2019s expertise and passion for pushing boundaries showed me how machine learning can transform the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Francis was also selected as a 2022-23 CAPS Research Scholar<\/a>, where he gained invaluable hands-on experience continuing his project with Imani, mentorship, as well as professional development and financial and cultural literacy with his CAPS Research cohort.<\/p>\n

The CAPS Research office offers the Apprentice opportunity as well as CAPS Research Scholar and McNair Scholar. As a Scholar, mentorship and research guidance continue for all semesters until graduation alongside step-by-step assistance with graduate school applications and funding to present at research conferences.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it was a great experience considering all of the technical skills you develop and being able to network with students and professors within your major,\u201d Francis says.<\/p>\n

Francis is now working on a project for the Clean Energy and Sustainability Innovation Program<\/a> at UConn. Francis and his teammates developed a plan for UConn Storrs to integrate fuel cells with UConn\u2019s co-generation plant to create a more sustainable environment on the main campus. Fuel cells convert the energy from a chemical reaction into electricity with lower carbon emissions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re basically trying to integrate fuel cell technologies onto the UConn main campus, in order to meet or exceed the rising energy demands while lowering our carbon emissions,\u201d Francis says.<\/p>\n

Over the past summer, and into the fall semester, Francis has interned with Raytheon Technologies Collins Aerospace as a data science intern. Francis has helped develop machine learning algorithms to address problems like aircraft maintenance with predictive analytics and machine learning methods.<\/p>\n

Francis, who is originally from Jamaica, has also been a part of ScHOLA2<\/sup>RS House, a learning community for Black men. Being part of ScHOLA2<\/sup>RS House served as Francis\u2019 introduction to research as it was through this learning community that he learned about the programs offered through the CAPS Research office and applied to be an Apprentice and then a Scholar.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the main reason I even discovered research,\u201d Francis says. \u201cI feel like without them I wouldn\u2019t have come this far.\u201d<\/p>\n

After graduation, Francis plans to work in industry as a machine learning engineer, with a potential future continuing his research in graduate school.<\/p>\n

Francis says the opportunities to connect with companies through UConn career fairs as well as ScHOLA2<\/sup>RS House events have prepared him to start a career after graduation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough the research experiences and also the ability to connect with different companies in a professional setting, I feel like UConn\u2019s done a great job,\u201d Francis says. \u201cI think UConn provides you with a great amount of preparation for an industry and research position. I feel like this is the ideal school for you, as long as you are motivated and take advantage of opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

October is the Month of Discovery, when undergraduates are introduced to the wealth of research and innovation opportunities at UConn. This month, enjoy profiles of outstanding undergraduate researchers on UConn Today, attend a\u00a0<\/em>full slate of programming<\/em><\/a>\u00a0on campus and online, and register for\u00a0<\/em>Discovery Quest<\/em><\/a>\u00a0to launch your undergraduate experience to new heights.<\/em><\/p>\n

Follow UConn Research on<\/em>\u00a0Twitter<\/em><\/a>\u00a0&<\/em>\u00a0LinkedIn<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Malik Francis researches additive manufacturing while working as a data science intern for Collins Aerospace. This profile is part of a series for UConn’s Month of Discovery<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":147,"featured_media":205563,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1866,156,2076,99,2235,2306,2458],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2277],"class_list":["post-205543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-engr","category-profile","category-research","category-student-life","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-voices","category-undergraduates"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-03 12:28:51","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/147"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205543"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":205607,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205543\/revisions\/205607"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/205563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205543"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=205543"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=205543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}