Join Us

Joining the Rosie Lab

Graduate Positions for Canadians or Permanent Residents

If you are a Canadian or Permanent Resident of Canada, maintain a high (>3.5) GPA and/or have undergraduate research experience, you may be eligible for an NSERC Canada Graduate Scholarship (Master's or Ph.D). The deadline for application is in late Fall of each year. Apply in December to start in September of the next year. Recipients of these scholarships have a high chance of acceptance into our lab. If you are interested in this, please contact Dr. Angelica Lim (angelica@sfu.ca) with your unofficial transcript, resume and brief statement of interest.

CMPT 415/416 Special Research Projects (Spring 2026)

We have several open position for CMPT 415/416 projects. Please apply using the form below by Nov. 19, 2025, indicating the project title. Successful applicant(s) will be invited for interviews in the week of Nov. 24 and notified of the final decision by the first week of December.

Neurochemical organization of network neurophysiology along the Alzheimer's disease continuum. In this project, the student will use network neuroscience tools to investigate whether dysconnectivity of brain networks in older adults with Alzheimer's disease pathology is attributable to different neurochemical systems. This project applies linear mixed modeling, network (i.e. graph) theory, and nonparametric statistics to several open datasets of non-invasive neuroimaging and aims to produce a documented, shareable codebase while advancing knowledge on the mechanisms of brain and behavioural changes in Alzheimer's disease. Ability to read and write code in Python is required, as well as CMPT 353 and/or CMPT 310 and a strong background in Statistics and Linear Algebra. Experience with high-performance computing, advanced linear modeling (e.g. mixed effects models), network (graph) theory, and/or clinical neuroscience is an asset. We are seeking one student for this project, co-supervised by Dr. Alex Wiesman (BPK) and Dr. Angelica Lim (CMPT).

React To This: Robot Nonverbal Awareness. In this project, a team of 3-4 will work on a research project on the Reachy Mini, a new robotic platform from HuggingFace. The project aims to bring this robot to life in a nonverbal fashion (e.g. Wall-E or R2-D2). The research will comprise machine learning for a robot to recognize human multimodal (face, body, and/or auditory) gestures, language models to generate reactions to human stimuli, and the development of a real-time robotic puppeteering tool. Development will be followed by an experimental evaluation and reporting phase. Each week, students will meet with graduate student mentors and produce weekly group progress reports for feedback and discussion with Dr. Angelica Lim. The team must work together to produce a demonstration where the robot autonomously reacts to human dynamic face and body gestures. Demo participants will compare it to a teleoperated interaction and decide whether it seems teleoperated or not. Students will learn about machine learning, human-robot interaction, robot simulators (Mujoco), and the research and publication process. Students should have completed a minimum of CMPT 310. Experience in machine learning (CMPT 410), robotics, human-computer interaction, computer vision, speech and/or natural language processing is an asset. Students may apply as individuals or a group. 

Past Projects

Examples of projects that undergraduates have worked on:

• Investigating the Role of Culture on Negative Emotion Expressions in the Wild - Data Science Research Volunteer:  Developing visualizations for paper https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnint.2021.699667/full 

• The SFU-Store-Nav 3D Virtual Human Platform for Human-Aware Robotics -CMPT 415 Special Research Project: Converting dataset to 3D, benchmarking human motion prediction algorithms, writing research paper https://github.com/bronwynbiro/human_body_prior 

General Info For Undergrads

If you are an undergraduate studying Computing Science, Cognitive Science, Psychology, Statistics or related program at SFU or any Canadian university, we may have undergraduate research opportunities available for you. Possibilities include:

• CMPT 415/416 - Special Research Project

• CMPT 498 - Honours Research Project

• CMPT 494/495 - SoSy Capstone Project (open to all CS majors)

• NSERC/VPR Undergraduate Student Research Award

More information about these opportunities can be found here or by speaking to an advisor. 

Your profile

• You hold a minimum 3.5 CGPA

• You are experienced in C++, Python,  or web/Android programming

• You have excellent written and oral communication skills

• You have demonstrated leadership experience in the university or larger community

• Recommended: You have received an A or better in a machine learning, data science or psychology course, preferably in CMPT 419 Affective Computing

Timelines

The Rosie lab is continually accepting RA applications, however, here are a few dates to keep in mind:

• January 15: NSERC/VPR USRA program

• March 15: For Summer term

• July 15: For Fall term

• November 15: For Spring term

For SFU undergrads, you can subscribe to our mailing list rosie-lablet at https://groups.sfu.ca/ to hear about opportunities as they arise.