The Urban Matters Lab is looking for interested undergraduate students to work on various service-learning research projects over winter break and Spring 2026 semester.
DEADLINE TO APPLY: Friday December 12, 2025
Students do not need to have prior archival research background. All Purdue undergraduate students are eligible to apply— open to WL and Indianapolis students. Students from the John Martinson Honors College may apply their work on this project toward their Scholarly Project requirement.
Position Details
Hours: 10 hours/week
Pay: $15/hour
Modality: In person (Dr. Krishna might be willing to consider remote work, but ONLY for winter break).
Interested students please email lab director Dr. Ashima Krishna at krish191@purdue.edu with your expression of interest and your latest resume/CV. Please also mention which project you are interested in. See description of projects below.
Project 1: Black Commerce History Project. In this project, students will focus on documenting, preserving, and publicly elevating (via a StoryMap) 200 years of Black economic history in Tippecanoe County. Experts at the Tippecanoe County Historical Association will lead this project and gather stories of business owners, workers, families, and community elders while they are still here to speak. Students will research primary and secondary sources at the TCHA archives and elsewhere to analyze photographs, business records, licenses, advertisements, menus, clippings, and memories that have lived only in closets, basements, and family albums thus far. Community Collaborators: Paula Davis, Claire Eagle, and Kelly Lippie.
Project 2: Researching Indiana Ave, Indianapolis. In this project, students will continue the work done by other students in researching the history of sites in and around Indiana Ave in Indianapolis–a neighborhood that was demolished in the 1960s to make way for IUPUI and that is now the site for the new Purdue in Indianapolis campus. Students will work on archival research in Indianapolis. Community Collaborator: Amber Chellis-Omedo.
Project 3: Documenting West Lafayette Heritage Sites. In this project, students will continue the work done by other students in researching the history of heritage sites in West Lafayette. Community Collaborator: Ethan Fortner.
Project 4: Documenting Black Heritage Sites in the Greater Lafayette Area. In this project, students will continue the work done by other students in researching the history of Black heritage sites in and around the Greater Lafayette area. Community Collaborator: Eunice Trotter.
Urban Matters Lab 