Rate My Professor Robert Schukei

A key collaborator on Baker University's National Science Foundation grant awarded in 2020, Schukei contributed to the three-year, $256,849 project "RUI: Cross Departmental Development of an Automated Species Identification System for the Phylum Tardigrada Found on Birds." This interdisciplinary initiative with colleagues from biology, physics, research administration, and external partners including the University of California, Davis Bohart Museum of Entomology and Illinois Institute of Technology's robotics lab develops machine learning software for automated tardigrade species identification and robotic systems for microscope slide preparation from wetland specimens. The project engages undergraduate students in fieldwork, laboratory automation, research design, and potential publications or presentations, with Schukei welcoming the first student researcher cohort in 2022 following adjustments for collaborator retirements. Schukei supports student research presentations at Kansas Academy of Science meetings, such as posters by Cooper Crockett and Robert Schukei on a mobile application for real-time environmental data and a 2017 undergraduate oral presentation. He coordinates the Math Center, teaches courses including Computer Networks (CS335) and Software Engineering (CS392), and maintains office hours in Boyd Science Center 324.