Getting Involved in Research
Research is not just for seniors! Doing research in the Mellon College of Science can be one of the most exciting parts of your undergraduate education. You get the chance to work one-on-one with faculty members, put classroom theory into practice, and explore an area of science in depth. In MCS you can get involved in research by:
  • taking research for course credit in a department
  • doing research on a voluntary basis
  • doing research as part of your financial aid package (work/study)
  • doing research in the summer as well as the academic year
  • doing research through the Undergraduate Research Initiative
Begin your search for an undergraduate research project by following the links on this page. Feel free to contact the head or the assistant/associate head of the department that interests you. If you see information about a faculty member's research that interests you, contact that faculty member directly. Don't forget that your classroom instructors are excellent people to talk to as well.

Also, check out the information on earning MCS research honors, which are awarded at graduation. The Merck Computational Biology and Chemistry Program also has information about research for undergraduates.

Links to Faculty Research
These are links to MCS faculty research topics - look here to find out what our faculty researchers are doing. If you find a field or project that interests you, contact the faculty member.
Undergraduate Research Initiative
This is a great place to start your exploration! Here you'll find information about Small Undergraduate Research Grants and abstracts of other students' research projects, as well as other program information.

The Undergraduate Research Initiative also creates the Research Directory, which is available as a searchable database. The Research Directory contains a complete listing of Carnegie Mellon faculty, their research interests and current projects.

Listing of Research Opportunities
This is a good starting point for finding summer undergraduate research programs at other universities and research sites. It includes links to directories and databases of programs as well as to individual programs in biological sciences/biotechnology, chemistry, mathematical sciences, and physics.