Real Progress Starts Here
As a student in the College of Arts and Sciences, you benefit from a powerful, unique advantage: a rigorous liberal arts foundation nested within a leading research institution. Our faculty are not just dedicated mentors, but active scholars eager to share their cutting-edge discoveries, providing abundant opportunities for hands-on learning.
We welcome first-year students into labs, ensuring your ideas are tested and proven from day one. To support this early and deep engagement, you can secure research funding from the university, college, department, or directly from faculty, ensuring your curiosity translates into real, lasting impact.
How do I do research as an undergraduate?
Connect! Reach out directly to professors and check their department pages and faculty profiles. Those website pages will have more information about past research projects, current research, and areas of expertise.
- Find your passion: Identify the big and complex issues that fuel your curiosity.
- Contact professors: Talk to your professors or professors outside your program whose work excites you!
- Explore options: Research assistant (RA) roles, independent projects, and honors programs are just some of the opportunities available through the college. Plus other amazing programs available through the university.
Apply for Grants
Students are encouraged to apply for funding opportunities through the college, including arts grant and program specific grants for research during the summer or the school year.
Research Assistant Roles
Research assistant (RA) roles offer course credit or can be part of work study programs. Some RA roles include:
- Experimental design and data collection
- Literature review and analysis
- Faculty-led projects
- Work for a college research center or institute
Independent Projects
Design and execute your own research project. Register for an independent study course like IR 392 or ENGL 183. Chat with your faculty advisor to pitch your idea and plan your project.
- Formulate a question
- Design your study
- Collaborate with a professor
Honors Programs
Graduating with honors requires seniors to complete a year-long, independent research project. Talk with a professor in your program of study and register for a senior thesis course like COGS 381 or POLS 378.
- Written thesis
- Oral presentation
"One of the best decisions I made in college was sending a cold email to Professor Balmonte! If you're even a little bit interested in research, don't hesitate to reach out to professors. You might be surprised how welcoming they are, and the experience has been absolutely incredible!"
Lehigh Undergraduate Research Opportunities
As an R1 research university, Lehigh offers amazing inter-college, interdisciplinary opportunities, including three university research centers and institutes.
Creative Inquiry supports a wide range of interdisciplinary initiatives that help students and faculty pursue new intellectual, creative, and artistic pathways that lead to transformative new innovations, expressions, and questions. CINQ also offers four impact fellowships: Global Social Impact Fellowship, Lehigh Valley Social Impact Fellowship, Campus Social Impact Fellowship, and Silicon Valley Social Impact Fellowship.
The Iacocca International Internship Program (IIIP) provides international work or research experience during the summer. Collaborate with an international team and build your global network by applying the skills you've learned in the classroom.
Lehigh 360 is a comprehensive database with high impact programs from the arts, research, entrepreneurship, global connections, leadership development, community engagements, work-integrated learning, and peer mentoring.
STEM summer institutes (STEM-SI) is a 10-week research-intensive training program that bridges long-standing summer programs (REUs, BDSI, ATLSS) across the STEM Community at Lehigh.
