Research Opportunities

We transform classroom learning into lab and field discovery

Research is pivotal to the Department of Natural Sciences academic experience. It’s where theory becomes practice and where scientific questions are answered. It also helps you to build the foundation for graduate school or professional research work.

Cultivating the next generation of scientific trailblazers

Professors as Mentors

“If I went to a big university, I might not have had the chance to do research for 10 weeks in another country. I got to interact closely with professors. I didn’t know what I wanted to do for grad school, and they showed me the path forward. Many of them influenced how I show up in the program I’m in now.”

Chanchanok Sudta PZ ’18
Biology major

Read Chanchanok’s Story

Student Research Resources

You will be supported in your research by mentors—our faculty. Our professors offer many different projects to get involved with throughout the year. We also offer an extensive summer research program, in which students receive paid 10-week fellowships to work with science faculty.

How to Apply to Research Groups

See our FAQs page about connecting with faculty and joining research projects.

Faculty Research Interests

Explore ongoing faculty research in biology, chemistry, physics, environmental science, and more.

Internship and Volunteer Opportunities

Give back to the community, explore careers, and gain experience for the future.

two students study a petri dish up close

Summer Research Opportunities

Spend your summer with the Department of Natural Sciences or other research institutions and organizations.

Human Subject Research

See requirements for studies involving research on human subjects.

two students sit on the shore of a pond while listening to another student in front of the pond

Vertebrate Animal Research

See requirements for the use of non-human vertebrate animals in research and continuing review.

General Resources

Field Research Sites

four women sit on the edge of the bernard field station pond

Robert J. Bernard Field Station

Within The Claremont Colleges is an 86-acre field station that is habitat to California sage scrub, a live oak forest, and grassland. The Bernard Field Station seeks to increase understanding of Southern California’s ecosystems through education and research.

researchers perform survey work in the costa rican jungle

Firestone Center for Restoration Ecology

This 150-acre biological reserve and field station in Costa Rica incorporates collaborative resource management, sustainable forestry, ecology, and community-based intercultural education.