Undergraduate Research Opportunities

Undergraduate Research

Help a professor research a book or paper.

Research the robotics revolution … Study ancient cures for insights into modern diseases … Analyze the films of a Hollywood legend … The College of General Studies gives students a unique opportunity to partner with faculty on research projects as early as your first year of college.

Science

Could history be the key to defeating superbugs?

Antibiotic resistance is a growing concern in the medical community. Adam Lazarchik (CGS’18, SAR’20) and Elizabeth Guerrero (CGS’18, ENG’20) are student researchers working with College of General Studies Professor Sandra Buerger to investigate historical cures for diseases.

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I am really passionate about doing research so that I can add information to the world...and CGS has been great for offering me a really well-rounded education.

Adam Lazarchik (CGS'18, SAR'20)

Literature

Women Writers, Food, and Wartime

When a computer engineering student and an English major help a rhetoric professor with a book about British women writers, you’re seeing the interdisciplinary synergy of undergraduate research.

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Undergraduate Research

Was A Christmas Carol inspired by a trip to Massachusetts?

A CGS undergraduate research project finds an unlikely source of inspiration for Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol– the stories of the “mill girls” in Lowell, Mass. Read the story in The Boston Globe. 

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Undergraduate Research

CGS researchers put probiotics to the test

Do probiotic supplements actually contain what the labels promise? CGS Lecturer Sandra Buerger and CGS undergraduate researchers Alexander Smith (CGS’17, CAS’19) and (Yemi Osayame, CGS’17, CAS ’19) set out to find out.

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Undergraduate Research

Technological unemployment, robot love, and AI

With the assistance of undergraduate researcher Sofia Zalaquett (CGS’19, CAS’21), CGS Lecturer Joelle Renstrom is writing a book that will dive into topics such as technological unemployment, love and sex with robots, and artist robots.

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Undergraduate Research

How climate change impacts global democracy

CGS Social Sciences Lecturer R. Sam Deese wrote a book that tackles philosophical and political questions around climate change. CGS student Morgan Ashurian (CGS’17, CAS’19) provided some valuable research help along the way.

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Undergraduate Research

From Virginia Woolf to the cognition of comics

Could doodling make you a better listener? Did all of Queen Victoria’s subjects agree with her view that women’s rights were a “wicked folly”? CGS undergraduates are conducting compelling studies and helping solve weighty problems.

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Undergraduate Research

A student studies the antibiotics in our water

Corliss Kanazawa (CGS’16, SAR’18) scrutinized Hall’s Pond’s tiniest residents—the bacteria—to learn how antibiotics may alter the ecology of our water.

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Undergraduate Research

Analyzing the groundbreaking films of King Vidor

King Vidor directed some of the boundary-breaking films of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Luke Bonzani (CGS’18, COM’20, CAS’20) combed through dozens of Vidor’s interviews and articles for quotes on the craft of filmmaking.

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Undergraduate Research

Looking at first wives and marriage in Victorian novels

Reading sensational Victorian stories–about hallucinations, curses, and jiltings–is part of the job for CGS undergraduate researcher Kerry Sadlier (CGS’17, COM’19).

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Undergraduate Research

Fighting segregation with song: A 9000-mile research journey

From “We Shall Overcome” to “Blowin’ in the Wind,” the “freedom songs” of the civil rights movement helped motivate people of all ages and races. Cheryl Boots (GRS’94,’00, STH’14) embarked on a 9,000-mile journey to find out how.

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Critical Skills
"Research involves a lot of commitment and curiosity."
— Astry Peguero Santana (CGS'19, Questrom'21)

Researching UN peacekeeping and how Americans perceived it

Santana worked with CGS Senior Lecturer Michael Holm to research how Americans perceived the United Nations and its peacekeeping operations in the aftermath of the Cold War. After sifting through almost a decade of material from media, intellectual journals, and Congressional debates, Santana says, “I learned so much about how to manage my time appropriately and how to find and make use of research databases. This experience really expanded my worldview and allowed me to develop critical skills I will be able to apply and use in the future.”

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Learn about undergraduate research options.

Undergraduate Research Experience

Earn a stipend for undergraduate research

This CGS program provides a stipend for undergraduate research. Work with the Center for Interdisciplinary Teaching & Learning to find an opportunity that matches your passions.

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Directed Study

Earn academic credit for undergraduate research

Directed studies provide academic credit for undergraduate research. Work with Student Services at the College of General Studies to discuss directed study options.

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Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program

Join with University-wide research opportunities

UROP fosters faculty-mentored research experiences for BU undergraduate students. Faculty mentors serve as guides, coaches, and facilitators; student researchers hone critical skills while learning the language of their chosen discipline.

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