Undergraduate Research

The purpose of our university is not the acquisition of knowledge but the search for deeper knowing. Rather than imagine your education as downloading information or facts, reimagine your education as a process of seeking, questioning, probing, arguing, and creating.

The primary responsibilities of faculty are to research, teach, and guide students. The primary responsibilities of students are to learn how to learn and to continue this quest for the rest of their lives. Faculty are primarily involved in the search for and creation of new knowledge, but faculty invite students to join with them to learn methods and approaches.

Dream It — Do It

After engaging in research with faculty supervision, students may dream up their own questions and create their own projects. In these ways, students chart their own paths toward original questions and deeper knowing.


Six Ways That You Can Participate in Undergraduate Research:

#1: Explore Methods

Students explore research methods through an introductory course to a field of knowledge (for example, ENGL 1090 – Critical Methods, FMST 1100 – Gateway to Film & Media Stds, JUPS 2010 – Nonviolence Theory & Practice, PSYC 2000 – Research Methods & Statistics, or SOCI 2901 – Methods of Social Research)

#2: Join a Project

Students join with faculty in a research project, serving as research assistants via GUROP.

#3: Start Your Own Research Project

Students propose their own original research projects, seeking summer fellowship funding via Davis, Kalorama, RainesAndrettaGUROP, etc.

#4: Present Your Findings

Students bring back their summer research and develop this material into a thesis, capstone, or independent project in the senior year. Students present their research via on-campus symposia (including the College Academic Council Research Colloquium in the spring) and off-campus conferences (supported by PURPAS grants).

#5: Expand on the Experience

Students use their undergraduate research projects as stepping stones to further research, creative projects, fellowships, jobs, graduate study, public service, etc.

#6: Keep Asking Questions

Continue to ask questions and pursue deeper knowing as key activities in lives of purpose.


Student Voices

Undergraduate Research News

A group of four young women stand on a stage.

News Story

Hoyas in the Humanities: Bringing Research to Life in the Archives and on the Stage

Last month, the College of Arts & Sciences celebrated the opening of a dedicated space for the Georgetown Humanities Initiative.  By housing the initiative in historic Old North – the…

November 8, 2024

A girl with medium-length dark hair smiles in front of a blue background.

CAS Magazine: Students

Planting Seeds: Sophia Rose Monsalvo (C’26) on Exploring Her Heritage and Environmental Interests in Colombia

Davis Fellow Sophia Rose Monsalvo (C’26) reflects on her summer in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia, where she worked with a local nonprofit organization focused on environmental stewardship.

September 26, 2024

Three young adults stand in front of the ruins of a shorefront castle.

News Story

Psychology Major Mara Lewis (C’27) Studies Division and Conflict Resolution in Northern Ireland at Fulbright UK Summer Institute

This summer, Mara Lewis (C’27) traveled to Northern Ireland, where she participated in a Fulbright UK Summer Institute, a competitive and fully-funded program that empowers exceptional American undergraduates to study abroad. 

August 22, 2024