Field Research

Student Research

Student Research at Saint Michael'sGetting involved in a research project with a faculty member can be a highlight of your Saint Michael's education. Joining forces with a professor means you'll work closely with a mentor. Plus, you'll gain essential experience that will strengthen your resume and graduate school applications.

Undergraduate research will allow you to develop new skills as you engage in inquiry, design, investigation, research, scholarship, discovery, application and/or performance. It's highly valuable, promoting student engagement and academic success through active collaborative learning, intellectual challenge and intense student-faculty interaction. You'll develop discipline-specific research skills such as critical thinking, research design, data collection and interpretation, information literacy and communication, as well as experience with problem-solving and teamwork. Student researchers also report significant increases in self-confidence and the ability to persevere under difficult circumstances.

By spring of their senior year, 31% of Saint Michael's students do research with a faculty member (compared to 20% at all NSSE Schools).

You might present your work at our annual Research Symposium or at a local, regional or national conference (the college financially supports such presentations). And you may even be awarded a stipend to fund your research project.

Recent student-faculty research projects have included:

  • A Study of Ant Diversity in Burned versus Unburned Sandplain Forest in Vermont (Entomological Society of America)
  • Cracks in Coverage: The Precarious Position of the Uninsured and the Underinsured in Vermont (New England Political Science Association)
  • Dose-Dependent Relationship between Nicotine Administration and PR Schedule Performance in Rats (Eastern Psychological Association)
  • Relative Quantification of Metabolites Using Five Isotopic Variants of Cholamine (American Chemical Society)

In each case, the student ultimately presented the research project's results at a professional meeting (indicated in parentheses), funded through a college travel grant.

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