Get Valuable Undergraduate Research Experience
Our Partners in Undergraduate Research
Participate in an inquiry or investigation as an undergraduate in collaboration with a faculty mentor that stimulates original thinking, fosters creative approaches to problems, and furthers understanding of research as a process.
This research may be new to you and/or it may be new to the field, but the key is that students undertake to define some kind of problem in their disciplines, design and implement a research plan and then present their work.
By participating in undergraduate research projects, students can make the most of their college experience, pursue excellence as well as their own interests, and go above and beyond at Edmonds College!
Working on research projects provides students with excellent experience that develops their interests, sets them apart, develops their research skills, and demonstrates their strengths and abilities. This can open up opportunities at the four-year colleges and universities to which they transfer, giving them a leg up on peers who have not had undergraduate research experiences.
Edmonds College received a grant to become part of the Community College Undergraduate Research Initiative (CCURI) funded by the National Science Foundation. Participating in CCURI sets us apart from other community colleges and provides our students with university-level experiences in our mentoring community environment. Our student researchers are supported by faculty research mentors.
Take the Class! Introduction to Research, Social Science 155T
This two-credit course acquaints students with research methods and processes, ethics in research, and also practical soft-skills any budding researcher will want to know. This class meets 12:30-2:40 p.m., Fridays winter quarter.
Join the Club! Undergraduate Research Students Association
This student club offers student-research activities, research support, networking and camaraderie.
Research projects in STEM fields, humanities, and social sciences
Undergraduate research experiences are provided in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields (including our Biology, Chemistry, and Physics departments) as well as in the humanities and social sciences such as Anthropology, English, Journalism, and Political Science.
Past projects have included:
observing
- laser action from optically pumped methanol (laser spectroscopy)
- aerosol condensation and acoustic levitation in ultrasonic fields (acoustic physics)
- gel electrophoresis to determine evolutionary relationships, muscle tissue differences (cellular biology)
designing and constructing
- a wind tunnel (aerodynamic physics)
- a cyclotron (high energy physics)
- a cold-cathode plasma propulsion engine (magnetohydrodynamics)
- surveys for research on immigration, same-sex marriage, environmental policy, the power of celebrity endorsements and political mobilization, and handicapped parking awareness (political science - American government)
studying
- macroscopic quantum tunneling phenomena (wave physics)
- rocket telemetry (aerospace physics) -
- the immunobiology of breast milk (biology - neonatology and maternal child health)
- neonatal respiratory and digestive illnesses and their treatments (biology - health and neonatology)
- social media, political mobilization, and Facebook (political science - digital democracy)
- policies on educational reform, immigration, hate crimes laws, and improving veterans services (political science - American government)
- Test procedures for decontaminating spacecraft for NASA project.