Cornell student examines a fossil

Follow the facts

88% of the Class of 2020 completed undergraduate research.

Faculty and students conduct research on-campus and off-campus, in class and outside of class. With a faculty to student ratio of 1:12, you can work collaboratively with faculty on their research projects or develop your own research project under faculty mentorship. You’ll be gaining valuable graduate level research experience as an undergrad.

Faculty research

Professor Denniston examines a rock.

A team of researchers across the United States, including Cornell College Professor of Geology Rhawn Denniston, is embarking on a mission to answer questions about climate change in Portugal. The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded the team more than $676,000 to study stalagmites from caves in central and southern Portugal as a means of investigating how rainfall changed over decades and centuries starting 2,500 years ago.

Professor Denniston is just one faculty among many on campus conducting research in the natural sciences. As a Cornell student, you'll have the chance to learn how to conduct your own research from those who are experts in the field. A few of our ongoing projects include:

Faculty and student collaborative research

students work in the lab

You can collaborate with faculty on a research project, gaining valuable hands-on experience where you'll apply what you're learning in the classroom to a real-world problem. We've had students work with faculty on the following:

Design a pathway to a research career

Cornell students works on art research

Just like you can customize your degree at Cornell, you can also design your own research project. You bring your research ideas and Cornell faculty can act as your mentors.

You can also pursue research opportunities at other facilities and institutions. The Berry Career Institute can connect you to research internships.

Examples of recent research focused internships include: