On-Campus Research Opportunities
Applications that are still open are indicated with two asterisk**
Pursue research and creative work with Macalester Faculty
Many faculty at Macalester invite students into their research projects, giving students a first-hand opportunity to contribute to cutting-edge scholarly work. Faculty with positions potentially available for students next summer are listed below.
The faculty either already have funding or are awaiting news about whether they will receive funding to hire (a) student(s). Alternatively, students can also apply for a Fellowship to support a research project working with a Macalester faculty mentor.
Macalester Faculty Research Descriptions
Biology
-鈥淒iversity and Evolution of Arachnids鈥 Application closed
– “The Paleobiology of Late Cretaceous Dinosaurs and Their Contemporaries”
-鈥淓cology at Ordway: An Integrated Summer of Experiential Learning Research鈥 Application closed
-鈥淓volution of Meta-ecosystems in the Alaskan Arctic鈥 Application closed
-鈥淥ptimizing protein precipitation methods in human nail analysis鈥
** – “Red Nucleus Contributions to Gait and Locomotor Control” *Application due March 13, 2026
Chemistry
-“Designing new undergraduate teaching experiments incorporating green聽 chemistry synthesis and sustainable polymers”
-鈥淥rganic Materials Synthesis鈥 Application closed
-“Computational Modeling of Oxygenated Reactive Intermediates in Atmospheric Chemistry” Professor Kuwata is not hiring researchers for Summer 2026.
-鈥淩esearch in Bioinorganic Chemistry鈥 Professor Splan is not hiring researchers for Summer 2026.
-“Research in Molecular Spectroscopy” Professor Varberg is not hiring student researchers for Summer 2026.
-鈥淐atalytic Peptides and Enzyme-polymer Conjugates for Biomedical Applications鈥 Application closed
Environmental Studies
-鈥淧aleoclimate and Oceanography Research Using Deep Sea Sediments鈥 Application closed
-“Effects of Redlining on Water Quality Across the Twin Cities Metro Area” Professor Bratt is not hiring student researchers for Summer 2026.
-“The Reimagining of the Upper Mississippi” Professor Phadke is not hiring student researchers for Summer 2026.
Geography
-“Land-use / land-cover change and their impacts on biodiversity in human-modified landscapes”
Geology
– “The Paleobiology of Late Cretaceous Dinosaurs and Their Contemporaries”
-鈥淓nvironmental Change in Glacier National Park, Montana鈥 Professor MacGregor is not accepting student researchers for summer 2025.
– 鈥淭ectonics research.”
MSCS
-鈥淧redictive Processing in Language Production & Comprehension鈥 Professor Arehalli is not accepting student researchers for summer 2026.
-“Rank Lists of Zig-Zag Matrices for Quiver Representations” Professor Diaz is not accepting students for summer 2026
-鈥淒eep Learning for Robot Navigation鈥 Application closed
-鈥淒rawing from Life in Extended Reality: Advancing Cross-Reality User Interfaces for Observational 3D Sketching鈥 Application closed
-鈥淪tatistical genetics in populations with mixed ancestry鈥 Professor Grinde is not accepting student researchers for summer 2026.
-鈥淢ath Corps camp and/or Numerical Methods for Fluid Flows鈥 Application closed
-鈥淒esign and Evaluation of Computing Workshops for Professional Non-programmers鈥 Application closed
-鈥淭opological Data Analysis of Knowledge Networks鈥 Application closed
** – “Characterizing Unclassified Sequence Reads in Metagenomics Data” due March 23rd
Neuroscience/Psychology
-鈥淎ssessing the impact of reward change on Pavlovian conditioned approach behavior in rats.” Application closed
Physics
-“Observational Astronomy”
-鈥淯ltrafast Optical Spectroscopy of Novel Photoconductors” Application closed
-鈥淓xtragalactic Magnetic Fields鈥
Sociology
-“Placemaking under Surveillance: Transnational Latine Communities in the Midwest”
Spanish and Portuguese
-“Placemaking under Surveillance: Transnational Latine Communities in the Midwest”