Undergraduate Research and Internship Opportunities at FCRH

Ailie Posillico at AASLD

Ailie Posillico, Class of 2016, presenting her research at a conference in Boston, MA

Undergraduate Research at FCRH (and around the world) is a voluntary and highly encouraged experience that allows students from all disciplines to engage in faculty-mentored research projects. In the past decade, Undergraduate Research has become part of the culture of FCRH.

Research is the process of gathering information to answer a focused inquiry. This process allows students to take ownership of their learning by contributing new knowledge to their disciplines while developing deeper relationships with their faculty and peers. In this way, classroom learning is enhanced by enabling students to work one-on-one with faculty members (and, in some areas, also with highly trained postdoctoral fellows and graduate students).

And research is not just for those interested in becoming academics! By getting involved in research, you will learn new skills that can be used for a future in academic research or in the job market.

Undergraduate Research at FCRH Statistics

  • Over $2 million in funding has been awarded to students since 2008.
  • Nearly 1000 students have received grant funding.
  • In 2021 alone, 30 students earned co-authorships on published work.
  • This year, students again presented their findings at national venues including the National Conference for Undergraduate Research (NCUR) and Eastern Psychological Association (EPA).
  • Our students are now presenting their research internationally as well.
  • We never shut down during the pandemic! All components of our program remained open and we even held our annual symposium each year.

Program Features

The three main components of our Undergraduate Research program are:

  • Research/Travel Grants
  • Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium
  • The Fordham Undergraduate Research Journal

Research Grants

We offer three types of grants for eligible students interested in conducting research:

  • Undergraduate Research Grants: Financial support for students conducting research during the academic year.
  • Summer Research Program: Financial support as well as other programming for students conducting research on campus during the summer.
  • Travel Grants: Financial support for students presenting their research at a professional conference.

The Undergraduate Research Symposium

Undergraduates from all majors and programs are invited to present their original work through poster presentations, oral presentations, and artwork at the Undergraduate Research Symposium. The Undergraduate Research Symposium also provides a great opportunity for students across the disciplines to share their academic projects.

Fordham College at Rose Hill Summer Research Program

Fordham’s Summer Undergraduate Research Program enables Rose Hill students to pursue original, meaningful research for a focused period of 8 weeks under the guidance of a faculty mentor, in community with other student scholars. Typically from early June to early August, students from all majors, rising sophomores and up, work to create and share new knowledge.

The Fordham Undergraduate Research Journal

The Fordham Undergraduate Research Journal (FURJ) is a student-run journal that features high quality, peer-reviewed, original research conducted by undergraduate students in the sciences, humanities, and social sciences. FURJ also includes scholarly book reviews, review essays, and feature articles. All research articles undergo a rigorous double-blind peer and faculty review process. FURJ is published annually – in print and online – in the spring semester. FURJ welcomes submissions from current Fordham students and recent graduates as well as students from other universities who conducted research at Fordham.

 

    • Pursuing your own focused question: perform self-initiated research under the guidance of a faculty mentor in that field of research.
    • Participate in the on-going research of a faculty member: work collaboratively with that faculty member on his or her professional research.
    • Enroll in a course with a research component.

    The first step: Talk to a faculty member about their work or your idea! If you need help getting started, email us at [email protected]!

  • The goal of research is to help solve a problem and not simply to rehash what has been discovered.

    In research, solving a problem is answering an important question. While a faculty mentor is a great resource to help develop a focused and feasible research question, you should consider the following points before meeting with a faculty member about research:

    • What topics are you interested in and what questions need to be answered in that field? Remember that the key to good research is contributing novel (new) perspectives and answers.
    • Is your topic too broad? You need to be able to assemble evidence in support of your answer—is the scope of your ambition manageable from a data collection standpoint? Can you complete the project within a specified time period for your research?
    • Is there a feasible methodology to answer your question? In other words, how will you go about answering this question? What resources are available?
    • Is it ethical to ask and answer this question? (Unacceptable physical risks or invasion of privacy?)

    Remember, faculty are often looking for students to aid them with their own research where focused, feasible questions have already been determined. Your role may be a more narrow scope of a broader project. Nonetheless, when aiding faculty, these primary questions should always be at the forefront of your participation.