John Cohen mentoring a student

Research and Mentored Advanced Projects

We have one prerequisite for research: a fierce curiosity.

The pursuit of knowledge. This common calling brings our community together and fuels a strong culture of research. One that welcomes all tough questions, and those willing to seek out the answers for the common good. Where breakthroughs happen from tearing down scientific stigmas and institutional silos. We see mentorship as a way to challenge and support one another. Because most often, the answers we need hide in ambiguity and call everyone to dig in. In the arts, the sciences, in society, and out in the world, Grinnellians fiercely take on the unknown.

  • professor and students write equations on markerboard

    MENTORED ADVANCED PROJECTS

    Where theory and practice collide.

    Mentored Advanced Projects (MAPs) are four-credit academic opportunities that allow you to spend a semester or a summer conducting advanced research or producing an original creative work. Professors may invite you to join in on their ongoing research, or you can take the lead and ask a professor to mentor you through a research project of your choosing.

    Explore more
  • faculty member and student discuss research

    Faculty-Directed Projects

    Faculty-directed projects give you an opportunity to get in the lab or in the field earlier on at Grinnell, and with the continuous direction of a faculty member on a specific research project, often of the faculty director’s design.

    See examples
  • student and professor

    MELLON MAYS UNDERGRADUATE FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM

    In the world of academia, diversity is yet to be where it should.

    At Grinnell we not only recognize this reality, we recognize our responsibility to do something about it. To address this shortage of minority scholars on college and university campuses, Grinnell partners with the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program (MMUF) to provide assistance for promising undergraduates who are considering graduate study toward the Ph.D. in selected fields.

    Learn more

In their own words

Professor Eckhart and student at CERA

Where the sciences are headed with research is exactly what’s embedded into classes at Grinnell. It starts from the very beginning with Intro to Biology, and continues as two or three authentic research projects for every class after that.

Vince Eckhart, Waldo S. Walker Professor of Biology
Leslie Delmenico at desk

Research is a huge component in the arts. It's what you perform, it's what you study, it's what you create scripts based upon. It’s what leads you to stages and shows well beyond Grinnell.

Lesley Delmenico, associate professor of theatre and dance

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