CHSS Undergraduate Research Fellows Program
CHSS Undergraduate Research Fellows Program
Apply Now for the College of Humanities & Social Sciences Undergraduate Research Fellows Program - Launching Fall 2025!
Are you an upperclassman passionate about research and eager to collaborate with faculty on cutting-edge projects? The College of Humanities & Social Sciences Undergraduate Research Fellows Program is the perfect opportunity to take your academic and professional journey to the next level. Launching in Fall 2025, this competitive program offers you the chance to engage in meaningful, funded research across a variety of disciplines, with 17 exciting projects led by faculty experts in fields ranging from history to sociology, philosophy to political science, and beyond.Why Should You Apply?
- Collaborate with Faculty Mentors: Work closely with distinguished faculty members, gaining invaluable mentorship and insight into their research process. This is a unique opportunity to expand your academic network and get a behind-the-scenes look at advanced research in the humanities and social sciences.
- Professional Growth:Research experience is more than just building your resume. By developing skills in critical thinking, data analysis, and academic writing, you will enhance your problem-solving abilities and prepare for a range of future careers, whether in academia, the private sector, government, or nonprofits.
- Hands-On Experience:Dive into real-world research projects that make a difference. You’ll apply your knowledge, explore new questions, and contribute to important work that can shape policy, education, and societal change.
- Funded Opportunity: This program offers financial support to help cover your time and effort. You’ll be expected to commit 5-10 hours per week to your research, making it a manageable and enriching experience alongside your other coursework.
- Earn Credit: To complement your research, you will enroll in a 1-credit course in Fall 2025 that will provide additional guidance and structure as you engage in your research project.
Who Will Benefit from This Program?
This program is ideal for upperclassmen who are motivated, curious, and passionate about diving deeper into academic research. Whether you’re aiming for graduate school or preparing for a professional career, this experience will equip you with the tools and insights to stand out in your field. If you are driven by a desire to work closely with faculty, develop new ideas, and make tangible contributions to the humanities and social sciences, this program is for you.
How to Apply:
To apply, simply complete the online application with a statement of interest that demonstrates your passion for undergraduate research and explains how this experience will support your career goals. While we strive to provide research opportunities for all applicants, please note that acceptance into the program is competitive, and we cannot guarantee placement for every applicant. The application deadline is March 23rd, 2025. Applicants shoudl expect to hear about next steps the following week.
Don’t miss your chance to join this exciting new initiative! Apply now for the College of Humanities & Social Sciences Undergraduate Research Fellows Program and take the first step toward an unforgettable research experience this Fall 2025.
Fall 2025 Projects
Dr. Emily Blanck, Juneteenth Archive
Department: History (Note: You do not need to be a History major to apply)
Required Skills:
- Ability to write and summarize material clearly
- Conduct research in newspapers
Desired Skills:
- Use Omeka
- Basic excel spreadsheet ability
Tasks to be Completed:
- Student will work on the Juneteenth Archive.
Estimated Number of Hours per Week: 5-10
Dr. Kristina Block
Department: Law & Justice Studies (Note: You do not need to be a Law & Justice Studies major to apply)
Required Skills:
- Familiar with the structure and purpose of academic (journal) articles
- Know how to obtain scholarly sources
- Above average reading comprehension skills
Desired Skills:
- Proficient in Microsoft Excel
Tasks to be Completed:
- Literature Review
- Making tables
Estimated Number of Hours per Week: 10
Dr. William Carrigan, Popular Reaction to the Assassination of James Garfield
Department: History (Note: You do not need to be a History major to apply)
Required Skills:
- Ability to read 19th century primary sources (newspapers, diaries, letters)
Desired Skills:
- Previous online historical research via Newspapers.com and similar databases
Tasks to be Completed:
- Reading existing scholarship on Garfield
- Finding sources on assassination and prosecution of Charles Guiteau
- Paraphrasing of found materials, etc.
Estimated Number of Hours per Week: 4
Additional Notes: This is a new project, designed to produce a co-authored article with a student.
Dr. Mikkel Dack, The Global De-Radicalization Database
Department: History (Note: You do not need to be a History major to apply)
Required Skills:
- Experience conducting secondary- and primary-source research
Desired Skills:
- Website development and coding skills
Tasks to be Completed:
- Reading secondary and primary source materials
- Conducting data analysis
- Compiling index records for a digital database
Estimated Number of Hours per Week: 8
Dr. Kelly Duke-Bryant, Digital Archive of Children, Slavery, and Emancipation in West Africa, 1848-1910
Department: History (Note: You do not need to be a History major to apply)
Required Skills:
- Ability to read French
- Ability to read cursive/handwritten documents
- Familiarity with Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets
Desired Skills:
- Some experience with database creation
Tasks to be Completed:
- Data verification
- Transcription
- Identifying key terms
- Database construction
Estimated Number of Hours per Week: 5-6
Additional Notes: This project involves working with photographs of documents I collected in the National Archives of Senegal. I have already read the materials and have collected data in a spreadsheet, and I have used this data as the basis for several publications. With the end goal of creating a public-facing digital humanities project, I plan to work with a student research assistant, to verify the existing data (i.e. work back through the extensive original records to make sure I did not make mistakes in transcription or translation), create a database with more useful and user-friendly fields, and expand time coverage in the dataset (currently focused on 1895-1910; we would go back in time to 1848, the year slavery was abolished in the French empire). I was approached by one of the editors of a digital humanities repository focused on the global history of slavery (https://enslaved.org/ ) who is interested in including my dataset and analysis of it on the site, so there is some urgency in getting this work done. If the student were interested, there might also be a possibility of collaborating on an analytical essay for submission to the Journal of Slavery and Data Preservation, which is linked to the Enslaved.org repository.
Dr. Juan Ferre, Attitudes Toward a Single Payer Health System
Department: Sociology & Anthropology (Note: You do not need to be a Sociology or Anthropology major to apply)
Required Skills:
- Literature review
- Basic writing
Desired Skills:
- Statistics
- Survey collection
Tasks to be Completed
- Literature review
- Data collection
- Survey delivery
Estimated Number of Hours per Week: 10
Dr. Melissa Klapper, Children of Columbia: Childhood at the Chicago World's Fair of 1893
Department: History (Note: You do not need to be a History major to apply)
Required Skills:
- Very good library database research skills, particularly with historical primary source databases
- Strong organizational skills
Desired Skills:
- Ability to work independently
Tasks to be Completed
- Searching historical primary source databases (such as Chronicling America) for contemporary newspaper and magazine accounts of children and youth at the Chicago World 's Fair of 1893
- Presenting findings in a logical and legible manner
Estimated Number of Hours per Week: 5
Additional Notes: This is preliminary research for a new project and could also serve as the basis for the student researcher to develop a research project of their own.
Dr. Matthew Lund, Wittgenstein and Philosophy of Science
Department: Philosophy & World Religions (Note: You do not need to be a Philosophy or World Religions major to apply)
Required Skills:
- Paper writing
- Research skills in philosophy
Desired Skills:
- RefWorks
- Mendeley
- Chicago Manual of Style
Tasks to be Completed
- Literature reviews
- RefWorks, Mendeley
- Proofing
- Document formatting
- Writing alt text for figures
Estimated Number of Hours per Week: 5
Dr. Jessica Mack, Mexico City from Above: A Digital History and Aerial Photography Project
Department: History (Note: You do not need to be a History major to apply)
Required Skills:
- Strong organization and communication skills
- Interest in history and in learning new skills
- Basic computer literacy
Desired Skills:
- Some Spanish language abilities (especially reading)
Tasks to be Completed
- Identification and collection of maps
- Training in digital mapping and web development skills
- Online curation of historical research materials
Estimated Number of Hours per Week: 5
Dr. Lawrence Markowitz, Tracking local Violence in Central Asia
Department: Political Science & Economics (Note: You do not need to be a Political Science or Economics major to apply)
Required Skills:
- Familiarity with datasets
- MS Excel
- social science research
Desired Skills:
- Some understanding of basic concepts and principles in statistics (esp for PS)
Tasks to be Completed
- Working with at least two datasets
- Data organization and data cleaning
- Qualitative research using English language sources
Estimated Number of Hours per Week: 5
Dr. Ellen Miller, Everyday Ethics and Pre-College Philosophy Projects
Department: Philosophy & World Religions (Note: You do not need to be a Philosophy or World Religions major to apply)
Required Skills:
- Interest in ethics and philosophy
Desired Skills:
- Ethics coursework
- Philosophy coursework
- Participation in pre-college philosophy work
Tasks to be Completed
- Literature reviews
- Editing textbook manuscript
- Assisting with an ethics-focused department event
- Research on grants available for pre-college ethics workshops
Estimated Number of Hours per Week: 5
Dr. Dina Rosenberg, Immigration Politics and Health Outcomes/COVID-19 and Mental Health
Department: Political Science & Economics (Note: You do not need to be a Political Science or Economics major to apply)
Required Skills:
- Working with data in Excel, Stata or R
Desired Skills:
- Some knowledge of statistics
Tasks to be Completed
- Data collection/retrieving
- Data cleaning
- Literature reviews
Estimated Number of Hours per Week: 10
Dr. Christopher Saladin, Digital Roman Carthage
Department: History (Note: You do not need to be a History major to apply)
Required Skills:
- Working with data in Excel, Stata or R
Desired Skills:
- GIS or other digital mapping skills, or
- Some familiarity with ancient Mediterranean history, or
- Experience with Omeka or other digital collections programs, or
- An interest in archaeology or ancient art
Tasks to be Completed
- The student would be assisting with my ongoing Digital Roman Carthage project, which consists of digital maps and an online photo gallery of ancient sites in Roman period North Africa. The student would be helping me edit and upload photos of museum collections to Omeka, enter metadata, and edit maps in ArcGIS Online.
Estimated Number of Hours per Week: 5-10
Dr. Seran Schug, Internships at the Center for Humanism at Cooper Medical School
Department: Sociology & Anthropology (Note: You do not need to be a Sociology or Anthropology major to apply)
Required Skills:
- Basic understanding of anthropological perspectives on medical systems and disease/illness experiences
Desired Skills:
- Qualitative Data Gathering (open-ended and semi-structured interviews; public discourse)
- Thematic Analysis
Tasks to be Completed
- Data collection
- Transcription
- Coding and analysis
- Writing support
Estimated Number of Hours per Week: 8-10
Dr. Debbie Sharnak, Transnational Jewish Networks and the Southern Cone Dictatorships
Department: History (Note: You do not need to be a History major to apply)
Required Skills:
- Database research for articles and newspapers
Desired Skills:
- Spanish skills and transcription work
Tasks to be Completed
- Interview transcription
- Gathering historical newspaper articles from databases and labeling them
Estimated Number of Hours per Week: 5
Dr. John Shjarback, Further Examining the Rise and Fall of Homicide in Philadelphia, PA
Department: Law & Justice Studies (Note: You do not need to be a Law & Justice Studies major to apply)
Required Skills:
- Attention to detail
- Basic internet skills
- Microsoft Excel
Desired Skills:
- Spanish skills and transcription work
Tasks to be Completed
- Data collection and cleaning
Estimated Number of Hours per Week: 10
Dr. Jay Szkola, Examining Gun Violence in the United States
Department: Law & Justice Studies (Note: You do not need to be a Law & Justice Studies major to apply)
Desired Skills:
- Citi Certificates
Tasks to be Completed
- Transcription and Coding of interviews regarding different gun cultures
Estimated Number of Hours per Week: 10
