On-Campus Research Opportunities
Applications open January 22 and close March 9th, 2026 unless indicated otherwise by an 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
Boyer-“Diversity and Evolution of Arachnids” Professor Boyer is not hiring student researchers for Summer 2025.
Dosch/Anderson-“Ecology at Ordway: An Integrated Summer of Experiential Learning Research”
Heskel-“Evolution of Meta-ecosystems in the Alaskan Arctic” *Application due February 03, 2026
Rivera-“Optimizing protein precipitation methods in human nail analysis” Professor Rivera is not hiring student researchers for Summer 2025.
Curry Rogers– “The Paleobiology of Late Cretaceous Dinosaurs and Their Contemporaries”
Chemistry
Cao-“Organic Materials Synthesis”
Fischer-“Synthetic Inorganic Chemistry of Phenyltris(3,5-dimethylpyrazol-1-yl)borates and Related Ligands” Professor Fischer is not hiring student researchers for Summer 2025.
Kuwata-“Computational Modeling of Oxygenated Reactive Intermediates in Atmospheric Chemistry” Professor Kuwata is not hiring researchers for Summer 2026.
Splan-“Research in Bioinorganic Chemistry” Professor Splan is not hiring researchers for Summer 2026.
Varberg-“Research in Molecular Spectroscopy” Professor Varberg is not hiring student researchers for Summer 2025.
Witus-“Catalytic Peptides and Enzyme-polymer Conjugates for Biomedical Applications”
Environmental Studies
Bradtmiller-“Paleoclimate and Oceanography Research Using Deep Sea Sediments” Professor Bradtmiller is not hiring student researchers for Summer 2025.
Bratt-“Effects of Redlining on Water Quality Across the Twin Cities Metro Area” Professor Bratt is not hiring student researchers for Summer 2026.
Phadke-“The Reimagining of the Upper Mississippi” APPLY BY MARCH 10 by emailing required materials to ([email protected]).
Geography
Haro-Carrión-“Land-use / land-cover change and their impacts on biodiversity in a highly human-modified landscapes in Ecuador”
Geology
Curry Rogers– “The Paleobiology of Late Cretaceous Dinosaurs and Their Contemporaries”
MacGregor-“Environmental Change in Glacier National Park, Montana” Professor MacGregor is not accepting student researchers for summer 2025.
Chapman– “Tectonics research.” Professor Chapman is not accepting student researchers for summer 2025.
MSCS
Arehalli-“Predictive Processing in Language Production & Comprehension” Professor Arehalli is not accepting student researchers for summer 2025.
Diaz-“Rank Lists of Zig-Zag Matrices for Quiver Representations”
Herstedt-“Analysis of Discrete Zero-Dimensional Dynamical Systems”
Jackson-“Drawing from Life in Extended Reality: Advancing Cross-Reality User Interfaces for Observational 3D Sketching”
Fox-“Deep Learning for Robot Navigation”
Grinde-“Statistical genetics in populations with mixed ancestry” Professor Grinde is not accepting student researchers for summer 2025.
Marsh-“Online Privacy in Chinese Fandom” Professor Marsh is not accepting student researchers for summer 2025.
Mitchell-“Math Corps camp and/or Numerical Methods for Fluid Flows”
Peña-“Design and Evaluation of Computing Workshops for Professional Non-programmers” Professor Peña is not accepting student researchers for summer 2025.
Ziegelmeier-“Topological Data Analysis of Knowledge Networks”
Neuroscience/Psychology
Maddux-“Assessing the impact of reward devaluation on Pavlovian conditioned approach behavior in rats”
Physics
Cannon-“Observational Astronomy”
Heyman-“Ultrafast Optical Spectroscopy of Novel Photoconductors”
Williams-“Extragalactic Magnetic Fields”