Undergraduate research is an excellent idea for all students, but it is an especially good idea for those who are interested in attending engineering graduate school after completing their B.S. degree in chemical engineering. Check out our short video on the subject.
There are three paths to undergraduate research experience at Michigan Tech (for information on off-campus possibilities, click on the tag below), and all three of them begin with speaking with a professor. You must go to individual professors, presumably those who do research in areas that you find interesting, and discuss with them what types of opportunities there are to do research in their laboratories.
There are three types of research arrangements possible:
- Research for credit;
- Research as a part-time job;
- Research as an unpaid intern.
If you would like to do research for credit towards your undergraduate degree, you may sign up for one of our undergraduate research classes. You must obtain a chemical-engineering faculty sponsor to take this course. You may also do research with a professor in a department other than chemical engineering, in which case there will be an analogous course in that department that you may sign up for. Up to six credits of research may count as technical electives.
If you would like to do research as a part-time job, you must find a faculty member who has funding for such a position and make the arrangements with the faculty member. No final report is required.
If you would like to do research as an unpaid intern, you must find a faculty member who is interested in supervising you and make the arrangements with the faculty member. No reports are required.
All individuals conducting research in chemical engineering laboratories must take lab safety training before being admitted to work in the lab.