Undergraduate Funded Research
Swarthmore provides more than $800,000 each year for undergraduate research across disciplines —supporting experiences that can help shape a career and prepare students for a lifetime of discovery. About two-thirds of Swarthmore students participate in funded research or independent creative projects with the mentorship of faculty members. Our small class sizes make it possible for students to enjoy close research oversight and collaboration with faculty, whether it's in Natural Sciences and Engineering or Humanities and Social Sciences.
In the Division of Natural Sciences & Engineering, many students conduct research under the close supervision of their professors; it is not uncommon for these students to earn co-author credit with faculty in peer-reviewed publications and present their research at academic conferences. Recent examples include:
Ananya Dhingra ’25, Ian Thompson ’26, and Ava Bessey ’24 are working alongside Professor of Astronomy David Cohen to advance techniques in measuring stellar winds from massive stars. Serving as key collaborators, these students have performed data analysis, programming, and studies on X-ray variability. NASA recently awarded Cohen a $300,000, two-year grant for this project, which will enable students to work at NASA Goddard, gaining expertise in spectroscopy, programming, and statistics while collaborating with NASA scientists.
Ethan Bergman ’22 designed a survey with Camille Brix ’23 to try to identify several different factors that might impact delays for people accessing care during the COVID-19 pandemic, including demographic characteristics, COVID conditions in a respondent’s area, their political leanings, and other indicators. He continued his research at a joint economics and public policy Ph.D. program at the University of Michigan, funded by a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Fellowship he received.
Shikha Shrestha ’24 presented her research at the Capital Region Women in Computer Science Conference (CAPWIC) in April 2024. Her study, conducted with Professor Ben Mitchell, analyzed how different imputation methods influenced the performance of random forest classifiers, revealing that missing values often led to overestimated model performance. These findings highlighted the importance of careful handling of missing data in machine learning to ensure accurate evaluations.
In the Humanities and Social Sciences divisions, student research can be more independent. Some students consult faculty members on their initial research ideas and project development before beginning their work in earnest. Other students work closely with professors on their academic research. Swatties in the humanities and social sciences have researched topics as varied as endangered languages, environmental waste management, international trade flow, and Russian children’s books. Other recent examples include:
Alora Young ’25, who was named the 2020-21 Youth Poet Laureate of the Southern United States, published her debut poetry collection, Walking Gentry Home, during her first year at Swarthmore. The work serves as an archive of her family's history and recounts the stories of nine generations of women, including her grandmother, Gentry, over the span of 270 years.
Steven (Tuti) Mukum ’26 created the first Africa is Rising Symposium, which served as a profound testament to the innovation, cultural wealth, and resilience of Africa, as well as a reflection of his deep connection to his home continent. Six influential figures spoke at the symposium, all of whom are connected through their significant contributions to Africa's development, human rights, education, and activism.
Eder Ruiz Sánchez ’25 was named a Pulitzer Reporting Fellow, and is working on a story about small-scale corn farmers in Mexico. He first developed an interest in journalism while taking Peace & Conflict in Latin America with Visiting Assistant Professor Michael Wilson Becerril.
