Undergraduate Research in Honors
About Undergraduate Research in Honors
Undergraduate research can be a transformative experience, valuable not only for graduate and professional school but for any career requiring initiative, independent thinking, and problem-solving skills. Research fosters close working relationships between faculty and students and among research teams, and it offers students a window onto some of the most pressing challenges facing society today.
The University Honors Program strongly encourages and supports research for Honors students. We work with departments and colleges to offer Disciplinary Honors programs in a variety of fields, including Biology, Biomedical Sciences, Chemistry, Exercise Physiology, Humanities, Physics, Psychology, and Nursing.
Every summer we offer competitive Undergraduate Research Fellowships for research performed under the guidance of faculty mentors. Proposal deadlines are in March; both Core and Disciplinary Honors students are eligible. We showcase Honors research at the Honors Undergraduate Research Symposium in November.
Undergraduate Summer Research Program 2025
The University Honors Program offers 20 undergraduate summer fellowships to Honors students, in the amount of $3500 each, on a competitive basis for research or creative projects to be carried out June-August 2025. In many cases the research or creative work will be done on Marquette’s campus, but residence at Marquette is not required, and students have done Honors research projects in other parts of the country or abroad. To be eligible for the stipends, which will be paid in a few lump sums at the beginning of the summer and can be used for any kind of cost, from materials to travel to rent, all students must have faculty mentors who agree to supervise their projects. Research in the Health Sciences or Biological Sciences Summer Research Programs, or other summer research programs at Marquette, is appropriate for these stipends. If you are in a Disciplinary Honors program or are doing an Honors project with a mentor independently, you might want to use the summer fellowship for an early stage of your research.
All applications will be reviewed by a panel of faculty with representation from the humanities, sciences, and social sciences. The Honors Program has access to applicants’ transcripts, which will be consulted during review of applications.
Acceptance of the funding will acknowledge your agreement to present your independent research or creative project at the Honors Program Research and Creative Project Fair to be scheduled in the fall semester. Participation in this Fair is required for all fellowship winners. Students who accept Honors fellowships must be planning to enroll at Marquette in fall 2025.
For information on how to apply, view the call for proposals.
Past fellowship winners and projects:
2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017
Summer 2025 -Honors Summer Research Fellowships
Rhys Benoit, College of Arts & Sciences, History major, Public History, Creative Writing, and Medieval Studies minors
Project Title: The Politics of Forgetting: Comfort Women and Collective Memory
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Michael Wert, History
Lennard Fredric Boholst, College of Arts & Sciences, Economics major, Mathematics minor
Project Title: The Impact of Remittances on Education Spending in the Philippines
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Andrew Meyer, Economics
Loriann Chávez, College of Arts & Sciences, Cognitive Science major, Spanish Language, Literature and Cultures and Mental Health Applications minors
Project Title: A Comparative Study of Student and Professor Perceptions of the Grading System
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Amelia Zurcher, English
Mark Claerhout, College of Education, Anthropology and History majors
Project Title: Effective Interdisciplinary Team Teaching: Best Practices in Higher Education
Faculty Mentors: Dr. Eric Dimmitt, Educational Policy and Leadership and Dr. Khadijah Makky, Biomedical Sciences
Ashley Dirkmaat, College of Arts & Sciences, Psychology and Cognitive Science majors
Project Title: The Effects of Alcohol Use on Safety Learning and Fear Reduction
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jacklynn Fitzgerald, Psychology
Tionna Gillespie, College of Arts & Sciences, Psychology & Criminology majors
Project Title: Perceiving the Pandemic: How Socioeconomic and Environmental Factors Shaped College Students’ COVID-19 Experiences
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Gabriel Velez, Educational Policy and Leadership
Téa Graham, College of Arts & Sciences, Psychology and Cognitive Science majors
Project Title: Emotion Processing and Regulation as Moderators of the Relationship between Psychiatric Symptoms of Anxiety and Quality of Life (QoL): Implications for Treating QoL
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jacklynn Fitzgerald, Psychology
Kian Howe, College of Arts & Sciences, Biological Sciences major
Project Title: If a Tree Falls in the Forest: An analysis of long-term survival of trees growing on dead logs
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Joe LaManna, Biological Sciences
Sarah Hurst, College of Arts & Sciences, Cognitive Science and Psychology majors
Project Title: Neurodevelopmental Trajectories in Medically Complex Children
Faculty Mentors: Dr. Astrida Kaugars, Psychology; Dr. Lauren Miller and Dr. Danielle Glad from Medical College of Wisconsin.
Jasleen Kaur, College of Arts & Sciences, Political Science and Criminology & Law Studies majors
Project Title: Political Efficacy in the Sikh-American Community
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Julia Azari, Political Science
Gabriella Nerger, College of Arts & Sciences, Political Science major, Public Policy and Law & Society minors
Project Title: Civic Engagement, Partisanship, and Ideology: Generation Z in American Politics
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Julia Azari, Professor and Assistant Chair of Political Science
Sean Ogrosky, College of Arts & Sciences, Writing-Intensive English and Public Relations majors, Medieval Studies minor
Project Title: Ben Barkin: The Man Who Made Milwaukee Smile
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Amy Blair, English
Brenda Paredes, College of Arts & Sciences, Sociology and Spanish majors
Project Title: Poetry as a form of Resistance
Faculty Mentor: Dra. Cortes-Velez, Spanish Language, Literature, and Culture
Andrea Rifelj, College of Health Sciences, Exercise Physiology major
Project Title: Effect of Hand Symmetry and Preference on Bimanual Coordination in Children
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Sam Nemanich, Occupational Therapy
JJ Vanderloop, College of Arts & Sciences, Political Science major
Project Title: The Function of Shared-Revenues in State and Municipal Government
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Phil Rocco, Political Science
Sofia Isabelle Yee, College of Arts & Sciences, Political Science and Economics majors
Project Title: Do Actions Speak Louder? Investigating the Relationship between the Heightened Executive Order Usage and US Foreign-Born Labor Market.
Faculty mentors: Dr. Heather Kohls, Economics and Dr. Grace Wang, Economics
MU4Gold Scholars
Marisa D’Amico, College of Arts & Sciences, Political Science and International Affairs majors
Project title: TBA
Faculty mentor: Dr. Heather R. Hlavka, Chair and Professor, Social and Cultural Sciences
Sophia Halick, College of Arts & Sciences, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology major
Project Title: Inspiratory time (Ti) and expiratory time (Te), while altered by dark phase light stimuli, do not fully explain the impact of these stimuli on respiratory frequency.
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Deanna Arble, Biological Sciences
Kennedi Luckett, College of Arts & Sciences and College of Communication, Digital Media and Psychology majors
Project Title: Spiritual Wellness
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Nakia Gordon, Psychology
Donnie Okleme, College of Education, Mechanical Engineering major
Project Title: TBA
Faculty Mentor: Sina Alipour Aghdam, Mechanical Engineering
