OFFICE OF UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH are programs open to all Northwestern undergraduates, including Undergraduate Research Grants (Academic Year URGs and Summer URGs), Undergraduate Language Grants, Conference Travel Grants, Undergraduate Engagement Grants, and the Circumnavigators Travel-Study Grant.  In addition, there are links to three programs we also run: the Undergraduate Research and Arts Exposition, the Undergraduate Research Assistant Program, and the Humanities Research Workshops.

There are also opportunities that are external to the University that can mainly be found through the Office of Fellowships.

Welcome to the Undergrad Arch:

a search engine to find research, creative, and engagement opportunities.

One of the hallmarks of Northwestern University is the diversity of its incredible opportunities: everything from summer funding for research projects through the Undergraduate Research Grant program to creative project grants to make movies.  There are countless opportunities to work in a lab, do an internship, travel abroad, and otherwise engage in your education beyond the classroom.  However, at times, this diversity can make it hard for students to find what may be available. 

The Office of the Provost has developed a searchable database as a way of helping students to match their interests to the opportunities on campus and around the world.  The Undergrad ARCH (Accessing Research and Creative Help) has faceted search capabilities, enabling you to search in many ways.  You can search a subject area or interest like engineering or history, and you can search by location (Evanston campus, international…) or time frame (summer, year round…).  The best part is that you can do all of these searches at the same time, digging further into the opportunities to find the one perfect for you. 

The database already holds well over 200 opportunities, but more will be added.  We hope that soon it will offer a truly comprehensive look at undergraduate opportunities to further enrich your time at Northwestern.

In addition, we can now link you to another database: Northwestern Scholars.  This database will enable you to search areas of interest (such as cell biology) or specific concepts (such as gene expression)  and see which faculty members are working in that area, even identifying who they work with and what publications or grants they produce. It is our hope that the combination of these databases will give students the ability to take full advantage of both the amazing faculty at Northwestern and the incredible array of resources available to you.

So, go ahead and search: the world is before you!

The Undergrad ARCH is for research, creative, and engagement opportunities for Northwestern undergraduates.

Northwestern Scholars is for searching Northwestern faculty research interests.