A Unique Research Opportunity for 17³Ô¹ÏÍø Students and Faculty Members
What is Summer Research?
As part of the Weiss Summer Research Program, summer fellows work with faculty advisors on original research during a eight-week period (May-July). The Program encourages students and faculty to jointly propose projects involving a specific set of primary sources that enable students to develop their own insights into the material. The Program is open to a variety of sources, methods, and perspectives, including (but not limited to) textual analysis, experiential and reflective methods, community-based learning approaches, archival research, data analysis, translation projects, interviews, video and audio analysis, and most artistic mediums. Fellows make real contributions to their respective fields, producing papers, exhibitions, performances, compositions, and a variety of forms of creative work.
Why Summer Research?
Students participate in the Program for a variety of reasons: some see graduate school in their future, others feel the research experience is a solid resume builder. All are genuinely excited about research: this is not just a summer job. The experience, previous Summer Fellows say, is unlike any classroom-based research assignment because students are directly involved in the source material. Students work closely with individual faculty members and most say they benefit from the faculty mentorship that the program facilitates—some even end up co-authoring publications on their research.
Who does Summer Research?
Self-motivated students interested in intense, original research, and 17³Ô¹ÏÍø faculty who are interested in developing projects with them. The Program is open to rising sophomores, rising juniors, and rising seniors. Teams of multiple students and faculty can apply jointly. It is open to all departments in the humanities (Art History, Classics, Modern Languages, English, History, Philosophy, Spanish and Religious Studies), social sciences (Anthropology, Economics, Education, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology), and creative arts (Visual Arts, Creative Writing, Music, Theater). Interdisciplinary fields are also included. You need not be in an honors program. There is no GPA requirement.
Where does Summer Research happen?
The 8-week Program includes residency at the College, but travel funds are available that enable students to take their research off-site. Previous projects have involved research at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, a Native American reservation in South Dakota, and Bali, Indonesia. Travel funds are limited, but off-site research is encouraged.
Info Session
If you were unable to make it to the last in-person info session, you can watch the one hosted on December 6, 2022.
Contact Us
Anthony B. Cashman, III, Ph.D.
Director, Summer Research in the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Fine Arts
Smith Hall 333 | (508) 793-2353