2023 Summer Undergraduate Research

Gain Research Skills. Further Department Goals.

We are looking forward to another summer of undergraduate research. Full-time, part-time, in-person, and virtual options available.

Review the list and descriptions of available positions below. Open to students in all majors/minors.

Summer Research Application Form

Apply by 4:00 p.m. February 16

Full-time, In-person

Title: Phenology Research
Supervisor: Troy Knight
Full-time (40-hours/week), in-person position on campus
Compensation: Approx. $6000 (total includes 10-week housing stipend)
  • Description: Student research fellow will work on two projects monitoring the phenology (timing of life history events) of prairie flowers, frogs and toads in Saint John's Abbey Arboretum. The work is part of a long-term monitoring project to better understand local environmental change as it relates to climate change. The fellow can expect to spend two days a week in the field conducting a "phenology walk" recording plants in flower on a set route through the Arboretum. The fellow will spend the other half of their time on analysis of audio recordings of frogs and toads collected from the Arboretum. This will require listening to and creating spectrographs from audio recordings made in the Arboretum over the last four years. Some field work will also be involved with maintaining the audio recorders.
    Qualifications: Completion of ENVR 275 preferred. Fellow must be able to work independently.
    Skills Developed: Plant identification; Learning specialized software for audio recording analysis; Database construction for large multi-year research projects; Familiarization with calls of various frog and toad species in the Abbey Arboretum.
    Time Commitment: Full-time, on-campus residence for 10 weeks (400 hours total), late May to early August.
Title: Soils and Climate Change
Supervisor: Joe Storlien
Full-time (40-hours/week), in-person position on campus
Compensation: Approx. $6000 (total includes 10-week housing stipend)
  • Description: Student fellow will work on the study of drivers of global climate change in soil ecosystems. Soils play a unique role in global climate change issues as they may serve as either a net source or sink of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, depending upon how they are managed. Dr. Storlien has a collaborative project with the USDA-ARS in Morris, MN to evaluate sustainability aspects of winter camelina and pennycress production. Work in 2023 will likely include a mixture of field and laboratory work, with some additional focus on drafting a publication from previous summer research data. Student experiences will include review of scientific literature, learning soil & greenhouse gas sampling techniques, gaining knowledge of plant production & management, and organization & analysis of quantitative data. This fellow will have the opportunity to work on a range of projects with a large, collaborative team and produce research worthy of presentation at Scholarship & Creativity Day as well as a potential national conference in Fall 2023. Students should have an interest in science, agriculture, and global climate change and be able to perform work in either indoor or outdoor settings.
    Qualifications: Completion of ENVR 275, basic scientific literature review, and lab report writing experience preferred. Fellow must be able to work independently.
    Skills Developed: Soil trace gas measurement techniques using cutting-edge technology (mobile-FTIR); Field characterization of soils and their suitability to support specific vegetation; Identification and propagation of common agronomic weeds and cash crops; Familiarization with scientific literature review and synthesis.
    Time Commitment: Full-time, on-campus residence for 10 weeks (400 hours total). Work will begin in late May and finish by early August.

Part-time, Remote/Hybrid/In-person, can be combined for full-time

Title: BIPOC-Led Renewable Energy
Supervisor: Corrie Grosse
In-Person or Virtual and self-directed; full or part-time options depending on student availability
Compensation: up to approx. $3,200 (up to 300 hours) if virtual; approx. $5000 (includes 10-week housing stipend) if full-time/in-person
  • Description: One student will support research on BIPOC-led renewable energy projects, particularly Native-led renewables in the United States. The student will create a database of all BIPOC-led renewable energy projects occurring in each Native nation in the United States. The database will include annotated bibliographies of news articles, government documents, and other media. The goal of the project is to assess the state of play of BIPOC-led renewable energy and inform Dr. Grosse's research design for her next book project on Native-led renewable energy. Additional administrative and organization tasks related to research and teaching may also be assigned.
    Qualifications: This position will be remote and requires a student who is self-directed, comfortable working independently, and motivated to seek out and make use of library and librarian resources. High quality writing and expertise with EndNote and Google Drive, or enthusiasm for learning these skills, are important. Passion for the topic is preferred.
    Time Commitment: Part or full-time, up to 300 hours.
Title: Climate Literature & Manuscript Preparation
Supervisor: Kyhl Lyndgaard
Remote and self-directed; full or part-time options depending on student availability
Compensation: up to approx. $1100 (up to 100 hours)
  • Description: One student will support research on global climate literature, gathering full-text versions of a bibliography as well as conducting additional research to expand the list. The student will create annotations for the bibliography on short stories, nonfiction essays, and scholarly articles. The goal of the project is to further inform Dr. Lyndgaard's new course on global climate change literature. Additional tasks related to research and teaching, particularly the digitization of a book manuscript may also be assigned.
    Qualifications: This position will be remote and requires a student who is self-directed, comfortable working independently, and motivated to seek out and make use of library and librarian resources. High quality writing and expertise with EndNote and Google Drive, or enthusiasm for learning these skills, are important. Passion for the topic is preferred.
    Time Commitment: Part-time/can be combined for full-time, up to 100 hours