Mission Statement

The Office of Undergraduate Research provides intellectual and administrative support for students conducting faculty-mentored research at Oberlin College. The student-mentor relationships supported by this office have allowed students to transfer their curiosity from the classroom to the library, the laboratory, and field sites across the globe. Many of these inquiries lead to scholarly presentations and papers, and student travel to professional academic conferences is supported by the Office of Sponsored Programs. The opportunity for learning and laboring under close faculty supervision provides our students with a first-hand understanding of the rigor and discipline necessary to maintain an active research program. Oberlin is known for producing more eventual Ph.Ds than any of its peer institutions, and the opportunities for research provided by this office help ensure that Obies with Ph.Ds are gender diverse, economically diverse, and racially diverse. Since 1995, through its coordination of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program (est. 1988), the McNair Scholars Program (1995–2007), the Oberlin College Research Fellows (est. 2007), and the Oberlin Summer Research Institute (est. 2006), the Office of Undergraduate Research helps make the intellectual and practical labor of research a central part of the Oberlin experience for more than a hundred students each year.

The schedule for the 2008 Fall Presentations, by the Mellon Mays Fellows and Oberlin College Research Fellows, can be found here.