Undergraduate Research
The goal of college isn’t to offer you knowledge – it’s to teach you how to find it, how to use it, how to create it. Undergraduate research is at the heart of that goal, because it gives you a chance to ask questions.
You came to a big school, in a big city, connected to a global university. Undergraduate research helps you take advantage of that size, while making the college experience feel small and personal.
When you participate in undergraduate research, you work closely with the world’s greatest faculty on their cutting edge projects – and your own. You make connections between your experiences and your classes. You apply that learning to the real world. You share what you find. And then you start all over again.
The Center for Undergraduate Research at NYU. Come for the answers, stay for the questions.
Get started on research with these 5 concrete steps:
Student Stories
I work in the Structural DNA Nanotechnology Lab, manipulating DNA sequences to self-assemble into high order structures. Essentially, we’re using DNA as a building material. I came in as a pre-med student, but when I started working in the lab I realized I was really interested in continuing my research. I co-wrote a paper with postdoc Dr. Simon Vecchioni who has been a mentor to me and helped me navigate applying to grad school. Plus, my PI, Prof. Yoel Ohayon, has been super supportive of my place on the NYU women’s basketball team.— Jordan Janowski (CAS ’24)
Major: Biochemistry
Thesis title: Engineering Chirality for Functionality in Crystalline DNA
Photo by Tracey Friedman
My thesis is focused on understanding the effects of community-proposed infrastructure on both the socioeconomic demographics of cities and on fiscal health. I’m originally from Chicago, so it made a lot of sense to pay tribute back to the place that raised me. I kind of stumbled into the impact investing industry accidentally [through internships]. I also took a class called “Design with Climate Change” with Peter Anker in Gallatin during my junior year — that class made me start thinking about the vital role that physical surroundings play in steering communities. — Rohan Bajaj (Stern ’24)
Major: Finance and statistics
Thesis title: Measuring Socioeconomic Changes and Investor Attitude in Chicago’s Post-Covid Economic Recovery
Photo by Tracey Friedman