Undergraduate Research

Students may participate in research for credit by enrolling in ANT 497 Directed Research. Variable credit is offered (one to four credits) and up to 8 hours of Directed Research, Readings, or Honors combined may be applied toward the major. Students are responsible for approaching faculty about individual-directed research. Students work with their faculty mentor to create a topic and evaluation criteria and then submit a Directed Study Form to the Undergraduate Program Coordinator in Anthropology 207 for enrollment.

Students may also be invited to participate in the Anthropology Department Honors Program. In order to qualify, students must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.5 and a minimum Anthropology GPA of 3.5. Eligible majors are invited to participate in honors during the second semester of their junior year or at the beginning of their senior year. The honors program in Anthropology gives students the opportunity to work closely with a faculty advisor and consult with a committee of additional faculty members to research, write, and defend a senior honors thesis. Students interested in the honors programs are advised to keep their GPA high throughout their college career and start thinking about their honors project topic before their senior year. ANT 397 Directed Readings and ANT 497 Directed Research allow students the opportunity to start developing a possible project topic with their faculty advisor in advance of their acceptance into the honors program.  To learn more, visit our Honors in Anthropology webpage.

Undergraduate Research Programs at Emory College offers individual research grants, international research grants, faculty-student research partnerships, summer research stipends, and funding for conference presentations to undergraduate students in all disciplines. Participants also take part in an undergraduate research symposium at the close of their grant period. Further information on research opportunities and the application process can be found through the Emory College Undergraduate Research Programs website.

A range of summer research opportunities or field schools may also be available to Anthropology undergraduates. The National Science Foundation offers the Research Experience for Undergraduates Program. The Emory Undergraduate Research Programs office coordinates SURE (Summer Undergraduate Research Experience) and IRES (International Research Experience for Science Students). There are also many field schools available for Anthropology students, and we have created a web page for Field School Opportunities and Graduate Programs which have been advertised to our students.  Faculty advisors may be able to suggest further external sources of funding in the discipline.

While many projects are either low cost or carried out through a faculty member's funded research program, Emory does have options for students seeking independent funding for research:

• Independent Research Grant through Emory Undergraduate Research Programs (deadline mid-April for summer funding, mid-Sept for fall funding, mid-Jan for spring funding)
• Conference Travel Grant through Emory Undergraduate Research Programs.
• Anthropology Department Conference Travel Grant
• Undergraduate Global Research Fellowship through the Halle Institute for Global Research and the Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry (note the deadline for this application is usually early February, so you would need to have your project idea together early)
• CMBC Undergraduate Fellowship through the Center for Mind, Brain, and Culture (apply by March 15)
• Rose Library Awards for archival research, including the Currey Travel Award (pre-research) and Alan Rackoff Prize for projects completed using Rose Library source materials (apply by April 30)
• Tam Institute for Jewish Studies Undergraduate Summer Grant.  For research, conferences, language training, field schools, or other experience related to the field of Jewish studies.

Students are encouraged to speak with their faculty advisors and research supervisors about participating in professional academic conferences.  In many cases, funding is available to support student conference participation (see section above).

See the list below for some suggestions that have been submitted by faculty and past students, though your advisor may be able to recommend others relevant to your specific field of research:

• American Anthropological Association
  * Free registration available to Anthropology majors with code - ask Undergraduate Coordiantor for code before registering.
  * Free student membership is also available with code.
• Annual Biomedical Conference for Minoritized Students (ABRCMS)
• Society for Applied Anthropology
• Society for Economic Anthropology (SEA)
• Southern Anthropological Society
• Southeastern Archaeological Conference (SEAC)
• Southeastern Biological Anthropology Interest Group (SEBIG)
• South Eastern Evolution & Human Behavior (SEEHB)

Undergraduates interested in publishing their research might consider the Emory Undergraduate Research Journal. For more information, contact EURJstaff@gmail.com.

Another option is Anthropos, an undergraduate Anthropology e-publication run by Emory Anthropology students. For more information, contact easspublication@gmail.com.

Undergraduates have also co-authored papers with faculty members in disciplinary journals.