The way students and faculty collaborate on research at NWU is a little different from how they do it at larger state research institutions. “Professors in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences are here to teach undergraduates—that’s far and away our number one priority,” said Frank Ferraro, associate professor of psychology.

While students elsewhere must often adhere to the projects their professors or graduate assistants already have underway, Ferraro said NWU professors “help our students create their own research projects. They’re free to explore the questions that intrigue them.”

And the Student/Faculty Collaborative Research Fund, created through the Flemming Estate, supports those endeavors. Students and faculty work together to build project proposals that advance the students’ research interests. They compete for funds, and winning projects present their findings at the end of the year.