Students step up summer research, with increased support, amid pandemic’s challenges

For undergraduates in the engineering school, summer often means a chance to apply their learning in new ways, whether conducting field research, working in industry or volunteering abroad. Last summer, with the COVID-19 pandemic disrupting many of these plans, some students’ research projects took them in unexpected directions.

In response to increased need, the School of Engineering and Applied Science and several of the school’s departments boosted their support for faculty-advised summer research projects. Students explored topics including strategies for making public spaces safer, unequal impacts of air quality changes, and the biomechanics of disease in the brain.