Find out what it means to be at a top research university.
Aresty students are scholars, mentors, and respected leaders. Through their involvement in research, they sharpen their communication and writing skills, better manage their time, and gain invaluable experience working with top experts in their field. The Aresty Research Center provides a platform for budding researchers to present their findings in a variety of ways.
each year
Undergraduate and high school students have the opportunity to showcase their groundbreaking research through different outlets.
The annual Undergraduate Research Symposium is a chance for undergraduates to present a paper or poster on their findings to an audience of faculty, peers, and corporate and community partners. The research presentations span the sciences, social sciences, humanities, and arts.
The New Jersey Northern Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, hosted at Rutgers University, invites high school students to report on the results of their original research investigations in STEM and compete for scholarships and recognition at this regional event. Students in grades 9-12 enrolled in public, private, or home schools are eligible to participate in their local regional symposium. The event is sponsored and administered by the Aresty Research Center.
RURJ is an undergraduate-run, interdisciplinary journal designed to showcase the cutting-edge undergraduate research conducted at Rutgers University. Our mission is to provide undergraduate researchers the opportunity to publish their own work and experience the peer review process.
Rutgers is a proud member of The Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA), made up of 14 top-tier research universities that together conduct $10.5 billion in funded research annually. Through the structured programs offered by the Aresty Research Center, Rutgers undergraduate students have the opportunity not only to observe firsthand how faculty conduct teaching and research activities, but also to participate in this creation of knowledge.
Julianne Chan and Anisha Jackson, former Aresty Summer Science Research Assistants, were selected as two of the four Goldwater Scholars, a prestigious national honor for undergraduates who plan to pursue research careers in the natural sciences, mathematics, and engineering. Chan is also a current Aresty Senior Peer Instructor and a former Senior Peer Reviewer of the Aresty Rutgers Undergraduate Research Journal.
Akanksha Mathivanan, a Senior Peer Instructor at the Aresty Research Center, is an aspiring physician-scientist who intends to forge a career in medical research. She is also living with a traumatic brain injury. In the lab of Rutgers professor Annika Barber, Mathivanan has found a place where she can flourish, doing the research she loves while studying the science behind her illness. Mathivanan joined Barber’s lab as part of the Aresty Summer Science program, exploring the impact of brain injuries on the ability to sleep.
Jennifer Sun, Ph.D., a former Aresty student turned President Postdoctoral Research Fellow, says the Aresty program changed the course of her studies, career, and life, beginning when she wrote her first grant proposal as a freshman.
Throughout her undergraduate career at Rutgers–New Brunswick she participated in research that spanned many branches of science, from learning about insects and their parasites to what she calls "hardcore chemistry" to studies on dementia. And she developed long-lasting relationships with faculty mentors including Distinguished Professor G. Charles Dismukes.
"All those experiences helped me to have the tendency to be a scientist and realize that science was what I wanted to do," said Sun.
Perhaps best of all, Sun is giving back by mentoring students like Tia Hart in her lab through Aresty and other undergraduate research programs the center offers, such as the Research in Microbiology Program.
Wednesday, February 26, 2025, 8:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m. | Douglass Student Center, Trayes Hall, New Brunswick
Friday, April 25, 2025, 10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. | Alexander Library, Undergraduate Reading Room, New Brunswick
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