Research Projects
All USNA departments offer research or independent study opportunities for midshipmen. These can include research, capstone, design, or independent study courses. Consult your department's policies to determine how these courses would fit into your matrix or what pre-requisites are required. Most independent research courses are designated XX495 (fall) or XX496 (spring), with corresponding honors course equivalents. For example, EM495 is the research course offered to mechanical engineering students.
Below are some examples of midshipman research projects:
- Derek Gess ('23, Trident Scholar) and Prof. Basu published work on liquid crystals
- Kara Kniezewski ('23) presents at the AAS Meeting
- Lukas Atwood ('20) and Prof. Raj Basu publish work on liquid crystal devices
- Sarah Naldo ('20) and Andrius Bernotas (Trident, '19) publish in Journal of Applied Physics with Prof. Brian Donovan
- Autonomous Module On-orbit Diagnostic System (AMODS) - receives SECNAV Innovation Award
- Recent Trident Scholar research projects
- Recent Bowman Scholar research projects
- Polar Science Research in the Arctic
- Investigating Flapping Foil Propulsion in Kayaks
- Synthesis and Evaluation of Compounds with Potential for Treating Malaria
- Hydrolysis of Cellulose Utilizing Ionic Liquid Based Technology
- Feasibility Study for a Hydrofoil Retrofit of a Catamaran
- Isolation and Characterization of Endotoxin in Psychrophiles
- Indirect Selective Laser Sintering of Graphite Bipolar Plates for Direct Methane Fuel Cells
- Electrical and Computer Engineering Projects
- Midshipmen Hurricane Chasers
Some midshipman research accomplishments:
- Anders Gulbrandson ('23) and Kara Kniezewski ('23) win Goldwater Scholarships
- Nina Cartwright ('21) wins American Meteorological Society (AMS) Student Award
- USNA wins DTRA's Syn Bio Academies Challenge, 2017
- Midshipmen win awards at American Nuclear Society (ANS) Student Conference, 2015
- Jeremy Mandia ('09) - co-author of a Patent
Many other areas for research projects exist.
Review a department's webpages or faculty research pages for more examples of projects.
Midshipman travel to meetings and conferences:
- American Astronomical Society meeting
- American Chemical Society (ACS) meeting
- National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR)
- Society of Toxicology (SOT) meeting
Support for midshipmen research projects and travel is provided by several funding agencies. Our main funding source is the Office of Naval Research (ONR). We are grateful for their support of midshipman research.
USNA is an institutional member of CUR (Council on Undergraduate Research).
