Classroom learning is only part of a great education. Undergraduate research puts you in a lab, a field site, or an archive alongside people who are actively producing new knowledge. You will learn how a research team actually works, improve your oral and written communication skills, and find out what genuinely interests you before you commit to a career path or a graduate program.
You do not need prior experience, a high GPA, or a finished project idea to start. Most students begin by helping with someone else's project and build from there.
Environmental Studies students get involved in two main ways: as a research assistant supporting a faculty member's ongoing work, or by designing an independent project of your own. Both can earn academic credit that counts toward the major. Read on for how to find a position, how the credit works, and how to fund a project of your own.
Questions? Email advising@es.ucsb.edu, stop by Bren 4312 for drop-in advising, or schedule an advising appointment.
Already have an Environmental Studies Program faculty advisor?
ENV S 199RA Application - (PDF)
Applications are due by the add deadline of each quarter
Research is any independent study within a given field of interest. Students can conduct their own research projects or work on a faculty's ongoing research project. Research can be conducted in all disciplines -- Social Sciences, Humanities, or STEM fields. In the STEM fields, a large portion of research is conducted through laboratory work. The head of a research project is usually known as the Principal Investigator (PI). The PI is often the supervisor of student researchers, as they are the head of the lab and conducting the research project students are helping with.
Conducting research is a great way to gain experience outside of the classroom, explore your areas of interest, foster collaboration skills with your peers, learn research procedures and protocol in a specific discipline, and provide relevant experience for students interested in pursuing graduate school. Here are some other benefits of research:
- Get to work closely with our prestigious faculty on their award-winning research
- Find out if a career in research or your field of study is right for you!
- Earn major credit for your work
- Build meaningful relationships and mentorship from faculty and your other lab members
When should I start?
First and second year: Take a class you find interesting and go to that professor's office hours. Ask what they study. That is the entire first step, and it is more than most students do.
Second and third year: This is when most Environmental Studies students land their first position. Use the sources listed below to help find your first position.
Third and fourth year: Consider turning your work into an independent project, a senior thesis, or an URCA grant proposal.
Transfer students: You have less runway, so start in your first quarter. Go to office hours in week two or three, before midterms take over.
Where positions are posted
Undergraduate Research Directory: This tool, put together by UCSB's Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities (URCA), helps students find available student researcher positions in departments across campus. You can filter by department, faculty name, and duration of the research. Keep in mind that this resource is not comprehensive, but it's a great place to start your search.
ESMail: Research opportunities are posted on the department listserv, so read every ESMail when you see it in your inbox.
Handshake: Paid undergraduate research positions are often posted as student jobs rather than research listings, so don't forget to check Handshake.
Career Services' Research Page: Pulls together the campus programs in one place and is a useful second stop after URCA.
Many positions are never advertised at all. See Where Environmental Studies Students Find Research below for the departments and centers worth looking through, then reach out directly.
How do I reach out?
Office hours: Professors often hire students from their undergraduate classes, and office hours are the best way to get a conversation. Ask what they study and whether they have openings in their lab. Don't be alarmed if they say no. Sometimes they already have enough researchers, or they require specific skills or coursework first.
Talk to your TAs: TAs frequently conduct research on this campus, and they're often working in different labs than the professors they TA for. TA office hours are a good way to learn about their work and about openings they know of.
Cold email: Once you have found research that interests you, email that faculty member and ask whether they have openings. Keep it short (five or six sentences):
- Who you are: name, year, major
- How you found their work: a class, their People page, a paper you read
- One specific thing about their research you found interesting
- What you are asking for: a conversation, or an assistant position
- Your availability: hours per week and which quarters, and whether you are looking for credit, pay, or either
- An attached resume, or a short list of relevant coursework and skills
URCA's Getting Started page has a full template if you want a model to work from.
What to expect: Emailing eight to ten faculty and hearing back from one or two is a normal outcome. If you don't hear back within five business days, send a follow-up. Professors get a lot of email and yours may simply have been missed.
If you get a no: Faculty rarely turn students away for being underqualified. They turn them away because the lab is full or the funding isn't there. Ask whether they know of anyone else taking students.
Ask other students: A number of students sitting beside you in class are doing research you may want to get involved in. Student researchers often refer friends and peers when a position opens up, or know about one before it's advertised.
Environmental Studies offers four courses that award credit for research experience outside the classroom. In all four, the work must be environmental in nature to earn credit. Which one you take depends on who is supervising your work. ENVS 99, 199, and 199RA are for research supervised by an Environmental Studies Program faculty member. If you are working with a faculty member in another department, or with an organization off campus, you earn credit through the internship course, ENVS 192.
You can earn up to 5 units of this credit in a given quarter, and up to 4 of those units may apply to major requirements. Over your time at UCSB you may take up to 30 units of 99, 199, and 199RA credit total, and no more than 8 units of 192, 199, and 199RA combined may apply to Area B (B.A.) or Area B-2 (B.S.).
| Course | Supervised by | Best for | How it counts |
|---|---|---|---|
| ENVS 99 | An ES faculty member | A first, entry-level research experience | Units toward graduation only. Does not count toward upper-division major requirements. |
| ENVS 199 | An ES faculty member | Investigating an environmental topic of your own in depth | Counts toward Area B (B.A.) or Area B-2 (B.S.), up to 4 units from this course |
| ENVS 199RA | An ES faculty member | Assisting an ES faculty member with their ongoing research | Counts toward Area B (B.A.) or Area B-2 (B.S.), up to 4 units from this course |
| ENVS 192 | Faculty outside ES, or an off-campus organization | Research or applied work outside the department | Counts toward Area B (B.A.) or Area B-2 (B.S.), up to 4 units from this course |
Working with someone outside Environmental Studies? ENVS 99, 199, and 199RA all require an Environmental Studies faculty sponsor, so work supervised elsewhere earns credit through ENVS 192 Internship instead. See our Internships page for how 192 works and how to enroll.
If you are not sure whether your project counts as environmental, check with an academic advisor before you commit to a quarter of work.
Units applied to major requirements must be taken for a letter grade. All of these courses are also available during summer session.
How to enroll in ENVS 99, 199, and 199RA.
- Find a faculty sponsor and agree on what the work will involve.
- Agree on the number of units before the quarter starts.
- Complete the application for the relevant course, linked below.
- Have your faculty sponsor sign it.
- Return it to the Environmental Studies Academic Coordinator (advising@es.ucsb.edu) before the quarter add deadline.
- Follow the directions listed in the return email to add the course to your schedule in GOLD.
Introduction to Research (ENV S 99)
Introduction to Research (ENVS 99) is a lower-division course available to lower and upper-division students who wish to conduct entry level directed study under the guidance of an Environmental Studies faculty member. Course offers motivated students an opportunity to undertake independent or collaborative research for faculty-directed research projects. Topic and scope varies, to be specified by student and their supervisory faculty member prior to registration.
Independent Studies (ENV S 199)
The Independent Studies course (ENV S 199) is available every quarter. This variable unit upper-division course is available to students who have a specific topic of interest they would like to research in-depth under the supervision of an Environmental Studies faculty member. The intent of this course is to allow students to investigate a topic covered in a recently completed course in which they would like to learn more about. Environmental Studies will try to accommodate Independent Studies proposals as long as they are supported by a faculty member and the research to be conducted is environmental (see the official course description for restrictions).
To officially pursue 199 credit, take a rough proposal to an appropriate Environmental Studies faculty member and discuss the possibility of obtaining credit for your proposed research project. If you both agree on the project, then download the official ENV S 199 proposal contract below, have it signed by your faculty advisor, and return it to the Environmental Studies Academic Coordinator before the quarter add deadline.
Research Assistant (ENV S 199RA)
The Research Assistant course (ENV S 199RA) is designed just like the 199 course. The difference is that the main focus of this course is to allow a student to obtain academic credit while assisting an Environmental Studies faculty member in conducting university research. This is a great way for an undergraduate to pick up research experience and learn more about a given environmental field.
Keep your eyes open for advertised 199RA opportunities or approach any Environmental Studies faculty you might be interested in working with and inquire as to any research opportunities. The enrollment procedure is the same as for the 199 course.
Types of Research Positions
Research at UCSB comes in three forms, and it is normal to move between them over time.
For credit: Enroll in ENV S 99, 199, or 199RA and receive units toward your degree. The units are part of your normal course load and carry no separate cost, but they are not paid work.
Paid: Some labs hire undergraduate researchers as student employees using grant or work-study funding. These positions are usually posted on Handshake or on individual lab websites rather than in research directories.
Volunteer: Some students start unpaid to learn a technique or show they are reliable, then move into a paid or for-credit position the following quarter.
Ask which one a position is before you commit. It is a completely normal question and faculty expect it. Faculty can also apply to URCA's Faculty Research Assistance Program in the fall for funds that cover expenses for undergraduates working on their projects, so it is worth mentioning if project costs come up.
Funding Your Own Project
Everything above is about joining work that already exists and already has funding behind it. If you are running your own project, you may need to cover your own supplies, travel, lab fees, or time. Several grants exist to support undergraduate research. These are a few of the sources our students use most, and there are many more across campus and beyond it. Eligibility rules and deadlines change from year to year, so visit each program's site for current requirements and dates.
URCA Grant: Up to $750 for a self-initiated research or creative project. Applications open October 1 and close in early November.
Coastal Fund: A student-run fund that supports research, restoration, and education projects benefiting the Santa Barbara coastline.
Gene and Susan Lucas Undergraduate Research Fund: Supports research by first-generation undergraduates in STEM fields, including stipends, materials, travel, and field experience.
Hanson Family Conference Travel Grant: Helps cover the cost of traveling to present your work at a conference.
Chancellor's Award in Undergraduate Research: Campus recognition for outstanding undergraduate research.
Presenting is what turns a quarter of research into something you can talk about in a graduate school interview or point to on a resume. Sharing research findings with colleagues and others is the ultimate goal of any researcher and a skill that is well worth developing. Here are just a few ways to share your findings:
URCA Week: Each May URCA holds a week's worth of events for undergraduate research which includes a poster colloquium, a conference, and the Research Slam, where students present their work in three minutes to a general audience. URCA grant recipients are required to participate, but the events are open to any student with work to share.
URCA Journal: The URCA Journal publishes undergraduate research, and URCA maintains a list of partner journals that also accepts undergraduate submissions.
Professional and Regional Conferences: Many academic societies hold annual conferences with undergraduate poster sessions and reduced student registration. Ask your faculty advisor which meetings people in your field attend.
Whichever route you take, tell your faculty advisor early. Abstract deadlines for conferences often fall months before the meeting itself.
Environmental research at UCSB happens across campus. These are some common places Environmental Studies students find research opportunities:
Environmental Studies Faculty: Start with our People page to see what our own faculty are studying.
Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration (CCBER): Restoration ecology, natural history collections, and environmental education across more than 300 acres of campus open space. CCBER offers paid internships and student positions, and no prior experience is required for many of them.
UCSB Natural Reserve System (NRS): Seven protected reserves used for research and teaching, including Coal Oil Point next to campus, Sedgwick in the Santa Ynez Valley, Carpinteria Salt Marsh, and Santa Cruz Island. Faculty across departments run field research at the reserves, and several sites offer paid student internships in restoration, monitoring, and conservation.
Marine Science Institute (MSI): MSI posts open undergraduate positions and internships across marine and coastal science, and works with faculty in Environmental Studies, Geography, EEMB, Earth Science, and Bren.
Bren School of Environmental Science and Management: Faculty and graduate students working on policy, economics, and management questions.
Other Departments: Geography, EEMB, Earth Science, Anthropology, Sociology, Political Science, Economics, and History all produce environmental research that Environmental Studies students contribute to.
Note: ENVS 99, 199, and 199RA all require an Environmental Studies faculty sponsor, so work supervised elsewhere earns credit through ENVS 192 Internship instead. See our Internships page for how 192 works and how to enroll.
If you would rather join a structured program than build a position from scratch, there are several to consider, at UCSB and elsewhere. Each has its own eligibility criteria, and most deadlines fall between October and March, so look them up in fall. URCA keeps the most current list of campus programs and their deadlines.
McNair Scholars Program: year-round research and graduate school preparation for first-generation and low-income students, with conference travel support
EUREKA: an early research experience aimed at first-year and second-year STEM students
California Alliance for Minority Participation (CAMP): summer and academic year research internships in STEM
UC LEADS: research preparation for students planning in completing a PhD. Scholars join the Grad Division's Academic Research Consortium cohort for their first summer
NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates: paid summer programs nationally, including field stations and marine labs, and the ecology, earth science, and environmental policy
Do I need a certain GPA?
No. Individual programs and grants may have their own requirements, but there is no GPA threshold to work in a lab or on a faculty project. Interest and reliability matter more.
I have no lab experience. Is that a problem?
No. Most undergraduate positions assume you are learning on the job. Say plainly what you do and do not know how to do. Faculty would much rather train someone honest than manage someone who overstated their skills.
Can I do research over the summer?
Yes. ENV S 99, 199, and 199RA are all available during summer session. Summer is a good stretch of time to work on a project without a full course load competing for your attention, so it is worth asking your faculty sponsor about it in spring.
Can my research become my senior thesis?
Often, yes. Many students spend a year as a research assistant and then develop their own question out of that work. See the Senior Thesis page for requirements and timing, and talk with your faculty sponsor early in your Junior year.
I emailed several professors and no one replied.
That is normal and it is not about you. Follow up once after five business days, then widen your list. If you have tried ten faculty without a response, consider visiting Career Services for guidance on your approach and additional resources.
I found a lab in another department. Can I still get credit?
Yes, through ENVS 192, the internship course. ENVS 99, 199, and 199RA require an Environmental Studies faculty sponsor, so they are not options for work supervised elsewhere.