Undergraduate Research at Khoury College
Challenge yourself to a new level
Northeastern provides a wide-ranging ecosystem for undergraduate research. Through three distinct pathways — Honors in the Discipline program, a paid research co-op, or in independent study for credit — students collaborate with leading researchers at Khoury College to advance discoveries and level up skill sets that prepare them for both industry and graduate programs.
By working with faculty members, undergraduate students learn how to grapple with complex problems and stay on the cutting edge of technology, while building a network of fellow undergraduate and graduate students who share similar research interests. Research contributions can range from internal publications to academic presentations at conferences. Additionally, Northeastern awards funding for student research through the Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships.
Helping fellow students thrive
Undergraduate student Ritu Shah discusses her research assistant co-op in which her work focuses on reducing fellow Khoury students’ feelings of loneliness and increasing their sense of belonging: “Computer science is so flexible … whatever you feel is meaningful to you, you can definitely incorporate computer science into it.”
How it works
A free two-credit Introduction to Research course geared toward first- and second-year undergraduates gives students the opportunity to explore different areas of computing research and to meet research active faculty.
Next, there are four ways for undergraduate students to get involved with research at Khoury College:
- The Khoury Research Apprenticeship, which allows student to work on faculty guided projects while supported by a research skills class
- The Honors in the Discipline program, which spreads a project over several semesters and recognizes research achievements within coursework
- A paid research co-op with a Northeastern faculty member is a full-time, four- to six-month experience that has a similar structure and application process to an industry co-op
- An independent study for credit with any faculty member pursuing research
Recent examples of undergraduate research
- Compiling the connections between various cryptographic hardness assumptions, with a focus on post-quantum resilient systems
- Enabling the use of outsourced databases in a way that hides the data and what queries that are made into the databases
- Improving image classification in machine learning
- Developing a better system to monitor enrollment in computer science courses that captures the intersectionality of the student population
- Exploring the complexity of prerequisites for computer science classes and how that effects the representation of women computer science graduates
2026 Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award winner
Recent computer science and mathematics graduate Zachary Eisbach has dedicated himself to studying language interoperability, the ability of programs written in different programming languages to communicate safely. At the heart of Eisbach’s research are application binary interfaces, or ABIs. Eisbach has focused on transforming these ABIs, with their inherent ambiguity and security risks, into precise, machine-checkable mathematical models, enabling formal verification of whether software components correctly adhere to them.
Past Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award winners
- Jake Ginesin (2025)
- William Cutler (2024)
- Michael Delmonaco (2023)
- Xuyang Li (2022)
- Ramzi Talhouk (2021)
- Dustin Jamner (2020)
- Kurran Singh (2019)
- Jake Campolo (2018)
- James Larisch (2017)
- Gary Soeller (2016)
Want to get started?
Contact assistant teaching professor Ariel Hamlin
