Faculty-Student Research

Undergraduate research at Emmanuel is powered by close collaboration between students and faculty mentors.

Meet the Mentors Behind the Discovery

For more than a century, students have chosen Emmanuel College for the opportunity to form meaningful, lasting relationships with faculty mentors—relationships that spark intellectual curiosity and lead to real-world impact.

From their earliest courses, undergraduate students are invited into collaborative projects typically reserved for graduate students at larger universities. Faculty bring students into their own research, co-author publications, and present at local and national academic conferences.

Through these experiences, students gain skills in:

  • Critical and creative thinking
  • Laboratory techniques and data analysis
  • Working with primary and secondary sources
  • Academic writing and public speaking
  • Independent and team-based problem-solving

And beyond technical knowledge, they leave prepared—not just for graduate school or the workforce, but to ask big questions and pursue bold ideas.

Mindfulness & Mental Health

Associate Professor of Psychology Dr. Helen MacDonald’s research focuses on the relationships between mindfulness, mental health, academic functioning, and belongingness among college students. Along with her research team of psychology majors Madeline Bradley  and Matthew Lemansky ’23, MacDonald investigated the lived experiences of participants in an 8-week mindfulness training program.

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How do youth violence prevention streetworkers perceive the rewards and challenges of their work?

Associate Professor of Sociology Janese Free has worked with criminology and criminal justice major, Emily Kline and sociology major Lauren Sterling '22 to code and analyze qualitative data from interviews with streetworkers. In their paper, ""I became the person I needed…": Streetworkers' perspectives on their job experiences," the research team explores why streetworkers chose to engage in this line of work,  the obstacles they face while doing so, and how they cope with these challenges.

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Corporate Diversity & Inclusion and Executive Compensation

When it comes to increasing diversity, equity and inclusion in corporations, does money talk? Assistant Professor of Management Dr. Kelly Basile and management major Ryan Arisian ’24 began developing a database of S&P 500 companies which includes information on DEI targets as a part of executive compensation, DEI metrics (employee diversity, board diversity and managerial diversity) and firm performance. Do corporations who tie executive compensation to DEI targets perform better on DEI outcomes and overall, have better firm performance?

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How does “body talk” affect our self-image?

One way that people’s body dissatisfaction is socially expressed is through engaging in negative conversations with friends regarding how unhappy they are with their bodies.Professor of Psychology Dr. Linda Lin and psychology major Kate Del Torchio examining the prevalence of body talk in conversations, and whether this type of conversation relates to eating disorders and muscle dysmorphia development.   

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