Undergraduate Research

The Psychology Department offers undergraduates many opportunities to engage in research. Each semester, over 300 students work in research labs and earn college credit.

Types of Undergraduate Research

PSYC 290 Research Experience

PSYC 290 Research Experience is for the Casual Researcher who just needs some elective hours, or for the Exploring/Determined Researcher wanting to explore pursuing a research career, including applying to grad school, PSYC 290 is the starting point. More information about PSYC 290.

PSYC 494 Advanced Research

PSYC 494 is the next step after PSYC 290 for undergraduates who want more research experience. In PSYC 494 Advanced Research, students take on more responsibility in the lab, and it requires submitting a paper at the end of the semester. More information about PSYC 494.

Honors Program

The Honors Program is a three-semester sequence of courses, taken along with PSYC 494, offers undergraduates an opportunity to create scholarly work on a specific research project, culminating in a bachelor's thesis. More information about the Honors Program.

Capstone Program

The Capstone Program two-semester sequence of courses, taken along with PSYC 494, offers undergraduates an opportunity to write a bachelor's thesis with the support of faculty mentors. More information about the Capstone Program.

Apply for an Undergraduate Research Scholarship in Psychological Science

The goal of this program is to enable research opportunities for students who face financial and time constraints that otherwise prevent them from participating in research. More information about the application process

Featured Research Opportunity

Vision Lab
In the Vision Lab (co-directed by Dr. Simona Buetti and Dr. Alejandro Lleras), we are interested in understanding fundamental mechanisms in vision and attention. For example, we explore how people search for something in a visual environment, and what factors influence their perceptions of the visual world around them. We use behavioral measurements, eye-tracking and VR techniques in our research. Please visit our website to learn more about what we do: https://publish.illinois.edu/visionlab/ or contact jiaheht2@illinois.edu if you have...