Groundbreaking research. Sophisticated tools. Real-world impacts. 

These are opportunities open to Pacific students. Professors and others across the university work creatively to support their ambitions, ensuring that students experience and gain professional experience within the fields they hope to enter. A close-knit community and low student-faculty ratio means that they receive personal attention and mentoring from faculty and staff who are deeply invested in their success. 

Below is a sampling of these cutting-edge possibilities:

Experiential Learning

Jenny Vo, bioengineering

Advances in Bioengineering

With the aid of a prestigious National Science Foundation grant, Pacific undergraduates have had opportunities to help an assistant professor of engineering plans to develop a device to help diagnose autism at an early age.

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Student Investment Fund

Managing an Investment Fund

Only 2% of business schools worldwide operate a student investment fund. In the Eberhardt Student Investment Fund, students do research and evaluation, write reports and make choices regarding where and how to invest the fund's money.

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astronomers in front of a radio telescope

Exploring Outer Space

“Our faculty are on the leading edge of research in astronomy,” said College of the Pacific Dean Lee Skinner. “This is exciting for the opportunities that students at Pacific have to participate in these innovative research projects as research assistants, co-presenters at scientific conferences and even co-authors on important publications.”

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Mackenzie Tobertga ’27 and Dean Elizabeth Orwin

Developing artificial corneas

Over the summer, an undergraduate student in the School of Engineering and Computer Science worked with Elizabeth Orwin, the school's dean and an internationally recognized expert on corneal research, on engineering the tissue that forms the clear outer surface of the eye. 

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Undergraduate Research

Stauffer Summer Research Symposium

At most colleges and universities in the United States, research opportunities for undergraduates are rare. Recognizing this, the Stauffer Trust provided Pacific with $1 million in grants to endow fellowships for chemistry and biochemistry majors. Alumni and friends contributed an additional $1 million, doubling the grants’ impact and creating a permanent source of fellowship funding.

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a Stauffer student
a student presents a poster presentation

Research & Creativity Showcase

For decades, Pacific has highlighted undergraduate students' scholarly efforts during annual symposia. In 2024, the Pacific Undergraduate Research and Creativity Conference and Research Day combined into the Research & Creativity Showcase.

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Khanh Linh Nguyen works on her Pacific Summer Research Fellowship project

Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship is a signature program that supports undergraduate students who conduct immersive research projects—often the kind only advanced graduate students would have the opportunity to take on. 

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engineering students work with a dog

Engineering Senior Project Day

Students in the School of Engineering and Computer sciences present their capstone projects each year during Engineering Senior Project Day. One group of engineering students teamed up to create a prosthetic for Phoenix, a 5-year-old German Shepard who lost her leg after being hit by a car, to improve her mobility.  

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Destinations

Student Investment Students in NYC

Wall Street

Students in the Eberhardt School of Business Student Investment Fund class toured top finance firms in New York City and networked with established Pacific alumni, gaining valuable first-hand perspective of life in investment banking on Wall Street. 

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pacific professor and graduate student doing research

Sierra Nevadas

Pacific undergraduates had the opportunity to work on a project funded by a $400,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, alongside Laura Rademacher, professor of geological and environmental sciences, and an aquatic ecologist at the Desert Research Institute at Reno.

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Pacific students at the Swiss Light Source

Switzerland

Twice a year, Pacific students travel to Europe with Bálint Sztáray, professor of chemistry, to conduct scientific research at the Swiss Light Source synchrotron, investigating the ways molecules break apart after an electron is removed by ultraviolet light.

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Pacific music industry study students at a music studio

Los Angeles

Seven seniors of Pacific’s music industry studies program got a glimpse of their futures during an exciting eight-day trip to Los Angeles. Timed to coincide with the Grammy awards weekend, the trip allowed the students to witness the Los Angeles music scene during the excitement of the industry’s most prestigious event of the year. 

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Spaces

Pacific Recording Studio

Students in the Conservatory of Music can record and produce music in Pacific's music production hub, which includes an analog recording studio, a digital mixing space and a beat studio. Together, these designated studio spaces function like a professional recording studio.

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Pacific's analog recording studio
Pacific Gaming Center

Pacific Gaming Center

The Pacific Gaming Center is available for students of all skill levels. In addition to providing a space for recreational gaming and esports competitions, the center also provides an opportunity for interdisciplinary research; the first collaboration is with the School of Health Sciences.   

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Makerspace opening

Fletcher Jones Foundation Makerspace

The 10,000-square-foot Fletcher Jones Foundation Makerspace provides students space for prototyping, 3D printing, woodworking and more.  

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a 3d printer in the Pacific Cube

The Cube

Resources available to students in The Cube include drones, high-quality cameras and studio lights, large format printing, sticker printing and virtual reality headsets. 

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