Research and Internships

The Department of Physical Sciences at Dominican is large but friendly. Faculty advisors are always ready to help students, and we offer a variety of opportunities for students to get involved and develop their skills.

Research

Thanks to new facilities in state-of-the-art Parmer Hall, increasing numbers of Dominican undergraduates are pursuing independent research projects in the sciences.

The Office of Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Creative Investigations (URSCI) promotes undergraduate research at Dominican and provides research funding on a competitive basis. URSCI Expo, held on campus each April, offers an opportunity for students in all majors to present their independent research. Science students have traditionally been well represented at Expo.

Dominican students also have a long history of participation in the annual symposium of the Associated Colleges of the Chicago Area. Recent research topics have included:

  • Yeast and bacterial genetics
  • Behavior genetics
  • Design of anti-tumor drugs
  • Computer simulations of mutation
  • Quantitation of ionic solutes in blood plasma models
Science Club

An important component of the department’s undergraduate social life, the Science Club organizes and sponsors field trips and lectures on scientific topics or career planning. The club also sponsors various social functions throughout the school year.

Internships

Internships give students the opportunity to apply classroom concepts to a real-world setting. In some cases, students earn a stipend for their internship while also gaining experience and earning college credit. Some programs in the department require students to complete an internship to graduate.

Science students at Dominican have recently completed internships with:

  • Advocate Lutheran General Hospital
  • Argonne National Laboratory
  • American Citrus Products
  • Brookfield Zoo
  • Clarke Mosquito Control
  • Cook County Forest Preserve
  • Loyola University Chicago
  • Park District of River Forest
  • Resurrection Hospital
  • Rush University Medical Center
  • Tallgrass Restoration
  • Trailside Museum
  • Waste Management