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Present at international conferences. Meet experts in your field. Open yourself up to new possibilities and discover how you want to impact the world. There's no end to where your NMU research can bring you.
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Research at NMU
Northern Michigan University prides itself on the numerous opportunities we provide to undergraduate and graduate students to engage in high-level research projects. From uncovering the mysteries of the Aurora Borealis to conducting brain tumor and genetics research, students are able to participate in meaningful, hands-on learning that supports their educational and personal goals.
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At NMU, you’ll receive the perfect mix of fundamental theory and hands-on research, all wrapped up in our unique learning environment. With partnerships in place with community businesses and organizations, your research will span beyond our traditional classroom environments and into real-world settings.
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The Beaumier Upper Peninsula Heritage Center is a historical museum and educational facility on the campus of Northern Michigan University.
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While NMU has numerous state-of-the-art lab facilities right on campus, our research opportunities frequently bring students beyond our traditional walls and into the beautiful, diverse environment of Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
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A collaboration between Northern Michigan University and Upper Peninsula Health Systems - Marquette, the Upper Michigan Brain Tumor Center exists to train the next generation of research and medical professionals, while improving patient outcomes by better understanding how brain cancer works.
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The Biology Department houses zoological collections that cover the breadth of diversity of the animal Tree of Life, ranging across most major groups of invertebrate and vertebrate animals. Established in 1974 by J. Kirwin Werner and Lewis Peters, the museum is an important resource for NMU students and faculty in their research pursuits.
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Northern's Progressive Research and Innovative Mutual Exploration (PRIME) Fund provides seed money for large projects that span disciplines. The BotEco project aims to create a sustainable community space in the old ore dock. NMU faculty from many departments collaborated on this multi-faceted project.
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NMU Research Spotlight: Biology
Tru Hubbard, a biology graduate student advised by Dr. Diana Lafferty, has received two NMU research awards for her project "The Yooper Wildlife Watch". The Yooper Wildlife Watch captures images of animal movement through 30 trail cameras and incorporates newly developed data management and analysis techniques. Yooper Wildlife Watch has contributed imagery to a nationwide camera trapping effort coordinated by The Smithsonian Institution and North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. Hubbard has received the Charles C. Spooner Award and the Student Technology Innovation Award for her research.
Learn more about her project here.
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NMU Research Spotlight: Physics
Mariah Goeks, a student in Dr. Mengyan's solid state physics group, has been awarded the Nadine Barlow Undergraduate Research Support Award by the national Council on Undergraduate Research. Mariah is building a four-point probe to utilize the Van der Pauw method to measure the electrical resistivity and Hall coefficient of materials. The group project is building and testing a piece of experimental equipment to aid in the electrical characterization of materials relevant for applications such as for use in solar cells and electronic devices. The characterization measurements are important to their group’s current and future research projects since the measurements provide additional insight towards understanding how materials can behave, which ultimately contributes to developing better devices for present and future applications. See the award announcement
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NMU Research Spotlight: Faculty
Dr. John Bruggink has been awarded the Peter White Scholar Award for his research, "Homesite Ecology of the Gray Wolves in the Greater Voyageurs Ecosystem". Wolf homesites are the focal point of wolf pack activity during the pup-rearing season and homesites probably influence pup survival, which has been identified as the variable with the greatest influence on changes in wolf populations. Many gaps remain in our understanding of homesite selection and use, and the broader impact of homesites on wolf ecology, because until recently technological and logistical constraints have precluded studying many aspects of homesite use. Dr. Bruggink is collaborating with researchers from the University of Minnesota to examine this important aspect of wolf ecology. Their goals are to understand the factors that influence homesite selection by wolves and how those factors change as pups develop and available food sources shift throughout the pup-rearing season. They will use information from wolves equipped with satellite GPS collars to identify homesites, and detailed evaluation on the ground to document homesite characteristics.
