Undergraduate Research
The Caporaso Lab actively recruits undergraduate researchers eager to engage in hands-on scientific inquiry across a range of ongoing and student-proposed projects, including field work, laboratory research, data analysis, and software engineering. Students working with us gain direct experience in experimental design, sample collection, data analysis, and introductory bioinformatics using QIIME 2, with close mentorship, constructive feedback, and real opportunities to lead their own research directions. High-performing undergraduate researchers are invited to present their work at NAU’s UGRAD Symposium and are frequently offered co-authorship on peer-reviewed publications, building a strong foundation for graduate school, research careers, or roles in the rapidly growing fields of data science and scientific computing. Whether you are interested in microbiology, computational biology, sustainability, or open-source software development, contributing to QIIME 2 plugins and bioinformatics pipelines, we welcome students who are curious, motivated, and ready to do real science.
2026 Projects
- Closed Composting Systems Will Likely Require High-Diversity Microbial Inoculants
- Human Excrement Composting
- Off Earth Agriculture
- Parking Lot Rainwater Diversion Feasibility Study
- Vermicompost Living Lab
- Vermicomposting as a Campus Enterprise
- Vermicomposting Gut Microbiome Research