Academics at Eaton Hall on the Academic Quad

Eaton Hall is one of our main academic buildings, housing the Departments of Anthropology, Classical Studies, Religion, and Sociology. Tufts students of all majors take coursework in the liberal arts in buildings here on the Academic Quad, regardless of whether they’re in the School of Arts and Sciences, the School of Engineering or the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts.

All three of these undergraduate schools have some form of distribution requirement for their degrees, all of which are in place to help students expand their worldview and foster interdisciplinary study. Liberal arts distribution requirements can be fulfilled in a variety of ways!

With so many academic opportunities, it can seem difficult to navigate college at first— no matter where you go— which is why academic advising is so critical. At Tufts, you’ll be assigned an advisor when you first get here. Once you declare a major, you’ll get to pick your own faculty advisor. Overall, the Tufts curriculum encourages interdisciplinary collaboration and fosters close relationships between students and faculty, for which many students are truly grateful.

Tufts is a Tier 1 Research University. This means that we produce some of the highest amounts of research annually. Also, because we’re a medium-sized university, professor need undergraduates to fill their labs, so there are lots of opportunities to get involved, even as a freshman! Finding research is as simple as talking with a professor and asking to join their lab. Some students will find their projects after taking a class that inspired them. Others will go through a department website, read up on the professors, and then email them directly. In addition to this, email networks exist for each major.

Really cool research projects can include a soft robotics exoskeleton that Professor Intriligator and his students are building to provide ergonomic back support, since lots of college students spend most of their time hunched over a laptop. There is another team partnered with Logan Airport working on a more efficient way to scan luggage. Fingers crossed, no more long lines in the future! Other students are studying silk tissue engineering.

Research at Tufts isn’t restricted to the lab. Through the Summer Scholar Program, students can secure funding to conduct their own, self-designed research for ten weeks and work with a Tufts professor. There are also unique international opportunities. Professor Machanda, for example, is the director of long-term research at the Kibale Chimpanzee Project. Undergrads, as part of the Global Research Assistant Program, can travel to the Kibale National Park in Western Uganda to do conservation work and study chimp behavior.

It's also important to point out something: research is not just for the STEM students! You can do research in film, in history, in economics, in art, and so on. A popular starting point for research projects in the humanities and social sciences is the Tufts Digital Collections and Archives (DCA), which is located in the basement of Tisch library. Some of the collections students may explore include the Edward Murrow papers which reveal some of the lesser known details from his career, the Gerald Gill Papers which cover the histories of multiculturalism and diversity at Tufts, and the original sketches for the popular PBS children’s show, “Arthur”.

Research is also an integral part of the classroom experience. A lot of people imagine research as the impressive projects just mentioned, but as Tufts students you do this research process in the classroom as well. Freshmen have to take a writing seminar. For most Tufts students, it is their first time writing college-level research papers.

At Tufts, students are working to solve tough problems related to human health, sustainability, social issues, and more. The University and faculty provide students with lots of tools and support so they can pursue their passions academically and professionally.