Research and Fellowships
Undergraduates and alumni seeking to explore and apply for internal, national, and international fellowships and research opportunities are encouraged to work with advisers from Undergraduate Research and Fellowships (URF).
To learn more about summer, academic year, and postgraduate opportunities, students are invited to:
join information sessions and workshops led by URF advisers;
attend meetings featuring renowned foundations and universities from around the world;
meet individually with a URF adviser to discuss opportunities that align with their unique intellectual, personal, and professional interests; and/or
seek advising and feedback at any stage of the fellowship application or research proposal process.
URF celebrates research with events such as the Undergraduate Research Symposium just as it seeks to connect with Columbians through near-peer and alumni networking events. The office supports undergraduate research and extracurricular engagement through Columbia-sponsored opportunities such as the Laidlaw Undergraduate Research and Leadership Scholars Program and the Comer Climate Research Fellowship. Students and alumni interested in applying to national and international competitions such as the Goldwater, Truman, Knight-Hennessy, Marshall, and Rhodes Scholarships (to name only a few research and fellowship opportunities) can connect with the URF office for advising and support.
Highlights from 2025-2026
Rhodes Scholars
Two members of the Columbia College Class of 2026 were selected to pursue graduate degrees at the University of Oxford this fall through the Rhodes Scholarship.
Marshall Scholars
Three Columbians were selected for the Marshall Scholarship and will pursue graduate study across a range of fields in the United Kingdom starting this fall.
Fulbright US Student Program
Columbia has been named a top-producing institution for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program for more than two decades. This past academic year, 25 alumni of three of the four undergraduate schools at Columbia were selected for 2026–27 Fulbright U.S. Student Grants. Awardees will pursue global independent research or graduate study, or teach English in one of 16 countries.
Goldwater Scholars
Four juniors received Goldwater Scholarships, the preeminent undergraduate research award in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences, and engineering.
In addition to these scholarships, undergraduates and alumni were named recipients of prestigious fellowships around the world , including the Churchill Scholarship, the Gates-Cambridge Scholarship, the Knight Hennessy Scholarship, the Mortimer Hays-Brandeis Traveling Fellowship, the Hertz Fellowship, the John & Daria Barry Scholarship, the Yenching Academy Scholarship, the NSF-GRFP, the Saint Andrew’s Society of the State of New York, the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, the James C. Gaither Junior Fellows Program, the Schwarzman Scholarship, the Michel David Weill, New York City Urban Fellows Program, and the Truman Scholarship.