Undergraduate student researchers and volunteers contribute significantly to research conducted in the Department of Natural History. Each year, several hundred undergraduate students work on projects, including fieldwork, laboratory experiments, curatorial activities in the museum collections, and exhibit development.
These opportunities allow students to gain experience working with research collections and analyzing and interpreting data alongside a team of professional scholars. In being part of the discovery process, students are encouraged to ask questions and develop research projects to suit their own interests and build a foundation for potential future investigations after graduation.
Ways to Get Involved
Each division at the Florida Museum is happy to welcome any volunteers to assist with their collections. Students interested in volunteering should start by reviewing the Undergraduate Opportunities (see below), which may include assisting with research projects or curatorial activities in the museum’s collections, exhibit and fieldwork. This list provides a variety of potential projects. After exploring these opportunities, students should contact the potential project advisor. This list is not exhaustive, so students are also encouraged to consult other museum faculty and staff in their area of focus.
For additional volunteer opportunities within the museum, visit the Adult Volunteer Opportunities. Students can also join the Environmental Leaders Network, which offers opportunities in environmental research and engagement both on campus and in the community.
Undergraduate Opportunities
• Ceramic Technology
Project mentor: Andrea Torvinen, Neill Wallis – a.torvinen@floridamuseum.ufl.edu
Lab/Collection: Ceramic Technology Lab
Project Description: The Ceramic Technology Lab curates more than 300 clay samples from 47 counties in Florida. We are seeking a detail-oriented student to assist with the compositional analysis of these clay samples using our portable X-Ray Fluorescence (pXRF) instrument. Tasks will include systematically analyzing clay samples, organizing and analyzing the compositional data, and creating visualizations (i.e., graphs and maps) of project results. This project expands upon previous research conducted by a former museum intern as an honors thesis. When our compositional analysis of the clay samples is complete, we will submit the project results for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
Skills needed: No collections experience is necessary, but a basic background in archaeology and chemistry would be helpful. Attention to detail and an ability to work independently are preferred.
Skills to be gained: Hands-on experience collecting and interpreting compositional data using a portable XRF instrument, as well as analyzing and presenting statistical methods.
Semester: Spring, Summer
• Herbarium – Building a photographic atlas for bryophytes of the UF Campus
Project Mentor: Lucas Majure – lmajure@floridamuseum.ufl.edu
Lab/Collection: Herbarium (Botany)
Project Description: This project will integrate herbarium specimens from the UF Herbarium bryophyte collection, as well as live specimen images taken by the student to generate a photographic atlas of the most common species of bryophytes across the UF Campus.
Skills Needed: Patience, Curiosity, Attention to detail
Skills to be Gained: Microscope skills, photography, specimen curation and understanding of herbarium organization, bryophyte identification, digital image archiving, and specimen documentation.
Semester: Spring
• Herpetology – Maternal Provisioning in Amphibians
Project mentor: Zuania Colón-Piñeiro, David Blackburn – colonpineiro.z@ufl.edu
Lab/Collection: Herpetology
Project Description: The diversity in amphibian reproductive modes, organized by water dependency, is key for understanding vertebrate adaptation to terrestrial habitats. In species that bypass the tadpole stage, females incur the cost of water independence by providing the necessary nutrients for development without food supplementation from foraging, resulting in larger, nutrient-rich eggs. Although reproductive modes are well-documented in most amphibians, comparative research on maternal provisioning is limited, likely due to challenges in measuring nutritional compounds in small eggs. This project aims to scale down current protocols for measuring compounds such as lipids and proteins in larger egg yolks so they can be applied to amphibian eggs. The developed protocols will enable us to use museum specimens to characterize maternal provisioning across amphibian reproductive modes.
Skills needed: Attention to detail, organizational skills, and interest in amphibian diversity, museum collections, and dissection.
Skills to be gained: Hands-on experience in dissecting museum specimens, gathering morphological data, and sample preparation; data management; writing skills; and potentially presenting research findings.
Semester: Spring, Summer
• Herpetology – Fossil Frogs Diversity
Project mentor: Maria Vallejo, David C. Blackburn – maria.vallejo@ufl.edu
Lab/Collection: Division of Herpetology
Project Description: Frogs have a conserved body plan that makes a frog look like a frog, but there is a great morphological and ecological variability that has led to a current diversity of ~7800 living species found in a wide variety of environments from tropical rainforests to deserts worldwide (except in Antarctica). We are interested in using the fossil record of frogs to understand the origin of that diversity and the morphological characteristics that are associated with it. In this project, you will help us with the study of fossil frogs from North or Central America with the goal of documenting the past diversity and improving our understanding of modern frogs’ skeletal anatomy. We will work with CT-scans, fossils, and dry skeletons, to obtain qualitative and quantitative information. This project will contribute to a larger project describing fossil assemblages from North and Central America.
Skills needed: Interest in 3D data, fossils, frogs, morphology. Experience manipulating small and delicate objects is preferred.
Skills to be gained: Processing, visualizing, and presenting CT scan data, learning about anatomy, morphology, and ecology of frogs, writing skills, presentation, quantitative and qualitative data acquisition.
Semester: Spring, Summer
• Paleobotany – Curation of the Hall Collection
Project mentor: Hongshan Wang – hwang@flmnh.ufl.edu
Other mentor: Steve Manchester
Lab/Collection: Paleobotany
Project Description: The John W. Hall paleobotanical collection (approximately 20,000 specimens) is an orphaned collection transferred from the University of Minnesota to the Florida Museum. Because of research focus and limitation of storage space, only 3,356 specimens have been curated. The rest of the collection is still stored in cardboard boxes or in stacked drawers, which has restricted access for scientific studies and education purposes. Thanks to newly allocated space, the rest of this collection can now be properly curated. In this project, students will learn the entire process of curating fossil plant specimens, including cleaning and organizing specimens for proper storage, archiving digital and physical records, data checking, and data entry into the Specify database. This project provides a great opportunity for students to work with plant fossils of various preservation modes (compression/impression, petrification, etc.) and different ages (from the Paleozoic, ~350 million years old, to the present).
Skills needed: Attention to detail and ability to follow directions, and an interest in museum specimen curation.
Skills to be gained: Hands-on experience working with both fossil and modern plant specimens, experience in specimen preparation and curation, and collection database management.
Semester: Spring, Summer
Any student interested in an independent study project for university credit through a division of the Florida Museum should contact the museum’s collections curators or faculty about research opportunities in their field.
Independent studies can often be arranged in a number of disciplines using collection specimens. Once you have established a project with a curator as your advisor, you will need to contact your home department (i.e., Biology, Geology, Anthropology) for the appropriate independent studies course forms and application materials. You will work under the supervision of the collection curators and/or collection managers and graduate students and will communicate with your Florida Museum advisor during the course of your independent research.
Most independent research projects last for one semester, but some can last longer if the student desires and the advisor/department approve. This is a great way to get experience, earn credit, and interact with museum researchers. Results of such studies can be readily presented at professional conferences and even adapted for publication.
Note: UF offers a training module, Mentee 101, on how to be a successful undergraduate researcher
For those seeking paid internship opportunities, the museum has application calls for the Florida Museum Undergraduate Internship Program twice a year. Additionally, students interested in environmental leadership and sustainability can apply to the TESI Environmental Leadership Fellowship or explore other TESI programs for undergraduates.
Students eligible for Federal Work Study (FWS) can gain hands-on experience in research or curatorial work at the Florida Museum while earning financial support. Through FWS, students can contribute to museum research, collections management, and exhibit development.
For more information, visit the UF Student Financial Affairs website for details on FWS employment, including where to find available FWS positions at the museum.
Funding your Research Experience
Once students identify a specific area of research and research mentor, they may also consider applying to one of the two competitive UF programs, which provide stipends to fund their museum research experience.
The Emerging Scholars Program provides a stipend to undergraduate students involved in research projects with UF mentors. It is open to students in their freshman or sophomore year, with no prior formal research experience. Applications for the next round of funding are due November 23rd, 2025, and research will take place in the following Spring and Summer or Fall semesters. Students should submit their applications directly to the Center for Undergraduate Research as described at the above link. If there are more applications than the Florida Museum of Natural History is able to support, the museum will select the most meritorious
The University Scholars Program (USP) provides a stipend to more advanced undergraduate students involved in research projects with UF faculty mentors. Research will take place during Fall 2026 and Spring 2027, and students cannot be graduating before May 2027. See the above link for more details.
The Florida Museum of Natural History expects to submit up to seven applications from students working with museum mentors. The museum will review applications and submit the most competitive for consideration by the USP. Please submit applications by February 14th, 2026, so the museum will have time to review them before the USP deadline of March 1.
Students should submit a single PDF file including the following:
1. The 2026-2027 USP application form and Stipend Disbursement Acknowledgement, available here.
2. A one-page research summary.
3. Letter of support from FLMNH mentor, stating that the mentor will agree to supervise this project and providing any other information to support the student’s application.
If you have additional questions about undergraduate research opportunities or museum-related projects for undergraduates, please contact the Undergraduate Affairs Coordinator, Dr. Mariela Pajuelo (mpajuelo@ufl.edu).