The research institutes and centers at Claremont McKenna College have one common goal: to provide CMC students with graduate-level research opportunities in conjunction with the College's distinguished faculty. In so doing, CMC students—as undergraduates—are afforded opportunities unparalleled at liberal arts colleges around the world.
Each institute or center has a specific mission and develops programs to meet academic and co-curricular objectives. Explore the links below, and learn more about each of these CMC gems.
2023-2024 Research Institute, Center and Lab Opportunities
Research Institutes and Centers
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Berger Institute for Individual and Social Development
Advances research in individual and social development with the goal of promoting innovative solutions to critical social problems; specializes in training critical thinking skills, scientific methodology, and data science with a focus on interdisciplinarity and application to policy, thereby educating students, scholars, lawmakers, and the community about a wide range of social issues.
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Financial Economics Institute
Provides unique research, curricular and extracurricular opportunities engaging the Claremont Colleges in both the theory and practice of financial economics through: (1) support of collaborative, advanced student/faculty research in financial economics and overlapping disciplines, (2) oversight of the Financial Economics Sequence, and (3) sponsorship of activities for the broader community, including oversight of the Student Investment Fund, provision of databases, space and hardware for multiple purposes, and support for conferences, workshops, internships, networking trips and other events.
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Gould Center for Humanistic Studies
Promotes the study of humanities at CMC by providing opportunities for research, study, and experiences in literature, history, philosophy, religious studies, art, and other areas of humanistic inquiry.
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Keck Center for International and Strategic Studies
Supports the study of critical issues in world affairs sponsoring lecture series, conferences, research fellowships, academic travel opportunities, thesis fieldwork fellowships, research assistants, journalism lab, podcast program, student summer internships and professional development opportunities.
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Kravis Leadership Institute
Focuses on the promotion and understanding of responsible, innovative leadership and provides unique opportunities for CMC students to develop as outstanding real world leaders in the public, private and social sectors.
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Lowe Institute of Political Economy
Advances research in a variety of areas of economic theory and policy; favors faculty-student work with an emphasis on public policy beyond the experience that students have gained through lectures and seminars; sponsors projects that allow students to apply concepts learned in the standard academic settings to real life situations using advanced quantitative methods; and supports student-faculty interaction through a variety of social events, including the sponsorship of lectures at the Athenaeum and elsewhere.
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Mgrublian Center for Human Rights
Instills in students an understanding of human rights as central to moral conduct and ethical decisions in their personal lives, in their careers and in the public arena; promotes human rights through public advocacy, service and education; provides practical experience through internships, task forces and research; and advances scholarship in human rights, the Holocaust and genocide studies.
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Randall Lewis Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Helps prepare students to be thoughtful, productive, and responsible business leaders and innovators and supports curricular/co-curricular programming, including workshops, networking events, speakers, and internship programs.
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Roberts Environmental Center
Involves students in real-world environmental issues and trains them to analyze the issues from as broad a perspective as possible, taking science, economics, and policy into consideration.
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Rose Institute of State and Local Government
Enhances the education of students at the Claremont Colleges, produces high quality research, and promotes public understanding on issues of state and local government, politics and policy, with an emphasis on California.
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Salvatori Center for Individual Freedom
Engages in the study of American Constitutionalism, the American Founding and political philosophy as it relates to liberal democracy.