Medha Pothuru, Special to The Denisonian

The Denison Summer Scholars program has received the highest number of applicants in history for summer 2026. 

The Summer Scholars program funds research projects spanning up to 10 weeks for roughly 130 students each year. Students can independently research a project they come up with or collaborate with a professor on their research. In the fall, students create a poster and present their research at the Summer Scholars Symposium. 

According to Dr. Anne Krabacher, the administrative director of the Lisska Center, funding for research comes from two main sources: the Anderson Endowment funds science research, and the Lisska Scholars Fund supports humanities research. 

Additionally, students are provided a stipend and housing. 

To apply, students must write a proposal outlining their potential research. The process started in October, with students collaborating with a faculty mentor to develop a proposal that follows specific requirements tailored to either the sciences or humanities. 

Haimanot Assefa ‘26 did summer research in the Global Health department for the past two years and attested to the simplicity of the process. 

“The process wasn’t hard,” she said. “You work with a professor to submit a proposal, just one or two pages, and then you just find out.”

This year, decisions were projected to come out Feb. 20, making it a quick turnaround from the Feb. 2 application deadline. However, some students have not heard back as of March 1. 

Getting a proposal accepted has become more difficult and competitive due to the increased applicant pool.

Jeni Miller, the Science Initiatives Coordinator, has six years of experience helping with the Anderson side of the Summer Scholars Program. 

“We had a record number of applications this year,” she said. “I’d say we were up about 20 to 30 more than usual and unfortunately, we’re only able to fund so many.”

In terms of humanities, Krabacher said, “On the Lisska side, we had a pretty drastic increase last year and then we’ve maintained that; so, we had, the year before last, roughly 65 to 70 applications, and then we jumped to about 90 and we’ve held that.”

Despite the increased interest shown for the program, expansion is unlikely. 

“There’s only so much money that we have,” said Miller. “Unless another endowment became available, the current endowment that we have, Anderson, it’s very specific in how much we can use.” 

Krabacher agreed with regard to Lisska.

Despite the competitive nature, previous summer scholars attest to the value of the program. 

Jazmyn Rafique ‘26 spent her freshman and sophomore summers at Denison doing cancer biology research for Dr. Lina Yoo. 

Reflecting on the value of doing summer research at Denison, Rafique said, “I know that students who do research here, it’s nice because it gives them baseline experience at a less competitive rate, and then the following year, they can apply to off campus experiences which make them more likely to get those experiences.” 

Rafique also works at the Knowlton Center as a peer fellow. During her time at the Knowlton Center, she made some observations about students interested in research in general. 

She said, “I’ve noticed, too, even students that come to the Knowlton Center, they’ll be first years and they’ll have research experience from their senior year of high school, so I think just in general, it’s becoming something that’s of higher interest for students.” 

To hypothesize why students are more interested in research at Denison, Rafique said, “Because of the outside demand, because of how popular it’s getting, that increases the demand for it here.”

Krabacher made similar points to Rafique but also brought up another reason for increased interest. 

“I think one of the great things about research and creative work, because we do encompass creative work with the fine arts, is that it allows students to pursue an area in depth that they might not have the opportunity to focus on in some of their courses,” said Krabacher. 

So, what comes next for the program? As of right now, there seem to be no new plans. Without an increase in funding, it is unlikely the program will be able to accommodate the increased number of applicants. However, Miller does note that there are many other research opportunities out there that students should explore, specifically the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) Program offered by The Ohio State University.