Global Opportunities at Your Fingertips

EVANSTON, Ill. --- A new Northwestern University website, with a dynamic searchable database, allows students, faculty and administrators to easily locate learning, research and collaboration opportunities both within Northwestern and around the world. 

Recently launched by the Office of the Provost, the Global and Research Opportunities website is a database with more than 400 opportunities (with data added and updated regularly) and customizable features that can zero in on programs that match users’ interests.

For instance, advisers can identify opportunities to match their students’ research and travel interests, administrators can gain an overview picture of existing collaborations with other institutions around the globe, and faculty can easily pinpoint opportunities to foster partnerships across shared interests at the University. Students can use the database to find undergraduate research positions in Northwestern labs, travel grants, study abroad programs, internships, fellowships and volunteer service programs.

Faculty and administrators who create profiles can detail the work that takes place in their labs, centers or programs and list any opportunities. The faculty profiles link up with NU Scholars, another searchable Northwestern database that contains information about faculty academic appointments, publications, grants, patents and additional scholarly accomplishments.

“By linking this website to the NU Scholars tool, users are able to gain a very rich picture of how faculty research across the University is fostering greater student engagement in research projects of their own and other engaged learning opportunities both at home and around the globe,” said Celina Flowers, director of academic administration in the Office of the Provost. 

In recent years, the number of experiential learning programs at Northwestern has grown dramatically, with more educational and research opportunities for students and faculty than ever.

“For students, winter break is the ideal time to start thinking about summer plans and future academic experiences, and the new website will help them navigate our robust database of opportunities,” said Peter Civetta, director of the Office of Undergraduate Research.

“Whether its research experience in a lab, studying abroad in a foreign country or taking on an internship in Chicago, the website will help them see all Northwestern offers.”

The website goes beyond just keyword searches. Users are able to interact with the data through visualization tools that represent opportunities pinned to a 3D globe or grouped by language, school or other keyword tag clouds. The database also is accessible to student computer developers who want to access the information to create apps or other useful tools with the data.

By logging in with their Net IDs, users can create a profile, bookmark favorite opportunities and reach out directly to people who run programs. They can search for programs based at individual schools at Northwestern or explore the website according to geographical region or language used. When programs bookmarked or favored are updated with new information, users are notified by email.

\"We want everyone to take advantage of this website and play with the interactive features and see all of the opportunities available,” Civetta said. “They can access it from their phone, laptop or tablet and start exploring the amazing diversity of what Northwestern has to offer. This database is also a work-in-progress, and we will be looking for feedback from people on how to improve and expand it moving forward.”

 The website was designed by a team from Northwestern University Information Technology Academic & Research Technologies.

Visit the website: https://globalresearchopportunities.northwestern.edu/