Science majors at Defiance College are required to complete an undergraduate research project. Although it is formally called a senior capstone project, the planning and often actual research starts well before the senior year. There are multiple reasons for this undergraduate research experience.

1. To introduce students to the scientific method such as forming a hypothesis, designing experiments, and data analysis and interpretation.
   
2. To use the information learned in the classroom as a foundation for further investigating of a novel question.
   
3. And to learn some of the latest laboratory and field techniques they will encounter in their chosen fields.
   

Examples of recent senior research projects:

• The Problem of Solving the Quintic Polynomial by Radicals
  By Dustin Harris. 2002
  
• And the Two Shall Be One: The Marriage of Algebra and Geometry
  By Gary Church. 2003
  
• One Good Curve Deserves Another
  By Phil Schneider. 2002
  
• The importance of hair samples in forensic science.
  By Amanda M. Montgomery. 2001
  
• The feeding and behavioral ecology of swallowtail butterflies in northwest Ohio.
  By Kristina M. Steiff. 1998
  
• The esterification of carboxylate modified polystyrene beads with methanol via microwave irradiation as compared to conventional heating methods.
  By Todd Steven Osborn. 2001
  
• The effect of varying atmospheric temperature and relative humidity on the mortality rates of exposed Dreissena polymorpha.
  By Travis Cooper. 2003
  
• Increasing survival rates of pen-reared ring-necked pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) by reducing human imprinting.
  By Mark Gaerte. 1999
  
• The examination of the penicillin resistance generated in Staphylococcus aureus.
  By Asma M. Najib. 1999