Natural Sciences

Meet global challenges through inquiry and discovery.

Our understanding of the fundamental nature of the universe is grounded in the natural sciences. Whether students study the relationship of structure to function in biological systems or find mathematical patterns and structures, they’ll develop the ability to think logically and quantitatively about real-world problems.

Student Spotlight

Helping Avoid Opioid Relapse

Robbie Kuang has long been fascinated by how the brain is affected by drugs in ways manifesting as altered physical behavior. Knowing right away upon coming to Hopkins that she wanted to delve into the subject, Kuang declared as a neuroscience major and sought undergraduate research opportunities.

Four From Hopkins Win Goldwater Scholarships

The scholarship recognizes outstanding research and achievements of students in STEM fields.

2023 Glushko Prize Winner Announced

The Department of Cognitive Science names Zihan Wang as the 2023 Glushko Outstanding Undergraduate Cognitive Scientist.

an interdisciplinary approach

Through our flexible curriculum, our students are encouraged to deepen their interests and explore new ones. We don’t have any required classes. Instead, you’ll choose from courses across academic areas between our Krieger School of Arts & Sciences and our Whiting School of Engineering so you can expand your knowledge, dig deeper into topics that interest you, and discover connections at the intersection of disciplines.

Institute for Nanobiotechnology (INTB)

INBT creates innovative technologies at the interface of nanoscience, engineering, biology, and medicine. The Institute runs summer programs for undergraduates that include workshops, seminars, courses, and research experiences.

EXPLORE OPPORTUNITIES AT THE INSTITUTE

Learn Alongside the Very Best

Our BDP Summer Program offers Hopkins undergraduates the opportunity to work with one of our Bloomberg Distinguished Professors (BDPs) full-time for 10 weeks over the summer. The professors are all preeminent scholars whose work merges at least two traditional academic disciplines.

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR BLOOMBERG DISTINGUISHED PROFESSORS

Majors and Minors

Majors

Minors

I want people to be intrigued and entertained…and get a slightly more nuanced and humanized idea of what scientists are doing and how they’re thinking about things, and to understand that science is a human enterprise like any other.

Jared Kaplan, Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy

Research Opportunities

As the #1 research university in the nation, we provide our undergraduates with resources and funding to pursue their ambitions.

HOUR is our home for supporting and encouraging undergraduates in research endeavors by connecting them to opportunities both inside and outside of Hopkins.
The Office of Undergraduate Research, Scholarly & Creative Activity (URSCA) assists undergraduate students with creating, planning and undertaking a hands-on research project.
The Provost’s Undergraduate Research Award (PURA), offers students up to $2,500 and a partnership with a full-time faculty sponsor for research on any topic of their choosing.
CIRCUIT offers undergraduates a $5,000 stipend to take part in cutting-edge summer research at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) to map the brain at nanoscale resolution and make significant contributions to science.
Johns Hopkins Medicine Summer Internship Program provides research opportunities in laboratories at Hopkins Medicine.

The Krieger School of Arts & Sciences’ departments, programs, and centers often offer their own research awards or funding opportunities.

See What Our Faculty Are Up To

Professor Emily Riehl Explained Infinity in 5 Levels of Difficulty in a WIRED Video

While the concept of infinity may seem mysterious, mathematicians have developed processes to reason the strange properties of infinity. Professor Emily Riehl has been challenged to explain infinity to 5 different people: a child, a teen, a college student, a grad student, and an expert.

Watch Video

The Male Sex Chromosome in Full

The last mysterious piece of the human genome has now been fully sequenced.

Two Luminaries—a Cosmologist and a Poet—Contemplate Our Place in the Universe

Decorated Hopkins faculty members Andrew Motion and Nobel Prize winner Adam Riess engage in a wide-ranging discussion ahead of the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope.

Surprising Protein Behavior Could Improve Our Understanding of Aging

E. coli proteins lacking the ability to reassemble themselves could one day help scientists rethink studies of the human brain.

Image by Roberto Molar Candanosa / Johns Hopkins University

Alien Haze, Cooked in a Lab, Clears View to Distant Water Worlds

The research by Hopkins scientists will help model how water exoplanets form and evolve—findings that could help in the search for life beyond our solar system.

Join the Club

Hopkins students pursue their interests outside the classroom. If you’re fascinated by the natural sciences, you might consider getting involved in these student organizations.