Research

Research

The benefit of an interdisciplinary department is not only the variety of different research interests, but also different approaches to those interests. RESD faculty members often work in teams to tackle research projects. Research interests include youth in the workplace, community building, raising the minimum wage, sources of income inequality, the importance of manufacturing to the economy, the globalization of the high-tech labor force, and the financialization of the economy.

Research Institutes

Faculty and students are involved in a variety of research efforts:

• Center for Family, Work, and Community
• Center for Industrial Competitiveness
• Committee on Industrial Theory & Assessment
• Lowell Center for Sustainable Production
• The Center for Women and Work
• The Tsongas Industrial History Center
  

Research Assistantships and Theses

Students may be involved with faculty on research projects through their work on research assistantships (see the “Life at RESD” page for more detail). Occasionally, research assistantships result in joint publications with professors. Students may also initiate their own research by undertaking a thesis. All students undertake either a thesis or a capstone project to graduate from RESD. A thesis involves creating a research question, investigating it, and writing a substantial paper on it under the direction of a team of professors. Theses are generally recommended for students who plan to continue their formal education after RESD. For some examples of completed thesis may be found here.

Research Resources