Research
Discovery at every scale
From single-cell biology to national policy trials, 380 centers and institutes turn questions into evidence — with undergraduates on the team.
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Founded 1891 · Merinan, Illinois
Field-defining scholarship. Transformative education. World-changing ideas.
A diversity of people and ideas, coupled with free and open discourse, lays the foundation for students and scholars to bring forward original work that enriches human life.
14
Schools & colleges
#1
In transfers to research universities
$1.4B
Annual research funding
112
Nations represented
Our approach
We value rigorous inquiry
Merinan was built for the argument that changes a field. Small seminars, primary sources, and laboratories open to first-year students mean you are not waiting for permission to do serious work.
Our schools span the humanities, engineering, medicine, law, policy, and the physical and social sciences — and they share one habit: test the claim before you repeat it.
About the University
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Find your path
Undergraduate
A core curriculum built on argument, evidence, and writing — then a major you shape yourself.
Learn moreGraduate & Professional
Doctoral, master's, law, medicine, business, and public policy programs with faculty mentorship.
Learn moreTransfer Pathways
Guaranteed-admission agreements and credit maps with 40+ community college partners.
Learn moreContinuing Education
Evening, online, and certificate courses for working adults and career changers.
Learn moreLatest news
From the newsroom
Research
Extending AI architectures to continuous scientific problems
A new framework from the Institute for Computational Science lets neural networks work naturally with physical systems.
August 12, 2026
Climate
Models of glacial collapse improve sea-level rise predictions
What the acceleration of a single Antarctic glacier reveals about the next century of coastlines.
August 11, 2026
Students
Senior theses put economics training to work on messy reality
Undergraduates spent the year testing classroom models against housing, transit, and labor data.
August 10, 2026
Discovery
Cleaner route to purifying rare earth elements discovered
A chemistry team replaced solvent-heavy separation with a low-energy electrochemical step.
August 4, 2026
Campus life
A city-sized community
Nine residential houses, 480 student organizations, 27 varsity teams, and a performing arts center that never really goes dark.
Life at Merinan
Bold possibilities begin here
Applications for Autumn 2027 open September 1. Talk with an admissions counselor, tour the quad, or map your transfer credits today.