Each year, Smith offers some of its best applicants an immediate position in the Student Research in Departments Program (STRIDE), an opportunity to work with a Smith professor on a wide variety of research topics, from the ecology of coral reefs to the study of plays written under political censorship.

By providing significant financial support, the college frees students to work in greater depth, over an extended period of time, on projects that are valuable to society and to themselves as they make decisions about careers and continuing their education.