In this presentation, we highlight undergraduate research approaches and projects at Smith College, the largest college for women in the United States. We share lessons learned along with current challenges to spark conversation and improvement. We comprise a hydrologist (Guswa), environmental engineer (Ismail), and aqueous geochemist (Rhodes), and we investigate the effects of landscape, land management, and natural infrastructure on water quality and water resources. Rhodes and her students carryout field work and laboratory analyses to determine the impacts of development on water chemistry, and a recent project investigates the fate and transport of road salt in a calcareous fen in western Massachusetts. Ismail and her students conduct laboratory experiments to assess the efficacy of filter-feeding organisms to improve water quality in natural systems. A recent project determined how environmental conditions affect the uptake of bacteria by zooplankton. Guswa and his students use models to understand the interactions among climate, landscape, and water resources, and a recent project explores the effects on peak flows of a set of plausible land-use futures for New England in 2060. As undergraduates, students join these projects with limited relevant coursework and research experience. We find that undergraduate engagement is best facilitated by activities that are skill- or technique-based (such as making careful measurements) rather than those based on a deep understanding of theory. Additionally, multiple scales of involvement (e.g., newer students attending group meetings and more senior students designing experiments and serving as peer mentors) allow students to explore potential interests and possibly persist to richer levels of involvement.