Thursday, January 8, 2009

Research Experiences for Undergraduates: 2009 opportunities

Hey, undergrads. Want to spend this summer doing research? Want to go someplace cool (like Mongolia, or Svalbard, or coastal Maine, or the mountains of Colorado)? Want to work on something that isn't available at your institution, like applied geophysics or seismology? If so, you might be interested in a Research Experiences for Undergraduates program.

Each year, the National Science Foundation funds some number of research projects that are designed to introduce undergraduates to research. Some of them are at universities, some are run by small colleges, and some are held at research institutes (like Los Alamos National Lab or the Carnegie Institute of Washington). Students from all around the US can apply, and can spend part of a summer working on a research project. They pay a small stipend for the work - not big money, but perhaps not a bad deal in a tough economy. And they are good ways to find out if a particular type of research is for you.

Application deadlines come up at different times throughout the winter. If you're interested in seeing what's available, the NSF website has a list hidden deep in the depths of the site. (I hunted it down to show to my juniors, and thought that it deserved to be pointed out.) It looks as though some of the links are to old programs - check the sites to see if there is information for 2009 applications or not. (And if you're interested in other sciences, there's a link to the broader lists here.)

3 comments:

Michael said...

I did the Mineral Physics REU at Stony Brook last year. It was a good experience, and I learned a lot about how capital-S Science is actually done. Unfortunately, I don't think they got funding to renew the program this year. I'm hoping to get into the Carnegie program for this summer.

Arr Cee said...

Sounds interesting, but is it availble to non-Americans?

Kim said...

1&2, I think that the NSF funding only pays stipends for US citizens, but you would need to check the individual programs for more info. When I was glancing at some of the sites, I noticed that at least one has summer internships that are also available to international students (and I think to other groups, such as in-service teachers, which is a great idea). But I think those internships are supported by something other than the REU program.