Undergraduate Summer Research Opportunities

All physics majors are encouraged to conduct research during the summers after their sophomore and junior years. More than two-thirds of the students entering graduate school in physics have participated in some type of summer research activity. An effective way to find summer research opportunities is by searching the web. The deadlines for many summer programs are in early March, so you should start the application process no later than January. To get you started, some programs are listed below.

  1. NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates in Physics. Application deadlines: late February through Mid March
  2. NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates in Other Fields Application deadlines: late February through Mid March
  3. APS and IBM co-sponsored Research Internships Application deadline: late January
  4. Research Experiences for Undergraduates at Cornell University Topic: Nanoscale Systems. Application deadline: early February (for early consideration) early April (for regular admission)
  5. NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates at Northwestern University Topic: Material Science. Application deadline: mid February
  6. The NIST Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program Topic: Information Technologies. Application deadline: mid February
  7. Undergraduate Summer Institute at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Topic: Applied Science. Application deadline: early February
  8. REU at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Florida State University Topic Magnet Technology and Magnetic Properties of Matter. Application deadline: late February
  9. Summer Opportunities at Duke Topic: Multiple research areas. Application deadline: May 6, 2006. Eligibility: only Duke undergraduate students. Note: There are a very limited number of positions, and most positions will be filled on a rolling application basis, meaning that applicants will be considered until the positions are filled. Students are urged to contact the appropriate faculty member for the project in which they are interested as soon as they are definite about their summer plans.