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. NOAA Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship Program Application deadline: late January. Eligibility: U.S. citizens who will be a junior in the fall 2009. [Announcement]
  4. Research Experiences for Undergraduates at Cornell University Topic: Nanoscale Systems. Application deadline: early February
  5. Research Experiences for Undergraduates at Northwestern University Application deadline: mid February. Eligibility: U.S. citizens or permanent residents
  6. The NIST Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program Topic: Information Technologies. Application deadline: mid February
  7. High Energy Density (HED) Physics Program at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Application deadline: mid January. [Announcement]
  8. REU at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Florida State University Topic Magnet Technology and Magnetic Properties of Matter. Application deadline: late March
  9. Nuclear Engineering Opportunities
  10. Research Experience for Undergraduates - Condensed Matter and LASER Physics at Montana State University Application deadline: late February. [Announcement]
  11. Solar Physics / Astronomy & Space Physics REU Program at Montana State University Application deadline: late January. [Announcement]
  12. WVU Center for Neuroscience Internships at West Virginia University Application deadline: late January
  13. REU at the MIT Haystack Observatory Application deadline: early February
  14. REU at University of Florida Application deadline: mid February. Eligibility: U.S. citizens or permanent residents
  15. Summer Research Internships at MIT Application deadline: mid February. Eligibility: U.S. citizens or permanent residents
  16. REU Physics & Astronomy Summer Program at Stony Brook University No absolute deadline for submission of applications: offers will be made on a rolling basis beginning on March 1st until all available positions are filled.
  17. National Undergraduate Fellowship in Plasma Physics and Fusion Energy Sciences at Princeton University Application deadline: late February. Eligibility: U.S. citizens or permanent residents. [Announcement]
  18. IBM Research Internship for Undergraduate Women Application deadline: mid February
  19. Novel Advanced Materials and Processing with Applications in Biomedical, Electrical and Chemical Engineering at University of Illinois at Chicago Application deadline: late February. [Announcement]
  20. Summer Research Opportunity in Biomaterials and Bionanotechnology at Penn State University Application deadline: mid February. [Announcement]
  21. 2009 Summer Undergraduate Research in Physics at University of Nevada, Las Vegas Application deadline: early March. Eligibility: U.S. citizens or permanent residents
  22. 2009 Physics Undergraduate Summer Research Program at University of Oklahoma Application deadline: mid February. [Announcement]
  23. 2009 Physics REU at University of Washington, Seattle Application deadline: early March. [Announcement]
  24. Summer 2009 Undergraduate Research Experience at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland Still accepting applications! [Announcement]
  25. REU Program in Physics and Astronomy at Washington State University Application deadline: late February. [Announcement]
  26. Duke University Dean's Summer Research Fellowships