summer internship opportunities
Dear Students,
Greetings to all of you as we begin a new semester. I wanted to make sure everyone was aware of the large number of summer internship opportunities that are available, and for which many applications are due shortly.
Most prominent among these are internships funded by the National Science Foundation’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates program. NSF-REU internships are a great way to learn about a particular research area that may interest you as well as to gain more general experience in research, both of which can be invaluable in helping you to decide on a future career path, including graduate school preparation. REU programs typically support a 10-week paid summer internship at a university or research institute, plus expenses get to and from that location, as well as a professional conference to present results of the work. Many applications are due starting the end of January, so if you’re interested and have not yet looked into this, now is the time! Here is a very small sample that I’ve heard about personally in recent weeks, but this doesn’t begin to capture the full variety:
- Northern Arizona University (astrophysics)
- University of Colorado / NCAR (solar / space physics)
- Harvard University / SAO (astrophysics)
There are many more however in a much broader range of disciplines! A complete searchable database of NSF-REU programs can be found here:
Of course, there are other government agencies or even private organizations funding other internship programs with rather similar structure to the NSF-REUs. Just a couple of these are the following:
- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (interdisciplinary)
- Department of Energy / Omni Technology Alliance (cybersecurity)
The Department of Energy has its own list of summer internship programs here:
Please do consider some of these if you haven’t, and don’t be shy about asking your professors for recommendations!
Steven Gibson
