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Research Opportunities Beyond SSU

Science & Technology

NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates - The National Science Foundation (NSF) funds a large number of research opportunities for undergraduate students through its REU Sites program. An REU Site consists of a group of ten or so undergraduates who work in the research programs of the host institution. Each student is associated with a specific research project, where he/she works closely with the faculty and other researchers. Students are granted stipends and, in many cases, assistance with housing and travel. Use the link above to search for REU sites by specific subject area. 

Summer Internship Program in Biomedical Research (SIP) - Summer programs at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) provide an opportunity to spend a summer working at the NIH side-by-side with some of the leading scientists in the world in an environment devoted exclusively to biomedical research.

California Academy of Sciences internships offer college students hands-on experience in our labs and collections while working alongside Academy scientists. The projects students begin or contribute to at the Academy are often valuable stepping stones toward careers in the natural sciences.

Amgen Scholars Program is hosted at 10 premier institutions within the United States. Each summer hundreds of undergraduates step into some of the world’s premier research universities and institutions to conduct hands-on research in the lab alongside top faculty, participate in seminars and networking events, and take part in symposia with their peers and leading scientists.

The Explorers Club is deeply committed to supporting the fieldwork of serious researchers and has public service commitment. The Club supports high school students and college undergraduates. Its goal is to foster a new generation of explorers dedicated to the advancement of the scientific knowledge of our world.

Social Sciences

NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates in Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences - The National Science Foundation (NSF) funds a large number of research opportunities for undergraduate students through its REU Sites program. An REU Site consists of a group of ten or so undergraduates who work in the research programs of the host institution. Each student is associated with a specific research project, where he/she works closely with the faculty and other researchers. Students are granted stipends and, in many cases, assistance with housing and travel. Use the link above to search for REU sites in this specific subject area. 

The Public Policy & International Affairs (PPIA) Junior Summer Institute seeks out high-potential undergraduate students from universities across the country to participate in an intensive seven-week Junior Summer Institute (JSI) before their senior year. During their program, fellows are equipped with the knowledge and skills they will need to succeed in graduate school and ultimately, in influential roles serving the public good.

Arts & Humanities

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency that provides support to advance and disseminate knowledge in all of the disciplines of the humanities: history, literature, linguistics, archaeology, jurisprudence and the history, criticism and theory of the arts.

Multidisciplinary 

At the Center for the Study of Language and Information, interns will work closely with a faculty, postdoc, or grad student mentor on an original cognitive science research project. They will gain experience developing the project, collecting data, and analyzing the results. In addition to their individual projects, interns will attend weekly mentorship meetings and seminars with such topics as reading a scientific paper, introduction to data analysis, statistics and visualization, and presentation skills. The program will culminate with each intern presenting their work to an interdisciplinary audience.

Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) - Headquartered in the Midwest, the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) is a consortium of the Big Ten member universities plus the University of Chicago. The Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP) is a gateway to graduate education at CIC universities. The goal of the program is to increase the number of underrepresented students who pursue graduate study and research careers. SROP helps prepare undergraduates for graduate study through intensive research experiences with faculty mentors and enrichment activities.

The American Bar Foundation (ABF’s) accepts applications for Undergraduate Research Diversity Fellows to work in ABF’s office in Chicago during the summer. This fellowship is designed to introduce undergraduate students to the rewards and demands of a research-oriented career in the field of law and/or social science, as well as to provide guidance about the many career options under the umbrella.