Time to look for summer research opportunities

Biology major Charlie Davis at the
research bench in summer of 2010

As we approach the first anniversary of this blog, it is a good reminder that now is the perfect time to start looking for summer research internships.  Research is an important part of any undergraduate science experience, no matter if you are interested in graduate school, professional schools in medicine or other health areas, or just want a job when you graduate from AU.  And we started this blog a year ago in large part to help students find these opportunities.

Many Universities get National Science Foundation funding to support summer undergraduate research.  You can find a listing of these opportunities here.  You can also click on the "summer research internships" tag link to the right to see all previous listings from last year.  Most of these programs will continue this year, so these old posts are still very helpful.  These programs pay you to conduct research and provide free room and board.  Why not get paid to learn and ad to your resume?  You can read stories about our students who did summer research right here on this blog.

We will also be posting new opportunities in the coming weeks, so check back to this blog often.  You can also register to receive email alerts to new posts to the right, or follow us on twitter.

Most summer research programs have application deadlines in February.  That makes the holiday break a good time to complete and submit applications before the spring semester begins.  You will typically need one or two letters of recommendation, so talk with professors to line those up before the holiday break.

And as always, talk to your faculty advisor if you need help or have questions.