NIST Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF)
“Spend part of your summer working elbow to elbow with researchers at one of the world’s leading research organizations and home to four Nobel Prize winners.”
The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Gaithersburg, MD is offering a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program for students majoring in science, mathematics and engineering. Note that applications for participation in the SURF program are only accepted from colleges or universities, and not from individual students so you need to apply through Middlebury College.
If you would like to apply to the NIST SURF program, please send the following to uro@middlebury.edu by Friday, January 15, 2016.
–Student Application Form (same form for both locations).
Note–you should list the faculty who you will ask to write letters of recommendation, but letters not needed at this stage!
-A Resume
-Unofficial Transcript
-Statement of Research Interests
More information and available research options can be found on the individual program websites:
http://www.nist.gov/surfgaithersburg/
http://www.nist.gov/surfboulder/
Eligibility: The program is open to all United States citizens or permanent residents. Students must be undergraduates at a U.S. university or college with a scientific major, have a G.P.A. of 3.0/4.0 or better (recommended), and are considering pursuing a graduate degree (M.S. or Ph.D.). Students with physics, material science, chemistry, applied mathematics, computer science, or engineering majors are always encouraged to apply. There may be research opportunities for students with other majors.
SURF students receive stipend, and housing and travel allotments (as needed). Funding for students comes via a federal grant issued to the school from NIST. In 2015, students who completed the full 11 week program received a $5,500 stipend. Students that did not make the full 11-week program were paid at $500 per week.
The only real expenses that students should expect to pay out-of-pocket are personal entertainment and food. To help control the food expenses, the student apartments have a full kitchen with dishes, utensils, pots and pans. There are free continental breakfasts daily!
This is a competitive program that reviews both the university and student portion of the application to determine the final list of SURF awardees. The NIST SURF program will support approximately 100 students.
For questions contact:
Lisa Gates
Associate Dean for Fellowships and Research