Summer Research and Internship Opportunities

Summer research opportunities

While many students choose to spend summer semester at KU starting or continuing a research project, there are opportunities to get summertime research experience at other places, and often to receive compensation for it.  For example, the National Science Foundation (NSF) funds Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) programs at research-intensive universities that provide stipends of up to $6,000 and offer professional development programming. You can search for REU programs on the National Science Foundation's official website.  Application deadlines for these highly competitive programs range from February 1 to March 15, but your best bet is to apply as early as possible and to as many programs as possible.

The American Chemical Society provides terrific search tools for identifying REU programs and other summer undergraduate research and internship opportunities. 

Summer research in Ireland

Each summer one lucky KU student is selected to spend the summer doing research at Dublin City University, while a DCU student ventures to KU.  For more information on study abroad programs, you can visit KU Study Abroad and Global Engagement's official website.

KU summer research opportunities

KU has a long-running NSF-REU program that supports domestic students from primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs) around the US.  KU Chemistry majors are not eligible for financial support through this program, but students pursuing full-time summer research are often invited to join the visiting students for educational and professional development programming.  Eligible KU Chemistry majors should also consider applying to the KU Beckman Scholars Program.