Last Update: Tuesday, February 14 at 12:13 PM
Changes made in last update: I added the University of Idaho REU which has a closing date of March 1, 2012.
This page contains links to summer research opportunities for undergraduates in Physics and Astronomy. These programs are often called "REUs" because the National Science Foundation has a program to sponsor "Research Experiences for Undergraduate Students). I hope this page will make it a little easier for our undergraduates to find out about the many research opportunities available to them. Please see me if there is a program missing here that you would like to see added.
More Comprehensive Lists of Summer Research Opportunities in Physics or Astronomy
| List | Description |
| American Mathematical Society REU Links | Physics students who enjoy the mathematical methods we use might want to look here. |
| NASA Student On-Line Application for Recruiting Interns, Fellows, and Scholars | This is one site NASA has set up to apply for multiple internships in one site. |
| NASA's list of "Current Opportunities" | This website lists opportunities to work at NASA students should look at the "Higher Education" tab for a list of possibilities. |
| NSF's list of all REU Sites | This page links to all the National Science Foundations lists of sites they currently fund REU programs at. |
| NSF's list of REU Sites in Physics | This is the National Science Foundation's list of sites with currently funded REU programs in physics. |
| NSF's list of REU Sites in the Astronomical Sciences | This is the National Science Foundation's list of sites with currently funded REU programs in the astronomical sciences. |
| The Nucleus Resources for Physics and Astronomy Undergraduates Summer Research Opportunities List | This website lists lots of summer research opportunities for any undergraduate in the physics or astronomy field. It is very searchable and one of the most complete I have found. |
Specific Summer Research Opportunities in Physics or Astronomy
This list of sites offering REUs is NOT ANYWHERE NEAR COMPLETE! It is biased towards astronomy REUs since that is what I know about. I will add more sites as time allows. Check the above lists for a more comprehensive listing of REUs. This list is automatically sorted in order of application deadline.
| Application Deadline (for Winter 2011 or Summer 2012) | List | Who is it For? |
| 1 October 2011 | Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory CTIO REU Program | Students interested in doing astronomy research in the Southern Hemisphere. These programs run during the Chilean summer, January through March. |
| 20 December 2011 | University of Michigan, CERN | Students interested in going to Switzerland to do a little particle physics. |
| 10 January 2012 | DOE Summer Undergraduate Laboratory Internships SUIL Program | This program places students in paid internships in Science and Engineering at any of several Department of Energy facilities. Check a site for a link to specific labs and their specific projects. |
| 12 January 2012 | MURF Undergrade Research Fellowships at Caltech | Underrepresented students such as African American, Hispanic, and Native American, females who are underrepresented in their discipline, or first-generation college students interested in science and engineering Ph.D. or M.D./Ph.D. programs. |
| 15 January 2012 | Mass Media Science and Engineering Fellows Program | Students interested in translating the importance of science to the public by working at media organizations for the summer. |
| 15 January 2012 | University of Minnesota Physics REU | Students interested in biophysics, elementary particle physics, cosmology and astrophysics, physics, education, condensed matter physics, and space physics. |
| 16 January 2012 | Renewable Energy Research at the Colorado School of Mines | Students interested in fundamental materials issues related to the science and technology of renewable energy. |
| 30 January 2012 | Kitt Peak National Observatory REU Program | Students interested in observational astronomy. |
| 30 January 2012 | National Solar Observatory REU Program | Students interested in solar physics or observational astronomy |
| 1 February 2012 | American Association of Physicists in Medicine AAPM Summer Undergraduate Fellowship Program | Students interested in a summer internship in medical physics |
| 1 February 2012 | Idaho State University Research Experience for Undergraduates REU Summer Program in Nuclear Physics, Radiobiology, and Nuclear Engineering | Students interested in research in Nuclear Physics, Radiobiology, or Nuclear Engineering. |
| 1 February 2012 | MIT Haystack Observatory REU program | Students interested in radio astronomy and engineering and computer science. |
| 1 February 2012 | NAIC Arecibo Observatory REU Program | Students interested in radio astronomy and related instrumentation at the largest single-dish radio observatory in the world. |
| 1 February 2012 | National Radio Astronomy Observatory REU Program | Students interested in radio astronomy and related fields. |
| 1 February 2012 | Northern Arizona University REU Program in Astronomy | Students interested in observational astronomy |
| 1 February 2012 | American Museum of Natural History REU Program in Earth Sciences and Astrophysics | Students interested in astrophysics and geology. |
| 1 February 2012 | SETI REU Program | Students interested in research spanning the field of astrobiology from microbiology to planetary geology to observational astronomy. |
| 1 February 2012 | Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Summer Intern Program | Students interested in astronomy, astrophysics, physics, and related physical sciences encouraged to apply. |
| 1 February 2012 | University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy REU Program | Students interested in a wide range of astrophysical disciplines, including solar physics, planetary astronomy, astrobiology, stars, the interstellar medium and star formation, the formation and evolution of galaxies, and cosmology. |
| 1 February 2012 | University of Wisconsin-Madison Astrophyscis REU Program | Students interested in astrophysics of a variety of flavors. |
| 2 February 2012 | American Association of Physicists in Medicine AAPM Minority Undergraduate Summer Experience Program | Minority undergraduates interested in the field of medical physics. |
| 3 February 2012 | Lloyd V. Berkner Space Policy Internships | Students interested in civil space research policy at the National Academies. |
| 3 February 2012 | Southeastern Association for Research in Astronomy REU Program | Students interested in astronomical research. |
| 5 February 2012 | Cornell Laboratory for Elementary Particle Physics REU | Students interested in particle accelerator related physics including particle physics and engineering. |
| 7 February 2012 | Cornell University Observational Astronomy REU Program | Students interested in observational astronomy. |
| 8 February 2012 | Keck Northeast Astronomy Consortium REU Program | Students interested in a wide variety of astrophysics research should look at this program. Talk to Dr. Cabanela as he participated in this program as a faculty host in the past. |
| 10 February 2012 | UT/McDonald Observatory REU in Astronomy and Engineering | Students interested in astronomy and engineering. UNCERTAIN IF THEY HAVE FUNDING FOR 2012 |
| 12 February 2012 | Montana State University Solar Physics REU Program | Students interested in Solar Physics. |
| 15 February 2012 | Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power REU Program | Students interested in fluid power engineering at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Milwaukee School of Engineering in Milwaukee, North Caroline A&T State University in Greensboro, Purdue University in West Lafayette and Vanderbilt University in Nashville. |
| 15 February 2012 | Maria Mitchell Observatory MMO REU Program | Students interested in observational astronomy on a small island off the coast of Massachusetts. Ask Dr. Cabanela about it, he was a REU student there years ago. |
| 15 February 2012 | NIST Summer Research Fellowship | Students interested in research at any one of the nine NIST laboratories: Building and Fire Research, Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, Chemical Science and Technology, Electronics and Electrical Engineering, Information Technology, Manufacturing Engineering, Materials Science & Engineering, NIST Center for Neutron Research, and Physics |
| 15 February 2012 | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute RPI Applied Physics and Astronomy REU Program | Students interested in research in astrophysics, biological physics, condensed matter physics, physics education, optical physics, and particle physics. |
| 15 February 2012 | Synchrotron Radiation Center - University of Wisconsin-Madison | Students interested in working on condensed matter physics, atomic and molecular physics, nanotechnology, biosciences, or accelerator physic. |
| 15 February 2012 | University of Nebraska-Lincoln Summer Research Program | Students interested in applied mathematics, bioenergy systems, miomedical engineering, nanotechnology, and physics. Rolling deadline, early applications encouraged. |
| 15 February 2012 | University of Rochester Physics and Astronomy REU Program | Students interested in research in including Astronomy & Astrophysics, Biological Physics, Condensed Matter Physics, High Energy Physics, Nuclear Physics, Plasma and Laser Physics, Quantum Optics, and Physics Education. Rolling application deadline. |
| 15 February 2012 | University of Wyoming Astronomy Department REU Program | Students interested in Astronomy, especially galaxy evolution. |
| 15 February 2012 | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign NanoCEMMS REU Program | Students interested in NanoTechnology related research. |
| 17 February 2012 | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Physics REU Program | Students interested in Quantum, Astrophysics, Biophysics, Condensed Matter, High Energy, Nuclear Physics or Physics Education |
| 17 February 2012 | University of Michigan Physics Department REU Program | Students interested in Astrophysics, Atomic/Molecular/Optical Physics, Condensed Matter Physics Theoretical or Experimental, High Energy Physics Theoretical or Experimental, Nonlinear Dynamics/Complex Systems, and Nuclear/Medical Physics |
| 29 February 2012 | Carnegie Institution of Washington Summer Scholars Program | Students interested in the geosciences experimental petrology, mineralogy, mineral physics, seismology, planetary sciences and astronomy, and related chemical sciences inorganic and organic geochemistry, cosmochemistry encouraged to apply. |
| 29 February 2012 | University of Minnesota, Supercomputing Institute REU | Students interested in learning advanced compuational techniques for physical science research. |
| 29 February 2012 | University of Washington, Seattle | Students interested in physics or astrophysics related research. Early applications are encouraged. |
| 1 March 2012 | Cornell Center for Materials Research REU Program | This program actually has a 'rolling deadline' where faculty start picking REU students in January with final decisions made in March. Students interested in interdisciplinary materials research projects involving chemistry, physics, materials science and engineering disciplines. |
| 1 March 2012 | University of Idaho Physics REU | Students interested in condensed matter physics, nantotechnology, biophysics, and solar system astrophysics. |
| 12 March 2012 | Arkansas Center for Space and Planetary Sciences | Students in chemistry, physics, biology, electrical engineering, geosciences, mechanical engineering and chemical engineering are especially encouraged to apply. |
| 15 March 2012 | Vanderbilt University REU Program in Physics and Astronomy | Students interested in astrophysics observational and theoretical, biological physics, condensed matter, atomic, molecular, optical, and nanoscale physics, and particle/high-energy nuclear physics. |
| Not yet available | Center for Nanoscale Systems CNS Cornell University | Students interested in nanotechnology. NO PROGRAM IN 2012 |
| Not yet available | CRESST Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology Summer Internship Program | Students interested in Space Science summer internships on-site at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. |
| Not yet available | Indiana University Bloomington Astronomy REU | Students interested in "stellar astrophysics and beyond" NO PROGRAM IN 2012 |
| Not yet available | Iowa State University Research Experiences for Undergraduates, NEMat: Non-Equilibrium Materials | Students interested in Engineering in general and Materials Engineering in particular. WAS NOT OFFERED 2011 |
| Not yet available | University of Oklahoma Physics and Astronomy REU Program | Students interested in Physics or Astronomy careers requiring graduate studies. |
| Not yet available | Washington State University REU Program in Physics | Students interested in Bose-Einstein Condensates, Chaos and Complexity, High-Pressure Physics, Materials and Optics, and Physical Acoustics. |