RI-INBRE > Summer
Undergraduate Research Fellowships
Summer Undergraduate Research
Fellowship Program
The RI-INBRE Summer Undergraduate
Research Fellowship (SURF) Program offers summer research opportunities to qualified undergraduate students who are considering a possible career in biomedical
and behavioral research. The program targets, but is not limited to, racially and ethnically diverse students in their sophomore and junior college undergraduate years.
Research projects for the
2013 SURF Program have been posted posted. Click on
each of the participating institutions below to see the projects that are
available.
Applications are now being accepted and the application deadline is March 1, 2013.
If you would like to get started on your application materials, along
with the application form, you will also be required to submit a resume,
an unofficial copy of your transcripts, two (2) letters of
recommendation from science faculty, and a personal statement. The
personal statement must include your background and research interests,
short term goals (job, education, career, etc.), how you expect to
benefit from the program, and your plans for future study. The
resume, unofficial transcripts, and personal statement must be uploaded
with the application form. The letters of recommendation must be
e-mailed directly from the faculty member that writes it. In the meantime, if you have questions about
this year's program, please contact
Jeff Ulricksen, the RI-INBRE
Program Assistant.
The goals of the program are to expose undergraduate students to laboratory research and to familiarize them with the opportunities that exist for careers in biomedical
and behavioral research. The program runs for ten weeks each summer
and includes three major components.
The first and most important component involves a hands on research project with a faculty member where the student is exposed to contemporary methods and problems in biomedical
and behavioral research.
The second component of the program includes a series of workshops and group instruction in which students are exposed to a variety of general research issues and practices as well as a variety of advanced research techniques that they are unlikely to see in individual laboratories. This includes tours and demonstrations of some of the equipment in the Centralized Research Core Facility at the University
of Rhode Island. Workshops also include:
Scientific Ethics
Chemical and Radiation Safety
Laboratory Notebook Keeping
Print and On-Line Scientific Literature Searches
Presentation of Research Results
Scientific Writing
The third component includes a Lecturer Series in which the students are exposed to a wide variety of education and career options through seminars presented by the Associate Dean of the Graduate School, faculty members, and past participants.
Additional activities during the program will include a visit to Pfizer, Inc.’s research facilities in Groton, CT, a
picnic, and the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellows Conference. This
conference affords each participant the opportunity to present their scientific findings to a group of their peers and mentors.
Our inaugural program was held in the summer of 2001. The program has hosted
approximately 80 students each year from 2001 to the present.
The Summer Undergraduate Research
Fellowship Program provides an outstanding environment to learn first hand about a career in biomedical
and behavioral research. Many of our former participants have matriculated into Ph.D. and M.D./Ph.D. programs.
