We are pleased to announce The Penn State College of Medicine Summer Undergraduate Research Internship Program for Summer 2010 (SURIP 2010).  The program brings undergraduates to our campus for a “summer-immersion” in biological research and an orientation to a career in biological sciences.  The typical intern will be between their Sophomore and Junior year or between their Junior and Senior year of undergraduate studies.  Students who will have a BA or BS prior to the start of the internship on June 1 should not apply.

SURIP 2010 would be most appropriate for students considering applying to PhD programs in the Biological/Biomedical Sciences and is not intended for students who will apply to Medical School.   There is no clinical shadowing component to the internship.   Students that are undecided or interested in combined degrees are welcome to apply.

Our goals are to provide a meaningful educational experience to undergraduates to prepare them for careers in cutting edge fields and to increase the pool of students considering graduate education or technical careers in the life sciences and bioengineering.   Participating faculty have a strong interest in mentoring young scholars as an integral part of their academic experience.  Each student accepted into this program will be matched to one of these faculty mentors for a ten-week laboratory and research experience.

Integral to our program are twice weekly lunch research/career seminars, a capstone writing/presentation experience, and additional introductory experiences related to the professional culture of biological research.  Research interns will have the opportunity to live on our campus, and will receive a stipend of $3,000 each to cover their living expenses during the summer.  The majority of our interns choose to live on campus and those that do so find living on campus a very positive experience.  In light of the fact that the budget for the SURIP program does not permit us to cover the housing costs beyond the first month, we encourage you to make interested students aware of any small grant programs at your institution that might help interns offset the costs of on campus housing.

For more information and an online application form (APPLICATION SUBMISSION OPENS ON NOVEMBER 16) you may access our website at http://www.pennstatehershey.org/web/summerresearch/home.  We encourage you to place a link to our program in the appropriate departmental web sites and to forward this information to a career services/internship office at your institution to distribute this announcement as efficiently as possible.  If you are aware of undergraduates who would benefit from this experience, please inform them of this program’s availability.  We will be accepting applications until February 9, 2010.

Sarah K. Bronson, Ph.D. Director, SURIP 717-531-5194 sbronson@psu.edu

Kathleen M. Simon, Administrative Assistant, Office of Graduate Student Affairs, Penn State University College of Medicine (717) 531-8892 (717) 531-0786 (fax) ksimon@psu.