Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Program is a partnership supported by NIST, NSF, and the participating colleges/universities. The Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory (MSEL) and the NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR) jointly offer a program designed to provide hands-on research opportunities to undergraduate students in the areas of ceramics, metallurgy, polymers, and condensed matter science. The program is open to undergraduate students seeking science and engineering degrees in accredited colleges and universities. Applicants must be U. S. citizens or permanent residents.

The program begins in late May and consists of an 11 week hands-on research project led by a NIST scientist. At the end of the 11 weeks, each student is expected to present their work to an audience of other SURF participants, project leaders and their colleagues.

Application details and general information are available on the NIST SURF website. For more information on the research projects available, please visit the MSEL SURF website.

To gain a better understanding of what type of research a SURF participant may in, the presentations are available at our SURF materials page.

For more information regarding the MSEL/NCNR SURF program, please contact the SURF Directors: