Research and Industry Experiences

For those who plan to continue Physics research into graduate school, research as an undergrad is essential, as colleges are looking that you already have experience in the field. There are many ways to get into research. We have included many links below to programs that provide opportunities for research. Another way of getting research is to directly email professors whose research you find interesting. Having experiences from industry and summer programs is also very helpful.

Getting Involved in Research

Here is an SPS presentation providing a general overview of getting into research, including a template for emailing professors: Getting Involved in Research

The Cornell Undergraduate Research Board (CURB) provides help to those looking for research opportunities through the Peer Mentorship Program.

Cornell Opportunities

Areas of research at Cornell that are of interest to physics students are listed by category in the Areas of Study page. On the Scholarships, Funding, and Awards page, we have provided resources for finding research funding.

Here is a useful undergraduate research page provided by A&S: Undergraduate Research

Off-Campus Opportunities

An off-campus opportunity could be useful if you want to try out an area of physics that is not offered at Cornell. These opportunities are also usually more competitive and can positively contribute to your research experience. Most people participate in reasearch REUs as sophomores and juniors, as they are pretty hard to get accepted to as a freshman.

Note for international students: NSF grants and DoE grants are only for American citizens/permanent residents. However, there are various opportunities still available for international students. The website reufinder.com is a good resources to start looking for REUs that international students are eligible for. Programs that international students are eligible for are tagged with an asterisk (*).

Domestic Summer Programs

Universities

• NSF Research Experience for Undergradates Programs (REUs)
  • Harvard SEAS REU
  • MIT Haystack REU:
  • Columbia University Engineering and Applied Science REU
  • Columbia University Nevis Laboratories Particle Physics REU
  • UMich CERN REU
  • Princeton University Plasma Physics Laboratory REU
  • UIUC Physics REU*
  • URochester REU
  • UCSB Physics REU
• Caltech WAVE
• Caltech SURF
• Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab College Summer Intern Program
• IRIS-HEP at Princeton: Software in high-energy physics.
• AAPM Summer Undergraduate Fellowship Program: Medical physics.
• Santa Fe Institute Undergraduate Complexity Research *
• Yale SURF

National Labs

• Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships (SULI)
  • Internships at all 17 of the US Department of Energy national laboratories
• Fermilab *
  • Includes programs such as SULI, Helen Edwards Summer Internship, and the ASC program.
• Los Alamos/LANL
• Sandia Labs*
• Argonne Lee Teng Fellowship
• Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Government and Industry Labs

• NASA Programs for Undergraduates
  • Includes JPL internships
• NIST SURF
• NASA Academy
• Air Force Research Lab Internship
• Lockheed Martin Student Internship
• MIT Lincoln Labs Summer Research Program *
• NSA Director’s Summer Program
• The Leadership Alliance Summer Research Program
• U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
• Mickey Leland Energy Fellowship

Programs Outside the US

• Summer Student Programme at CERN *
• Perimeter Institute START Program *: Theoretical physics.
• IFJ PAN Particle Physics Programme*: Theoretical physics.
• DAAD RISE Germany *
• Kupcinet-Getz International Summer School *
• DESY Summer Student Programme *
• PRISMA++ Internship Programme *
• Max Planck Matter to Life*
• UWaterloo IQC-Mitacs Internship

Other Resources

• Search for research programs:
  • Pathways to Science
  • REU Finder
    • Includes opportunities for freshmen, sophomores, juniors & seniors, international students, community college students, undocumented students
• Opportunities listed by other universities:
  • Harvard
  • MIT