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 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 Programs

Universities

• NSF Research Experience for Undergradates Programs (REUs)
• Undergraduate Research Programs at Caltech
  • WAVE
  • SURF
  • programs with LIGO and NASA/JPL
• Harvard SEAS REU
• MIT Haystack REU
• Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab College Summer Intern Program

National Labs

• Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships (SULI)
  • Internships at all 17 of the US Department of Energy national laboratories
• Undergraduate Summer Programs at Fermilab *
  • Includes programs such as SULI, SIST, the Lee Teng Internship in Accelerator Physics, and the Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems Internship
• Los Alamos Undergraduate Student Internship Program
• Los Alamos National Laboratory Computational Physics Workshop
• Sandia Labs Internships *

Government and Industry Labs

• NASA Programs for Undergraduates
  • Includes JPL internships
• NASA Academy
• Air Force Research Lab Internship
• Lockheed Martin Student Internship
• MIT Lincoln Labs Summer Research Program *
• Santa Fe Institute Undergraduate Complexity Research *
• NSA Director’s Summer Program
• The Leadership Alliance Summer Research Program

Programs Outside the US

• UMich CERN REU
• Summer Student Programme at CERN *
• Perimeter Institute START Program *
• RISE Germany *
• Kupcinet-Getz International Summer School *

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