Undergraduate Summer Research

REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates):

Field: Computational Biology for non-STEM majors
Location: Princeton NJ, June 2-Aug 1, 2025

 

AS OF JANUARY 31, 2025, FUNDING FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY  HAS BEEN DECLINED BY NSF AND APPLICATIONS WILL NOT BE REVIEWED.

 

Purpose

The mission of this summer program is to enable undergraduates from colleges with limited research opportunities to work on important contemporary problems in science. This program will offer cross-disciplinary research experience with world-leading faculty mentors who apply the intellectual, experimental, or theoretical tools of the physical, mathematical, or engineering sciences to biological questions. This program will have distinct requirements.

 

Eligibility

Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents, a rule of the US Congress. We welcome applications of students who are from groups that are historically underrepresented in graduate education or STEM employment. Students from community colleges are especially encouraged to apply. Princeton University students are not eligible.

Eligible applicants must be continuing undergraduates during the fall term following the summer internship. Proof of continuing enrollment in a two- or four-year institution of higher education will be required prior to the research period. Receipt of an A.A. degree is not disqualifying.

All applications and inquiries are handled through our website. Direct all inquiries to the program administrative assistant, Kirsten Mahon, not to program directors or faculty mentors.

The REU program seeks undergraduates who are in the freshman or sophomore year of study in any non-STEM field only who are interested in learning computational skills and who have some interest in biology. Competitive applicants should have a good GPA, especially in the field of their major or intended major. Formerly incarcerated undergraduates in both STEM and non-STEM fields of study are particularly welcome and should apply through the portal of the Princeton University Prison Teaching Initiative at: https://mcgraw.princeton.edu/community-college-engagement/prison-teaching-initiative/summer-internships check w Jill this URL is correct when final, and make it an active link.

 

Program

Each student that is accepted into the program will serve as an assistant in the research group of a faculty member who acts as mentor and research advisor. See the Faculty page (REU faculty list link) for a list of participating faculty members and their research areas. The program directors in consultation with training faculty match student interests to available faculty projects. Not all faculty or all projects are available in any given year; your rank-ordered list of faculty choices will be used to judge your interest areas for placement with an available faculty mentor.

Regular meetings with the faculty mentor and members of his or her team will provide guidance about research design, methods, and progress. Program participants typically give several brief, informal oral reports on their work during the course of the summer. By the end of the program, students also prepare a formal written report on their research and an oral summary in a slide presentation. Meetings with program directors and staff, daily during the first week and weekly thereafter, provide general guidance and explore related topics including scientific ethics, presentation skills, future opportunities including graduate programs, etc.

In addition to the faculty research mentor, participants will have guidance from an assigned day-to-day mentor in the research group. In the domestic (REU) program each participant is also paired with a near-peer mentor, an early Ph.D. student with whom to develop a personal relationship and to discuss any topic of interest.

The program is a full-immersion research experience and requires full-time commitment (minimum forty hours per week; no other commitments to jobs, courses, exam reviews, etc.).

 

Financial support

The program provides a 2025 stipend of $700 weekly, paid campus housing, and travel to and from the research site from your home or school location. Campus housing for the domestic (REU) program includes a full meal contract.

 

Applying

Summer 2025 Application Deadline: February 28, 2025

If official 2024 fall-term transcripts are not available by the application due date, submit an unofficial transcript. If you are selected for an internship, you will be asked to update your file with the official transcript. List all courses you are taking in Spring, 2025.

Freshmen are welcome to apply and may include, in ADDITION to ALL other application materials, an official high school transcript and up to one recommendation letter from their high school.

Application Preparation Checklist

  1. Complete your application online and submit: https://etap.nsf.gov/award/7600/opportunity/10339
    Scanned copies to upload via online application:
  2. A scanned copy of your transcript
    • A scanned copy of your currently valid health insurance card. Princeton University requires all participants to have valid health insurance throughout its programs.
    • A scanned copy of your proof of citizen/resident status (typically passport or permanent resident card; picture need not be included).
    • If you are a US citizen and do not hold a currently valid passport, please submit scanned copies of either:
      • Your US passport, OR
      • Your birth certificate AND a currently valid state issued form of ID (e.g., driver’s license)
      • Photos need not be included.
  3. Request two recommendation letters to be submitted by your letter writers directly to:

Email: reu-rec@princeton.edu
Subject: Recommendation for <your name>
Letters must be received by February 28, 2025.

APPLY NOW

 

After Submitting Your Application

If you do not receive a confirmation that your application was received contact Kirsten Mahon, email: km1418@princeton.edu

If your letter writers do not receive a confirmation that the recommendation letter was received, you should contact Kirsten Mahon on their behalf.

Your completed application and letters must be received no later than February 28, 2025.

 

Faculty
All inquiries about the program should be directed to the program administrative assistant, Kirsten Mahon.

Please do not contact faculty or program directors.

Faculty Link List

Computational Biology, Gateway to STEM

  • Craig Arnold, Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Vice Dean for Innovation
  • Robert Austin, Professor of Physics
    • https://phy.princeton.edu/people/robert-austin
  • Timothy Buschman, Assistant Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience
    • https://pni.princeton.edu/people/timothy-buschman
  • Andrea Graham, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
    • https://eeb.princeton.edu/people/andrea-graham
  • Jerelle Joseph, Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering
    • https://cbe.princeton.edu/people/jerelle-joseph
  • Andrej Kosmrlj, Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
  • Simon Levin, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
    • https://eeb.princeton.edu/people/simon-levin
  • Celeste Nelson, Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering
    • https://cbe.princeton.edu/people/celeste-nelson
  • Jason Puchalla, Professor of Physics
    • https://phy.princeton.edu/people/jason-puchalla
  • Amit Singer, Professor of Mathematics and Applied and Computational Mathematics
    • https://www.pacm.princeton.edu/people/amit-singer
  • Howard Stone, Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
    • https://mae.princeton.edu/people/faculty/stone
  • Natalia Vélez, Assistant Professor of Psychology
    • https://psychology.princeton.edu/people/natalia-v%C3%A9lez

 

Contact Us

Do not contact faculty mentors or program directors. For questions about the program please contact:

Kirsten Mahon
Program Administrative Assistant
Department of Chemistry
Frick Laboratory
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ 08544
Phone: 609-258-4079
Email: km1418@princeton.edu

 

The faculty who lead the REU program are:

Professor Jannette Carey, Ph.D.
Program Director
Department of Chemistry
Frick Laboratory
Princeton University
Princeton NJ 08544

Dr. Jill Stockwell, Ph.D.
Associate Director, Prison Teaching Initiative
The McGraw Center for Teaching & Learning
Princeton University
Princeton NJ 08544