Summer Research Opportunities
We try to bring on a new summer student from an external institution every year. This has been a great success so far. If you are an undergraduate in engineering or the natural sciences interested in participating in summer research at Vanderbilt, here are a few great opportunities to look into. These were all active as of summer 2025.
Vanderbilt School of Engineering (VUSE) Summer Research Program. This program bring in several dozen undergraduate students every year. Students within Vanderbilt can apply, and the majority of participants are in fact internal students. However, we have used this program to bring in an external student every year, and this domain of the program is growing. There are project in labs across the engineering, from biomedical, biomolecular, electrical, and chemical engineering.
Vanderbilt Institute for Nanoscience and Engineering (VINSE) REU. This is an REU program that hosts ~10 external students every year. The projects here are in labs across engineering, physics, materials science, and chemistry. Usually, these programs focus on work being done in VINSE, which is our nano and micro-fabrication core facility. So many of these students get cleanroom experience. This program also tries to recruit students from institutions with less access to advanced research (e.g. primarily-undergraduate institutions).
Vanderbilt Undergraduate Summer Research Program. This program is specific for Vanderbilt undergraduates. Usually, I have undergraduate students who are currently in our laboratory apply for this program so they can continue their work over the summer break. I typically do not recruit new students for this program, but it’s a good opportunity to look into for other labs with summer research projects.
If you’re interested in opportunities outside of engineering and even within the Vanderbilt Medical Center, here are a few more opportunities. I’m less familiar with these and am not fully sure they are all active. Also, due to federal budget cuts, several of these were halted in 2025. But hopefully they come back online in 2026 and beyond.
SYBBURE (specific for Vanderbilt students and runs during the semester as well)
American Heart Association Supporting Undergraduate Research Experiences
Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) – Summer Research Program
Aspirnaut Summer Research Internship
Summer Research Internship Program in Biomedical Informatics
Vanderbilt Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) in Chemical Biology
Undergraduate Clinical Research Internship Program
Vanderbilt Physics and Astronomy Research Experience for Undergraduates
