Applications for EPSCoR Summer Scholars program due March 3

9:07 a.m., Feb. 26, 2014--Applications for the 2014 EPSCoR Summer Scholars research internship program are due by 5 p.m., Monday, March 3.

The Delaware Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, or EPSCoR, has funded more than 250 undergraduate research internships since 2004. 

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The program takes place over a 10-week period in the summer. In addition to completing an independent research project, interns participate in skill-building seminars on such topics as going to graduate school, research ethics, and how to make a research presentation. Interns also receive a stipend of $4,000.

Rising sophomores, juniors and seniors with a minimum 3.0 grade point adverage are eligible. Students from any major may apply, but their research project should be related to the environment, to coincide with the overall theme of Delaware’s EPSCoR program. 

Students with an interest in climate, sea level rise, water quality, land use, soil contamination and remediation, environmental sensing and monitoring, economics, ethics, environmental justice, environmental history, or environmental policy are especially encouraged to apply.

“The EPSCoR summer scholar program was a very enriching experience,” says senior Linda Grand, who worked with applied economics and statistics professor Kent Messer last year. “I was able to gain valuable research experience that helped prepare me for graduate school. I am now applying to master’s programs in environmental economics.”

Identifying a research mentor is key to a successful internship, according to Rebekah Helton, EPSCoR assistant director for education programs. 

“We request that students do a little research and identify a few professors that they’d be interested in working with over the summer,” she says. “We offer tips for locating a mentor in our materials available online with the application.”

Helton notes that for the first time this year, all application instructions and forms may be found online through the Delaware EPSCoR website.

This year’s program runs from June 9 through Aug. 15. EPSCoR Summer Scholars typically present their work via posters or presentations at UD’s Undergraduate Research and Service Scholar Celebratory Symposium, held in August.

For more information about the EPSCoR Summer Scholars program, contact Helton at rrhelton@udel.edu.

Article by Beth Chajes