Applications for the 2017 EPSCoR Summer Scholars research internship program for undergraduates are now being accepted via an online form and are due by 5 p.m. on Friday, April 7.

The Delaware Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, or EPSCoR, has funded more than 350 undergraduate research internships at the University of Delaware, Delaware State University, Wesley College and Delaware Technical Community College since 2004. 

The program takes place over a 10-week period in the summer beginning June 5. In addition to completing an independent research project, interns participate in skill-building seminars on such topics as attending graduate school, research ethics and making a research presentation.

EPSCoR Summer Scholars typically present their work via posters or presentations at UD’s Undergraduate Research and Service Scholar Celebratory Symposium, held in August. Interns also receive a stipend of $4,000.

Rising sophomores, juniors and seniors are eligible. Students from any major are welcome to apply, but their research projects 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.

Identifying a research mentor is the key to a successful internship, according to Yolanda Williams-Bey, education program manager for Delaware EPSCoR. 

“We can help point you in the right direction if you need it, but approaching a professor you’d be interested in working with prior to submitting an application is part of the process,” she says.

Williams-Bey suggests visiting the environmental experts database on the Delaware Environmental Institute’s website for help in identifying faculty research interests.

For more information about the EPSCoR Summer Scholars program, contact Williams-Bey at yolanda@udel.edu.