Undergraduate Fellowships

Below are brief descriptions of Harvard research fellowships available to Harvard undergraduates. Recipients of these fellowships must commit to  full-time research (at least 40 hours/week) for ten weeks during the summer.

PRISE - PRISE is a competitive ten-week summer residential program for Harvard undergraduates engaged in research in the sciences or engineering at Harvard. The program provides housing and some meals, social activities, evening faculty lectures, and contribution toward the summer savings requirement for financial aid recipients. The application requires two student essays: a research proposal and an essay on how the student will contribute to a summer science community. You can help your undergraduate in two ways for this fellowship: by writing a letter of recommendation and/or helping them to write a solid project proposal.

Deadline: mid-February

Harvard College Research Program - HCRP, administered through the Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships (URAF), funds undergraduates engaged in research with Harvard-affiliated faculty. Both term-time and summer funding are available. The majority of students who apply are awarded some funding.  Research labs are strongly encouraged to match HCRP awards so that the maximum number of students can be supported. Research mentors can assist their undergraduates in developing a high quality research proposal.

Deadline: End of March for summer applications.

Herchel Smith-Harvard Undergraduate Science Research Program - The Herchel Smith Fellowship, administered by the Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships (URAF), funds students doing summer research at Harvard or elsewhere. While funding is quite generous, selection is extremely competitive. The standard for a project proposal is higher for Herchel Smith than for HCRP or PRISE, requiring more in-depth background supporting the proposal, description of the experimental plan, and an explanation of why the research group is a good environment for the student's project.

Deadline: early-mid February

See Research Opportunities under the Research tab of the Life Sciences web page for a more comprehensive list of summer undergraduate research fellowships.