Undergraduate Summer Research Fund

The Center for the Environment’s Undergraduate Summer Research Fund provides financial support for student research projects related to the environment. The Fund offers two types of research experiences for Harvard students:

1) Independent Research: The Center supports independent, original environmental research, usually towards a thesis. Students must submit a common Summer Research Fund application form and research proposal, which they will pursue under faculty supervision/advice. Faculty supervisors, in turn, must submit a letter of support for the student's application. Award amounts for independent research are usually between $500-$2,500, with preference given to rising seniors seeking funds for senior honors thesis research. Students completing research as part of an internship program are not eligible.

2) Research Assistantship: This experience allows students to participate in summer research with Harvard faculty. The program offers funding for up to ten weeks and students are paid a competitive hourly wage. Each winter, the Center collects a wide variety of research assistant opportunities from its Faculty Associates and advertises them to students via the Center’s website. To start the application process, students should first identify available research positions of interest to them and contact the sponsoring faculty member directly to secure a brief letter of support. Then, fill out the common Summer Research Fund application form.

Search the list of summer research opportunities with faculty

The application deadline has now passed. Awards for Summer 2013 will be announced in mid April.

Faculty Associates: Interested in submitting a job posting for a Research Assistant? E-mail a paragraph about the project to Kellie Nault. After a brief internal review, your job will be posted to our site.

Submit completed application materials to:

Lorraine Maffeo, Environmental Science and Public Policy Coordinator
Phone: (617) 496-6995
Email: maffeo@fas.harvard.edu
Address: Environmental Science and Public Policy
24 Oxford Street, 3rd Floor
Cambridge, MA 02138

For more information about students and projects that have received prior funding, see:

Summer Research Grant Recipients

The Center gratefully acknowledges Bertram Cohn and Beverly Wu & Eric Larson for their generous support of the Undergraduate Summer Research Fund.