As the spring semester comes to a close, many students are gearing up for their summer jobs while others have chosen to take part in some summer research programs. 

Conducting research over the summer, at the University or elsewhere, is a great way to advance a student’s knowledge while getting some real-life experience in the career field that students may be interested in after their time at the University. 

Securing summer research takes quite a bit of planning and requires a bit of searching around for programs that suit specific students’ interests. Because the application processes at many programs can be quite selective, many students applied for these internships and research positions several months ago. 

“I applied over winter break and found out about the program through Google searching and word of mouth,” Allie Lopez ’24 said.

Lopez is an Animal Behavior and Creative Writing Double major and her summer research is focused on her biology background. “I will be doing conservation research focused on the genetics of marine vertebrates,” she said.

Doing summer research outside of the University is also a great way to meet students from other schools and is an opportunity to connect with others who will likely be doing similar work after graduation. In other words, summer research can be a great way to expand your network.

“There’s nine people in the program and I am excited to connect with them. I connected for the first time with my roommate and had a meeting with some of the other students a couple of weeks ago – they all seem to be really interested in the same things as me,” Lopez said.  

Another benefit of doing summer research off-campus is that students can potentially spend time in different parts of the country, and they likely will be housed by their programs. Lopez’s program is through Duke University’s Marine Lab in Beaufort North Carolina. She is being paid a weekly stipend and will be staying in housing provided by the program. 

There are also many opportunities for summer research on campus. The school has several programs that conduct summer research such as the Bucknell Institute for Public Policy Summer Research Student Fellowship, the McKenna Summer Environmental Internship, the STEM scholars program and many more. Many of the programs offered by the school provide compensation to student researchers as well as housing on campus during the summer.