Summer Science Experiences

The Power of Summer

Providing students with genuine community building, hands-on learning experiences and access to mentorship is crucial for prepping students to help with changing the world and addressing society’s greatest challenges. Many of the most life-changing opportunities — to work on a special research project, go abroad or work closely with a mentor — happen over the summer. However, not all students have the resources to be able to take advantage of exciting opportunities to deepen their learning and experience during the summer, and many feel they must spend the time working to earn funds for the rest of the academic year.

Donors to the College of Natural Sciences have been helping to provide much-needed support for service-oriented, research and study abroad experiences, providing students with enriching experiences to broaden their horizons, enhance their research skills and prepare them for life and career success.

Student in lab looking at a vial containing a liquid solution.

Opportunities to Give

Summer Research Fellowships

These 8–10-week experiences allow students to learn the research process while playing a role in advancing scientific discoveries and receiving one-on-one mentorship. In recent years, students have studied biodiversity at Texas Field Station Network sites, designed new polymers for materials engineering applications and dissected molecular pathways with top faculty.

A person in a sunhat crouches beside a crop row in an urban garden

Faculty-Led Study Abroad

Each summer, groups of students take courses abroad led by College of Natural Sciences faculty members. These experiences include May Term and summer programs that range from 3-10 weeks at locations around the globe, including Denmark, Singapore and the south of France. Students participate in coursework and corresponding enrichment experiences that leverage the program’s location to enhance student learning, such as examining native ecosystems and animal development at research stations or touring at global biotechnology companies and textiles manufacturers.

A young woman in a white jacket chops vegetables while others around her do likewise.

Experiential Learning Fellowships

Each summer, we can support approximately 20 students pursuing an array of career-relevant hands-on experiences domestically and abroad. For example, students’ international experiential learning recently saw them engaged in activities such as studying T-cell cancer therapies at the German Cancer Research Institute in Heidelberg, shadowing clinicians at hospitals in Greece and working on nutrition interventions for families in Guatemala.