The CCS Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Program is aimed at providing a stipend to support CCS students in summer research projects that will provide them with actual research experience in a faculty-led research group at UCSB. This experience is perhaps the most effective means of training students in the sciences. It serves as a means by which students can see just what graduate research is like and give them the experience often needed to be competitive in graduate admissions and graduate fellowship awards. Such research experience normally is most effective after the sophomore or junior years and preference for SURF awards will be given to such students who are in good academic standing.

Students should ideally have a summer research project or research area in mind and should have talked with one or more potential research advisors before applying. The letters of recommendation (minimum of two) should normally include one from the research advisor.

Students with such research positions can be paid up to $3,000 andare expected to work 10-12 weeks full-time on a research project with a faculty sponsor. Shorter periods of time, or part-time research might be arranged individually in some instances. Faculty sponsors do not need to be on the CCS faculty, or need to have been arranged by the time of the application. Projects are designed in consultation with a faculty sponsor, usually related to other work going on in the faculty member?s laboratory.

For details on application procedures and deadlines, see Karen (karen.poirier@ccs.ucsb.edu) in room 102.