Summer 2026 Research Opportunities Available

Summer Deadlines

Applications for summer research typically opens in November/December and most deadlines are early February.  If you are planning to apply for 2026 summer research experiences, please plan to apply early.

Why a Summer Research Experience?

Summer undergraduate research opportunities are a great way to expand your research skills and gain new experiences in a wide range of disciplines throughout the nation and, in some cases, the world. 

Check out the listing of opportunities below.

UI Summer Funding Options

Students collecting samples in a river

OUR Fellowship Program - $3,000 Fellowships awarded to research and creative scholarship projects in all disciplines.  Applications accepted from late fall until February. Open to all degree seeking UI undergraduates.

Dewey Stuit Fund for Undergraduate Research For students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

John and Elsie Mae Ferentz Undergraduate Research Fund For students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Student Impact Grants allow UI students in any discipline to pursue opportunities outside of the classroom.

Hawkeye Experience Grant For unpaid summer internships and research experiences

National and Regional Summer Experience Programs

BIG10 Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP)
All disciplines

National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates
STEM and Social Sciences

Current Summer Opportunities

One Health approach to evaluate infectious diseases

The overall goal of our lab is to understand the interactions between different environmental factors and microbes using a One Health framework, or the shared health of humans, animal and the environment. The specific project the student will be involved with is investigating farmers' risk factor of tick-borne diseases.

Research in the SCAN Lab aims to understand the neural bases of motivation and cognitive control as applied to social cognition and addictive behaviors

Characterizing Alcohol Risk in Development (CARD). The purpose of this research is to better understand factors that can increase or decrease the likelihood that teenagers and young adults will drink alcohol and experience negative consequences from drinking.

Stress Vulnerability Brain Networks

We are looking for a reliable and hard-working student who is interested in helping to conduct behavioral studies related to stress vulnerability. Student would expect to learn a wide-range of neurobiology techniques including involvement in behavioral, molecular, and neurophysiological studies.

National Geographic Society: Request for Proposals

The National Geographic Society (NGS) is pleased to announce a Request for Proposals (RFP) for academic researchers and graduate students investigating topics related to geography education in select states and locations. Awards of up to $10,000 (for researchers) and $5,000 (for graduate students) are available to support research projects.

2026 Summer Internship Housing

University Housing and Dining at the University of Iowa is piloting a summer internship housing program in the summer of 2026. For interns at the University of Iowa or in the Iowa City area, the university will make available beds in residence hall rooms between the dates of May 23, and August 1, 2026. Rates are pro-rated based on length of stay.

Computing for Health and Well-Being Summer Program

The Computer Science Department at the University of Iowa is now accepting applications for NSF-funded REU: Computing for Health and Well-Being. A ten-week program will run from May 25 to July 31, 2026, in-person.

Other Summer Opportunities

184

SURC Presenters

23

Summer Undergraduate Research Programs

300 +

Undergrads conducting research