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Medical Neuroscience Summer Undergraduate Research Program

The Medical Neuroscience Undergraduate Summer Research Program is an eight-week, intensive program at Stark Neurosciences Research Institute at Indiana University School of Medicine. The program provides a strong foundation for students to develop research skills in the field of neuroscience. Participants must be actively enrolled in an undergraduate program (no recent graduates).

Applications are closed

Applications for the 2024 Medical Neuroscience Undergraduate Summer Research Program are closed. Applications for the summer 2025 program will open in October.

Research Training

The 2024 program will run from June 3 to July 26. Students will get a dive deep into life as a Stark Neurosciences Research Institute researcher, learning basic and translational research specialties from expert faculty mentors. This experience is designed to prepare students for graduate school. Addiction, neurodegenerative diseases, neurodevelopment, neuroimaging, ocular neurobiology, neuropsychiatric disorders, pain, sensory systems, spinal cord/brain injuries are some of the research areas represented in the program. Once the admission decisions are complete, participants will have the opportunity to select from an open lab list, which will detail specific projects.

The program has a limited number of labs participating, so admission is competitive. Participants will receive a $4,000 stipend and housing (if residing 50 miles outside of the Indianapolis area).

Please direct all questions regarding the summer program to mneuro@iu.edu.

  • Program Requirements
    • Minimum of 3.25 GPA required to apply
    • Must be enrolled an undergraduate program (no recent college graduates or high school students will be considered)
    • Only complete applications will be reviewed
    • The application is comprised of three sections
      • Section I: General Demographics
      • Section II: Academic Information
        • Transcripts from each college attended must be uploaded (can be unofficial)
        • Personal Statement must be uploaded
        • Resume/CV must be uploaded
      • Section III: Recommendations
        • We require 1-2 letters of recommendation.  The recommendations should come from academic sources (faculty or anyone who can attest to your academic/research skills)
        • You will enter the name and email addresses for the recommender
        • Let the recommender know that they will receive an email and that it is due by Jan. 15, 2024.
  • Application Tips
    • The application will not allow you to go back into a section to make any corrections and will not save partial sections. Make sure to plan for the time needed to carefully complete each section (approximately 10 minutes).
    • We plan to have admission decisions in March. The review process will not begin until after the application deadline has passed. We receive hundreds of applications, so the review can be a slow process
    • Make sure to check your junk/spam folders.