Summer Honors Undergraduate Research Program
Overview
In addition to administering four research training programs for PhD students in the biomedical sciences, the Division of Medical Sciences also runs the Summer Honors Undergraduate Research Program (SHURP) at Harvard Medical School. In 2012 the Division will offer SHURP for the twenty-second consecutive year, from Sunday, June 3 to Saturday, August 11.
SHURP is a ten-week summer research program primarily for college students belonging to groups that are under-represented in the sciences. SHURP presently has 461 alumni from colleges across the country, over 90% of whom are continuing or planning to continue training and careers in the sciences. SHURP is one of the summer research programs participating in the Summer Research Early Identification Program of the Leadership Alliance, a consortium of 33 colleges and universities dedicated to improving the participation of historically underrepresented students in graduate education programs.
The Program is offered for currently-enrolled undergraduates who are considering careers in biological or biomedical research sciences, who have already had at least one summer (or equivalent term-time) of experience in a research laboratory, and who have taken at least one upper-level biology course that includes molecular biology. U.S. citizenship or permanent residency is required.
SHURP 2011 group at the Leadership Alliance National Symposium
Research Opportunities
Summer research opportunities will be available in a variety of biological and biomedical sciences including (but not limited to): cellular and developmental biology, cell cycle regulation, cardiac and cardio-pulmonary functions and pathology, studies of blood cells, cancer biology, endocrinology, immunology, microbiology, molecular biology and genetics, neuroscience, receptor structure and functions, transmembrane signaling mechanisms, study of clotting mechanisms, and virology. Considerable emphasis is placed on placing students in labs suiting their research interests. More information about research interests of Division faculty members may be found here.
The research experience will be supplemented by a weekly career discussion series, in which students learn about the career paths of current faculty and graduate students and about many aspects of choosing graduate programs, preparing applications, and preparing for interviews. Students also meet on a weekly basis to discuss their research projects with other students and faculty. Program participants give a final oral presentation and write an abstract about their research. A peer mentoring program is included and there are additional informal opportunities for students to meet current faculty and graduate students.
Stipends, Travel, and Housing
Students in the Program live in single rooms in the Harvard Medical School dormitory, located across the street from the Medical School quadrangle and within one or two blocks of many of the Harvard teaching hospitals and their research laboratories. The Medical School is located in Boston, Massachusetts, easily accessible by public transportation to the downtown areas and to nearby Cambridge, home of Harvard's main campus.
The Division will provide all research- and course-related expenses, housing at the medical school dormitory, travel to and from the program, a stipend of approximately $420/week for 10 weeks, and health insurance if it is needed. The 2012 Program is scheduled to run from Sunday, June 3 to Saturday, August 11. Students are required to participate for the full ten weeks of the Program.
Application information and answers to many common questions about SHURP can be found here.
Contact Information
If you have further questions after reading our FAQ page, please email SHURP@hms.harvard.edu to contact:
- KeyAnna Schmiedl, Program Coordinator for Diversity Affairs
(phone: 617-432-4980)