Summer Programs

Summer Honors Undergraduate Research Program

SHURP students 2002

Overview

The Division of Medical Sciences administers four research training programs for PhD students in the biomedical sciences at Harvard Medical School. In 2008, the Division will offer for the eighteenth consecutive year a ten-week summer research program primarily for college students belonging to minority groups that are under-represented in the sciences. SHURP presently has over 365 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 fifteen summer research programs participating in the Summer Research Early Identification Program of the Leadership Alliance, a consortium of 32 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.

Research Opportunities

SHURP student working in lab

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, receptor structure and functions, transmembrane signaling mechanisms, study of clotting mechanisms, and virology. More information about research interests of Division faculty members may be found here.

The research experience will be supplemented by an informal student-faculty seminar course, in which students meet on a weekly basis during supper to discuss their research projects with other student participants and faculty. Students also participate in a weekly career discussion luncheon series, in which they 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. There are also informal opportunities for students to meet current faculty and graduate students, including a peer mentoring program.

Room, Board, and Stipends

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. Medical and graduate students, college students participating in other summer programs, and visiting scholars also live in the dormitory in the summertime. The Medical School is located in Boston, Massachusetts, easily accessible to 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 $390/week for 10 weeks, and health insurance if it is needed. The 2008 Program is scheduled to run from Sunday, June 1 through Saturday, August 9, although arrival and departure dates one week earlier or later may be arranged in a few cases if necessary. Students are required to participate for the full ten weeks of the Program.

SHURP students playing volleyball

Contact Information

Inquiries about the Program are welcome, and they may be directed to either: Jocelyn Spragg, Ph.D., Ed.M., Faculty Director, Diversity Programs, Division of Medical Sciences, at 617-432-1342, or Deborah Milstein, SHURP Staff Assistant, at 617-432-4980. They may also be reached at 1-800-367-9019, or via email at SHURP@hms.harvard.edu.

Application

You may contact us (see above) to request a 2008 SHURP application, or click to download a 2008 SHURP application. The application deadline is February 1, 2008.

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