Herchel Smith Undergraduate Science Research Program

Applicants must meet the following criteria:

• Continuing student in good academic standing: first year, sophomores, juniors, off-cycle seniors who are graduating after the Fall 2026 semester
• Preference will be given to students who have not gotten Herchel Smith funding
• Research must be in math, life and physical sciences, engineering, computer science (not clinical research)

The program includes a stipend to cover living expenses and other expenses to enable the student to pursue their independent research and share this work (i.e. attend and present at conferences)

The award does not provide paid-for on-campus housing though Herchel Smith fellows who are intending to stay to pursue research with Harvard labs may opt-into URAF-managed Harvard housing. This housing plan includes dining hall access. The cost of this housing and dining plan for the duration of at least 9-10 weeks, would be deducted from fellows’ summer stipend.  

Awardees cannot concurrently pursue summer school courses, internships, or public service projects while doing their proposed research and committing to the activities of the Herchel Smith fellowship, as specified by Harvard College’s Summer Funding Policy.  

A committee of broadly trained academics in STEM will be evaluating applications on the following criteria:

• Strength of the research project – showing independence
• Academic preparation and achievements
• Research and work experience that point to promise and/or a trajectory of increasing autonomy and contribution in the research field
• Strongly positive endorsement from Harvard faculty recommender in their research field or near-STEM field  
• A commitment to full-time research of ten weeks duration
• Convincing argument of the value of this research experience in the pursuit of their short-term and long-term professional and academic goals
• Complete applications submitted by the deadline will be reviewed during the month of February. Applicants will be notified about their status in early March.  

Application materials (resume, essays, transcript and letters) should be prepared separated and uploaded to the application portal (Harvard University Funding Portal linked below) and all application sections must be completed by the deadline. 


Components include:

APPLICATION FORM: Complete the all of the application sections on the application portal. Complete the sections labeled "COMPLETE FIRST" and "Supplementary Questions", first, as these will determine future sections (e.g. like budget) you may/may not need to complete

CURRENT RESUME (2 page maximum): Indicate significant activities, achievements, and experiences in college that demonstrate your interests and potential achievements. Formatting: 11pt font at the very smallest; Arial or Times New Roman font; 1-in margins. Resumes that do not follow the formatting guidelines risk not being reviewed.

CURRENT UNOFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT: Download your unofficial transcript from my.harvard.edu, including your fall course grades and spring course listing.

TWO ESSAYS: (1) Research Essay and (2) Professional/Academic Goals. Please compile into one document, labeling each essay.

• Formatting: Single spaced, 1 in margins Font: 11 pt min, 12pt max; Arial or Times New Roman
• Essay 1 MUST BE LABELED at the top of the first page only with the following information: Project Title, Research Host Full Name, Location (department and institution). Labeling is not included in word counts.

1. Research Essay (1000 words): Briefly describe the research project you would like to pursue this summer and why. This essay should convince an interdisciplinary committee of scientists that you have thought carefully about the science yourself and are not simply rewording material from a researcher web page. Be as specific as possible. Describe the research in your own words. The project description should include the following:

• Background information – necessary to contextualize research goals and questions
• Research plan – research questions, hypotheses, approaches/experiments to be pursued. Research plans must be realistic and feasible within 10 weeks of the summer.
• Preliminary data, figures, graphs, flow charts that may be helpful at contextualizing elements of your research plans or previous work- limited to no more than three (3) total.
• Any discussion of previous work that may be relevant to the current project you are proposing to do. Applicants should clearly note what data/findings were generated by themselves and others.
• Project impact - how it contributes to a broader scientific mission and goals of the host lab or larger questions in the field. The project impact should be labeled, with heading "Project Impact".
• Also, note whether a project you are pursuing is new to you, or an extension/continuation of a previous project with the same lab or research mentor. Note where in the project you are independently pursuing the project/parts. Wherein, discussing your roles and contributions you are welcome to use the pronoun, “I”. Be aware of your space limitations as you discuss previous work, and balance this with the actual discussion of what your summer research plans are.
• Works Cited/References - ONE (1) page maximum, citations are not included in word count.
• 2. Professional and Academic Goals Essay (500 words). Describe how the research project will contribute to your short- and long-term academic and professional goals.

BUDGET: If your project is taking place in a location other than Boston/Cambridge, complete the appropriate budget information request lines, including a brief budget narrative, found in the Budget tab of your funding source application in HARVARD UNIVERSITY FUNDING PORTAL. 
 

ONE LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION via application portal.  Using the Reference Request section within this online application, solicit a letter of reference. This letter should be written by someone in the Harvard academic/research community who can comment on your initiative, motivation and determination to pursue research and your research potential, as well as provide examples of such. This letter should include brief examples of how you will benefit from the Herchel Smith Fellowship.  

• If the letter writer is also the faculty/research host for your proposed project, the letter writer should also confirm your lab placement in the letter.  In this case, this letter of recommendation will doubly count as a letter of confirmation. A separate letter of confirmation is not needed.
• Letter writers should be sure to comment on the following: 1) The capacity in which you know the applicant 2) Applicant's preparedness for the proposed research and for future advanced studies in their fields and pursuit of research careers.  Where relevant, include, brief examples of initiative, motivation, determination, independence, and promise in an academic and/or research activity that have shaped your conviction about this applicant. 3) How the proposed project is well-suited to the current applicant’s trajectory, interests, motivations, and preparations and why this activity is appropriate and necessary to their training. 4) Describe the mentorship that will be provided by the host research group, as well how the training environment will assist the student's research endeavors, as well as academic and professional goals

Additionally, if the recommender is the research host for the summer project, they should do the following in the letter upload section of the application:

• Confirm the applicant’s placement within your research group and describe the project that they will be undertaking
• Confirm details related to project merit, feasibility, and safety

ONE RESEARCH PLACEMENT CONFIRMATION via application portal (if host ≠ recommender). If research host is different from writer of the letter of recommendation, applicants must be sure to request this confirmation via the application portal. Hosts will be asked to provide the following information in their confirmation:

• a confirmation of your placement/mentorship with a research group,
• a brief description of the project you will be pursuing, with dates
• an explanation on why the research host sees this as an appropriate step for the applicant’s academic and professional goals and interests and/or their preparedness.
• a brief description of mentorship you will be receiving, e.g. to what extent and by whom you will be directly mentored
• aspects about a research group, its resources, the training environment that can serve to assist you in your research endeavors and further your development as a researcher.

In conducting research with human subjects, fellows must be fully compliant with the research policies set by the Committee for the Use of Human Subjects before beginning their research and for its full duration. For students conducting research outside of the U.S., fellows must also abide by travel and safety requirements for Harvard college sponsored research travel put in place by Global Support Services and Harvard College.