Research at Fox Chase »Pre-Graduate Research Programs »Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship

Eileen Jaffe, Ph. D.

Senior Member Program Director

Eileen.Jaffe@fccc.edu 215-728-3695

Fox Chase Cancer Center has a long history of mentoring undergraduates using summer research projects. Since the early 1990's Eileen Jaffe has had oversight for a competitive undergraduate summer research fellowship program which has funded between 12 and 15 Fellows per summer. Although FCCC is currently seeking sponsorship for this very effective program, there is a continuing institutional commitment. The current stipend is set at $3,500 for ten weeks.

1. Students do not apply to the program. Instead, faculty nominate students for the program. Thus, the first step in the process is for an interested student to identify faculty they are interested in working with. See item 5 below for details
2. Who is eligible?
   • Eligible nominees must be UNDERGRADUATES. Entering freshman can compete. Spring graduates who are committed to graduate or medical school in the fall are also eligible.
   • Eligible nominees must be available for 10 full weeks. These do not have to be consecutive weeks.
   • Previous FCCC Undergraduate Summer Fellows are not eligible.
3. How is a nomination made?
   • An Assistant, Associate, Full, or Senior MEMBER of the staff, or a Staff Scientist must make the nomination.
   • There are no forms to fill out. A nomination package consists of the following items:
     • A CV or resume describing the student and usually provided by the student.
     • A brief description of the research project clearly noting the role of the student in the project and the educational benefit this program provides.
4. Undergraduate transcripts:
   • Letters of recommendations from teachers/professors (not neighbors or coworkers).

   The annual deadline is April 1. In any one year, any given student can be nominated by only one faculty member and any given faculty member can nominate only one student for a Fellowship.

5. How do the students and the faculty find each other?
   Usually the students find the faculty. FCCC is looking for students with sufficient motivation to actively seek summer research opportunities. The student should start by looking over the research areas. The student should contact one or more faculty about summer research possibilities. Usually the student is asked to come interview at FCCC and it is perfectly reasonable for the student to interview in more than one lab.
6. How are the awards decided?
   The committee that ranks the awards is made up of faculty from all three divisions. Awards are usually made by mid-April. Until the nominations are all in, it is not possible to predict the percentage of nominees who will be funded.

In addition to the Fellowship program

There are two alternate ways for undergraduate students to be involved in summer research. The student can volunteer or the student can be hired as a summer assistant. Students are highly encouraged to review the Scientific Report and contact faculty whose research interests them. In general students are more successful at finding positions by contacting faculty directly. Some students do however gain summer laboratory opportunities through the volunteer office or through human resources.