Physics
Major and Minor Internship Search Tools
The most up to date listings for internships can be found on LyonNet. With hundreds of active internships (expect more listings late fall-early spring for summer opportunities), we collaborate with 28 other liberal arts colleges to provide a broad range of opportunities. Here you can also sign up to have internships emailed to you by areas of interest by utilizing the “search agent” feature.
Internships-USA, an online database, provides continually updated internship opportunities by topic and geographic area. Access Internships-USA through LyonNet.
Our Career Center and Library provide extensive information about how to search for and secure an internship, visit us and meet with a counselor to talk about the process.
Not sure where to get started? Attend an internship workshop to learn more about how to conduct an effective and efficient search or develop your own opportunity.
All students with majors or minors in sciences or mathematics should consider participating in a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program at one of the many institutions offering them in the U.S. REU projects involve active participation by students in ongoing research programs or in research projects designed especially for the purpose. Below is a list of some of the current physics-related REU programs:
- Alaska Fisheries Science Center - Graduate Studies Program of the Albany Medical College
- Caltech - MURF program
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Center for Ultracold Atoms at MIT and Harvard - TOPS 2011
- Colorado Center for Biorefining and Biofuels
- Florida Institute of Technology - The Southeastern Association for Research in Astronomy
- German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) - Research Internships in Science and Engineering 2011
- Lehigh University - Graduate Internships
- Ohio Wesleyan University - Research Experience for Undergraduates Summer 2011
- Partnership in International Research and Education (PIRE)
- Partnership in International Research and Education (PIRE) - 2011 "Junior Summer Abroad" Research Program in Europe
- Purdue University - 2010 International Research and Education in Engineering Program
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) - Department of Physics, Applied Physics & Astronomy
- Rice University - NanoJapan
- San Diego State University - Radiological Health Physics (RHP) Program
- Thomas Jefferson University - Jefferson College of Graduate Studies
- UC Berkeley - Amgen Scholars Program
- University of Delaware - Nature InSpired Engineering (NISE) program
- University of Massachusetts - College of Engineering
- University of Massachusetts - Family Research Scholars Program
- University of Massachusetts Amherst - Institute for Cellular Engineering
- University of Massachusetts Amherst - MassNanoTech
- University of Nebraska Lincoln - Nanomaterials and Nanoscience
- University of Nebraska Lincoln - Optics and Laser Physics
- University of South Florida - REU in Applied Physics
- Virginia Commonwealth University - Bioinformatics and Bioengineering Summer Institute
- Washington State University - Department of Physics and Astronomy
- Yeshiva University - Albert Einstein College of Medicine (SURP)
In addition, beginning in November, the NSF Web site lists REU opportunities by discipline; they include:
- Astronomical Sciences
- Atmospheric Sciences
- Biological Sciences
- Chemistry
- Computer and Information Science and Engineering
- Cyberinfrastructure
- Department of Defense (DoD)
- Earth Sciences
- Education and Human Resources
- Engineering, Ethics and Values Studies
- International Science and Engineering
- Materials Research
- Mathematical Sciences
- Ocean Sciences
- Physics
- Polar Programs
- Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences
Students with science or mathematics majors or minors are especially encouraged to apply for summer funding from the HHMI Undergraduate Science Education Program.
Both first-year students and upperclass students are eligible to apply. To apply to this program, check the box labeled "HHMI Summer Education Program" on the MHC Universal Application form.
Most of Mount Holyoke's physics majors participate in at least one internship during their time as an undergraduate. (View past internship statistics...) Some continue on to graduate school in physics, while many others choose to study in another technical field or begin a career in industry. Below is a growing list of sites both on and off campus which provide job and internship information.
- "Finding Science Internships" by Sistahs in Science and Dr. Sheila Browne
- American Institute of Physics (AIP) Job Page
- The Nucleus - Research Opportunities galore
Government and Academic Programs
Council on Undergraduate Research:
More Government Supported Opportunities:
- American Association of Physicists in Medicine
- Fermi National Lab
- Jet Propulsion Labs - Summer Employment Program
- Los Alamos National Lab
- New York Space Grant consortium
- National Academy of Sciences Space Study Board
- National Institute of Standards and Technology
- NOAA Coastal Services Center
- NSF, Center for Adaptive Optics
- Oak Ridge National Labs
- Sea Grant Maryland
- Smithsonian Institution
- SUNY Stonybrook
- U.S. Department of Energy
- U.S. Government programs
- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute
Programs Open to International Students:
- IBM - Research in many fields at IBM, Almaden Research Center, Watson Research Center, Austin Research Laboratory
- Corning
- Fermilab
- Glenn T. Seaborg Institute
- Iowa State University
- Research Internship in Science and Engineering
General Listings:
- Beloit College
- Cornell Univ. listing
- Science Jobs.com listing
- Sonoma State Listing
- Society of Physics Students
Students with an interest in Physics major are encouraged to research and develop their own internship opportunity. To assist you in securing an internship, please find below a sampling of places where Physics majors have completed an internship. Please note: the CDC does not promote or is in no way affiliated with the companies or institutions listed.
- Brown University, Summer Undergraduate Research Program
- Bureau of Special Education & Pupil Services
- Child Development Services of Washington County
- Deep River Charter School
- Educational Partnership for Instructing Children
- Entergy Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station
- Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
- Five College Astronomy Summer Intern Program
- Indian Institute of Science
- Justus Liebig-University Giessen
- Legal Aid Society, Juvenile Rights Division
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Plasma Science and Fusion Center
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning House-n, Changing Places Consortium
- Michigan State University, McNair/SROP Program
- Mount Holyoke College, Department of Chemistry
- Mount Holyoke College, Summer Math Program
- Mount Holyoke College, Weed Summer Research Scholar Program
- National High Magnetic Field Lab
- Nevis Labs, Columbia University
- New York University, Department of Psychology
- Ontyx, Inc.
- Pricewaterhouse Coopers
- Rome Astronomical Observatory
- United States Fund for UNICEF
- Wesleyan University
- Yale University School of Forestry & Environmental Studies
To search for active internship listings, please visit the LyonNet database.