Summer Opportunities for Majors/Minors in Astronomy

For help finding summer opportunities in this field, please consult the on-line resources available through the CDC.  To support unpaid opportunities, the Universal Application Form (UAF) is your gateway to obtaining funding to support summer projects ranging from internships to service/volunteer activities to research projects.

Remember that as of summer 2007, new College legislation allows you to register for Practicum credit (295P or 395P) to receive credit for independent work with a practicum component, as long as there is a substantial academic component supervised by a Mount Holyoke faculty member who assigns the grade.  The practicum can take place either in January or during the summer, and the bulk of credit-bearing work will normally take place during the following semester.  Practicum designation ordinarily requires consultation with a faculty member prior to the beginning of the practicum and, of course, during the semester of 295P or 395P enrollment.  Independent work with a practicum component is governed by the same policies as all other independent work. For more information about this option, please see the  

All students with majors or minors in sciences or mathemetics 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.Beginning in November, the NSF web site lists 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, and 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 upperclassmen are eligible to apply. To apply to this program, check the box labeled "HHMI Summer Education Program" on the Universal Application form.

Astronomy students are also encouraged to apply for funding from the Five College Astronomy Department (FCAD) Summer Research Program, which sometimes has funding for summer student projects. Its deadline is usually in April. Information is usually posted in March on the FCAD site.

Other programs of interest to Astronomy studes include:

• Lunar and Planetary Institute Summer Internships (highly recommended)
• NASA's Listing of Summer Internships (many possibilities!)
• DOE Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships Program
• NASA Undergraduate Student Research Program
• Marshall Space Flight center Undergraduate Research Program
• Kennedy Space Center Undergraduate Research Center
• American Astronomical Society
• American Astronomical Society - CAREERS
• American Astronomical Society - JOB REGISTRY
• American Association for Physics in Medicine
• Ames Research Center
• Council for Undergraduate Research Physics and Astronomy Programs
• Council on Undergraduate Research Programs
• Jet Propulsion Labs - Summer Employment Program
• Los Alamos National Lab
• New York Space Grant consortium
• NASA Academy
• NASA Office of Higher Education
• NASA Summer Faculty Research
• NASA Hawaii Space Grant Consortium
• National Academy of Sciences Space Study Board
• Smithsonian Institution
• Space Telescope Institute
• Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
• SUNY Stonybrook
• UMASS, NASA Planetary Biology Program
• U.S. Department of Energy
• U.S. Government programs
• Washington Space Grant Consortium

Students with an interest in  Astronomy 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 Astronomy majors have completed an internship. Please note: the CDC does not promote or is in no way affiliated with the companies or institutions listed.

• Banc Post Bank
• Bangladesh National Women Lawyer's Association, Proshanti Women's Shelter Home/Railway Hospital
• Baystate Medical Center
• Civil Court of the City of New York
• Cornell Medical School
• Corning Incorporated
• Harvard University - Physics Department
• Holyoke Medical Center
• IBM - Thomas J. Watson Research Center, Structural Biology and Computational Biology Center
• Idaho State Laboratory
• Mark S. Singer, M.D.
• Mount Holyoke College Art Museum
• Mount Holyoke College Summer Research Program, Chemistry Department
• Mount Holyoke College, CASCADE Summer Research Mentoring Program, Department of Chemistry
• Mount Holyoke College, Department of Chemistry
• Mount Holyoke College, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Undergraduate Summer Research Internship Program
• Music at Orchard Hill, Inc.
• National Institutes of Health
• National Science Foundation--REU Program Univ. of
• Plancher Hand and Sports Medicine
• Ross and Ross Attorneys at Law
• St. David’s Medical Center
• Stahl USA
• Sudanese English Project
• The Rockefeller University
• The University of Akron
• United Family Health Center
• Univ. of Vermont
• Univeristy of Nebraska
• University of Connecticut, Department of Chemistry
• University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
• Yale University School of Medicine, Minority Medic
• Yale University, Department of Chemistry
• York University

To search for active internship listings, please visit the MHC Internship Connection database.