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Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF)

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) is designed to inspire undergraduate students to pursue careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) through a unique research experience that supports the NIST mission.
Capitol hill tour

SURF Fellows visit Capitol Hill each summer to interact with congressional representatives  primarily on STEM initiatives.  This picture was captured during the 2018 visit.

Apply for a SURF Fellowship Today!!!

Have no plans for Summer 2020? Interested in gaining valuable, hands-on experience, working with cutting edge technology in one of the world’s leading research organizations? Want to advance measurement science , standards, and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life? Would you like to learn about a career in public service? If you answered "yes" to at least one of these questions, you're invited to apply for a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship in Boulder, CO or Gaithersburg, MD. The application deadline is February 3, 2020 or when the application limit is reached (the limit varies by location and may be sooner than the closing date). Apply today on www.usajobs.gov (search “SURF Program at Boulder” and/or "SURF Program at Gaithersburg").

Welcome and thank you for your interest in SURF at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The SURF Program is designed to inspire undergraduate students to pursue careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) through a unique research experience that supports the NIST mission. Since 1993, SURF students from across the country have had the opportunity to gain valuable, hands-on experience, working with cutting edge technology in one of the world's leading research organizations and home to three Nobel Prize winners.

Over the course of 11 weeks, SURF students contribute to the ongoing research of one of the six NIST facilities which are the Communications Technology Laboratory (CTL), Engineering Laboratory (EL), Information Technology Laboratory (ITL), Material Measurement Laboratory (MML), NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR), and Physical Measurement Laboratory (PML) (which now includes project in the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology).  The SURF Program is administered at the Boulder, CO and Gaithersburg, MD locations.  Applications are required to be submitted through USAJOBS.

Note:  Only U.S. citizens are eligible to participate in the SURF Program. 

Just a Standard Blog

a graphic with a large 5 surrounded by objects from the post including mysterious museum objects, a blackboard with equations on it, a cellphone, and three vials. Additional text above the 5 reads "2019 Taking Measure."

Top 5 NIST Blog Posts of 2019

It’s December, and that means it’s time for us to reflect on the past year, and what a year it was! This year tens of thousands of people tuned into the
Researcher seated at a lab bench looking though a microscope

Unboxing a New Spin-Triplet Superconductor

Nature often reveals itself in surprising ways, so scientists, who study nature, have a lot of opportunities to be surprised. Over the past year and a half, I

Upcoming Webinars

Want to learn how you can be a fellow in the 2020 session of SURF? Tune in for a webinar on December 17, 2019. Registration information can be found at the link https://www.nist.gov/news-events/events/2019/12/nist-surf-webinar-2019. 

Application Deadline

This opportunity will close on February 3, 2020 or when we have received the application limited associated with each NIST location which may be sooner than the closing date.