Opportunities for Sophomores
International Affairs and Policy
http://www.rangelprogram.org/summer-enrichment-program/
Open to: U.S. Citizens
The Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Summer Enrichment Program is a six-week summer program with two major components.
- First, in order to enhance participants' academic preparation to work in international affairs, the Program provides two courses that focus on enhancing knowledge and skills related to U.S. foreign policy, economics and writing.
- Second, in order to provide greater insight into the foreign policy-making process and international affairs careers, the Rangel Program introduces the participants to a wide range of government and non-government professionals who work on global issues and also arranges visits to various governmental and non-governmental institutions involved in international affairs.
- The Program also helps students explore graduate school and professional options in international affairs.
Application period: November to February
International Study
Open to: U.S. Citizens
The Fulbright UK Summer Institutes are 3-4 week programs for U.S. undergraduate students, who have no or very little travel experience outside North America. Participants can explore the culture, heritage, and history of the UK while experiencing higher education at a UK university.
Participants have the option to study at one of the following top UK institutions:
- Aberystwyth University
- Queen’s University Belfast
- University of Bristol
- University of Exeter
- University of St Andrews
- Glasgow School of Art and University of Strathclyde
Application period: November to January
Language Study (U.S., Abroad, Virtual)
https://www.borenawards.org/eligible-programs
Open to: U.S. Citizens
Boren Scholarships, an initiative of the National Security Education Program, provide unique funding opportunities for U.S. undergraduate students to study less commonly taught languages in world regions critical to U.S. interests, and underrepresented in study abroad, including Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America, and the Middle East. The countries of Western Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are excluded. Boren Scholars represent a vital pool of highly motivated individuals who wish to work in the federal national security arena. In exchange for funding, Boren Scholars commit to working in the federal government for at least one year after graduation.
Maximum awards are determined by duration abroad:
- Up to $25,000 for 25-52 weeks (preferred)
- Up to $12,500 for 12-24 weeks
- + Up to $8,000 for 8-11 weeks (STEM majors only)
Application period: October to January
Open to: U.S. Citizens
The Bridging Scholarship is a life-changing opportunity to study abroad in Japan in a credit-bearing semester or academic-year program. Each year approximately 70-100 academically outstanding, financially deserving U.S. undergraduate students are selected as Bridging Scholars. In addition to receiving a cash stipend, Bridging Scholars participate in cohort programming designed to assist students build a future as a global citizen with a lifelong connection to Japan.
The term of study can be the Fall 2024 semester, the 2024-25 academic year, or the Spring 2025 semester. These scholarships are not given for summer study programs in Japan.
Application deadline: March
Open to: U.S. Citizens, U.S. Nationals
The Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program is an immersive, in-person summer opportunity for American college and university students to learn languages essential to America's engagement with the world.
Each summer, American undergraduate and graduate students enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities across the country, spend 8-10 weeks learning one of thirteen languages at an intensive study abroad institute abroad. The CLS Program is designed to promote rapid language gains and essential intercultural fluency in regions that are critical to U.S. national security and economic prosperity.
Language program offered (No prior language study required):
- Azerbaijani
- Hindi
- Indonesian
- Persian
- Portuguese
- Swahili
- Turkish
- Urdu
Language program offered (Requires one prior year of study --OR-- CLS Spark participation):
- Arabic
- Chinese
- Korean
- Russian
Language program offered (Requires two prior years of study)
- Japanese
Application period: October to November
https://clscholarship.org/about/spark
Open to: U.S. Citizens, U.S. Nationals
CLS Spark is a virtual 8-week initiative for U.S. undergraduate students to learn languages essential to America’s engagement with the world. Designed to leverage best practices in online language learning developed by the CLS Program during the pandemic, CLS Spark provides American students the opportunity to study critical languages virtually when they may not have access to studying these languages on their campuses.
Applicants to CLS Spark can choose one of three languages that are critical to America's national security and economic prosperity when submitting their applications:
- Arabic
- Chinese
- Russian
This virtual program is specifically for students with no formal classroom experience learning the language.
Application period: October to November
Open to: U.S. Citizens, International Students
100 Fellowship for Peace are offered to cover the full cost of summer language study from beginner to graduate levels. At the Middlebury campuses students can study one of many languages:
- Arabic
- Chinese
- French
- German
- Hebrew
- Italian
- Japanese
- Korean
- Portuguese
- Russian
- Spanish
Two applications are required:
- One to Middlebury Language School of choice---submit by the priority deadline in November. Application materials: https://www.middlebury.edu/language-schools/admissions
- One to Fellowship for Peace. Application materials: https://www.middlebury.edu/language-schools/funding/fellowships-scholarships/davis
Application deadline: November
https://www.iie.org/programs/freeman-asia#.WLW5dxLsKV4
Open to: U.S. Citizens, Permanent Residents
Freeman Awards for Study in Asia (Freeman-ASIA) provides scholarships for U.S. undergraduate students with demonstrated financial need to study abroad in East or Southeast Asia.
Application period: TBA
https://www.gilmanscholarship.org/
Open to: U.S. Citizens
The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program offers grants for U.S. citizen undergraduate students of limited financial means to pursue academic studies abroad. Students are encouraged to choose non-traditional study abroad destinations, especially those outside of Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The Gilman Scholarship Program aims to support students who have been traditionally under-represented in study abroad, including but not limited to, students with high financial need, community college students, students in under-represented fields such as the sciences and engineering, students with diverse ethnic backgrounds, and students with disabilities.
Fall application period: August to October
Spring application period: January to March
https://www.killamfellowships.com/programs/killam-fellowships/americans.html
Open to: U.S. Citizens
The Killam Fellowships Program provides an opportunity for exceptional undergraduate students from universities in the United States to spend either one semester or a full academic year as an exchange student in Canada. Students may participate in the program either as a direct exchange student (registering at their home university, paying their home fees, and attending the host university as an exchange visitor) or as a self-placed visiting student (registering at the host university and paying host tuition fees). Applicants interested in the direct exchange program must be registered at one of the participating American universities and be planning to visit one of the participating Canadian universities.
Application period: August to January
Leadership
https://echoinggreen.org/fellowship/
Open to: U.S. Citizens, International Students
Echoing Green supports bold leaders from all over the world who see possibility in the face of the most existential challenges of our day. Together, they strive to build a world that has yet to exist: a future free from racism and its far-reaching consequences where all people can thrive.
This Fellowship is for people whose enterprises are at an early stage and who are experts on the challenge they’ve chosen to confront. The program seeks leaders who reflect the community they serve and bring deep knowledge of the issues into their work as they co-design solutions with and for their communities. Fellows receive support in the form of capacity building, capital, community, wellness and wellbeing resources, seed funding, and expert mentorship.
Fellows are lifelong members of Echoing Green’s community and work across issue areas to advance equity, including education, climate justice, human rights, health, and more.
Application deadlines: TBA
*Sign up here for updates: https://echoinggreen.org/fellowship/apply/updates/)
Peace and Justice
Open to: U.S. Citizens, International Students
The Davis-Putter Scholarship Fund provides financial support for students who are active and emerging organizers in progressive movements for liberation, self-determination, and social and economic justice in their communities. Grantees are doing work that does/can potentially undermine the US empire, characterized by an opposition to capitalism, racism/white supremacy, hetero patriarchy and gender-based violence, environmental exploitation and/or other forms of systemic harm and oppression.
Application period: January to April
https://humanityinaction.org/fellowship-programs/
Open to: It depends on the program! In previous years, citizens of Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, U.S., Ukraine, and Bosnia & Herzegovina have been eligible for at least one HIA program
Humanity in Action (HIA) programs are carried out over five weeks during the summer in the United States, Poland, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, and Bosnia Herzegovina. The HIA fellowship strives to facilitate a collective exploration of the social and political roots of discrimination, and to provide a forum where potential solutions can be considered and discussed. The programs are intended to instill a responsibility among HIA fellows to recognize and address the need to protect minorities and promote human rights in their own communities and around the world.
As a requirement of participation, fellows are obligated to create an outreach initiative - an "Action Project" - in their home communities. The initiative should reflect the HIA fellowship experience. Upon successful completion, fellows are invited to become senior fellows and to join the global HIA network of young advocates.
Application period: January to February
https://www.middlebury.edu/projects-for-peace
Open to: U.S. Citizens, International Students
Projects for Peace is an initiative for students at Davis UWC partner schools, including Whitman, to design grassroots projects for the summer - anywhere in the world - which promote peace and address the root causes of conflict among parties. The program encourages applicants to use their creativity to design projects and employ innovative techniques for engaging project participants in ways that focus on conflict resolution, reconciliation, building understanding, and breaking down the barriers that cause conflict. Projects that work to maintain peace will be selected for funding at $10,000 each.
Application period: September to February
Campus deadline: TBA (usually early January)
*Important: a campus nomination is required to apply for this award. A Whitman committee will review all applications, interview a short-list of applicants, and select one nominee and one alternate. Middlebury will make the final review and selection of projects. Applicants submit all materials to Jenny Stratton, Administrative Assistant for Fellowships and Grants, at strattjm@whitman.edu by the campus deadline.
Application requirements:
- Written statement (two pages max, single spaced) that describes the project (who, what, when, where, how) --- refer to the Project Cycle management tool for guidance in creating a thoughtful, meaningful project.
- Statements of approval from all parties and organizations involved in the project
- Budget
- Transcript(s) for each applicant (unofficial)
- Letter of recommendation (1) and contact information for a second recommender (required of each applicant in a group proposal)
Research
https://amgenscholars.com/us-program/
Open to: U.S. Citizens, Permanent Residents
Each summer hundreds of undergraduates step into some of the world’s premier research universities and institutions to participate in the Amgen Scholars Program. Students conduct hands-on research in the lab alongside top faculty, participate in seminars and networking events, and take part in symposia with their peers and leading scientists. Amgen Scholars is hosted at fourteen premier educational institutions within the United States. Each host institution has its own application process. U.S. citizenship or permanent residency in the United States is required, and you can apply to participate at as many host institutions as you are interested in.
Host institutions:
- Caltech
- Columbia
- Duke
- Harvard
- Howard
- Johns Hopkins
- Stanford
- UC Berkeley
- UCLA
- UCSF
- UNC Chapel Hill
- UT Southwestern Medical Center
- WUSTL
- Yale
Application deadline: November to early February
https://www.daad.de/rise/en/rise-germany/
Open to: Undergraduates enrolled at a university in the U.S., Canada, the UK, or Ireland
RISE stands for Research Internships in Science and Engineering. RISE Germany offers undergraduate students from North American, British and Irish universities the opportunity to complete a summer research internship at top German universities and research institutions. RISE Germany is funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.
- Students are matched with a host university or institute according to their area of interest (biology, chemistry, physics, earth sciences, engineering, or a closely related field)
- DAAD provides students a monthly stipend for three months to help cover living expenses
- Host universities, universities of applied sciences (UAS) and institutes provide housing assistance and match students with Ph.D. student mentors or researchers (only UAS)
- German language is not required and the working language will be in English
Application period: October to December
Open to: U.S. Citizens
This programme aims to deepen knowledge of the German language (general language, technical language) and regional studies. This program provides scholarships to fund the attendance of language, regional studies, and technical language courses offered by state or state-recognized German universities and by affiliated language schools.
Application period: September to December
https://goldwaterscholarship.gov/
Open to: U.S. Citizens
Scholarship for outstanding students in mathematics, the natural sciences, or engineering. The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship Program was created to encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in mathematics, the natural sciences, or engineering and to foster excellence in those fields. In awarding scholarships, the Foundation Board of Trustees will consider the nominee's field of study and career objectives and the extent to which that individual has the commitment and potential to make a significant contribution to his or her field.
*Important: a campus nomination is required to apply
Complete the Student Profile and Goldwater Scholarship pre-application. The Goldwater internal committee will review all pre-applications, after which Professor Gresham will contact candidates to inform them of the outcome of the committee review. If accepted, candidates will receive additional campus-specific application information and access to the online Goldwater application.
The campus Goldwater committee may select up to four nominees; if a nominee is a transfer student or military veteran, a fifth and sixth individual may be nominated.
Application period: September to January
First campus deadline (pre-application due): TBA (November)
Second campus deadline (first draft due): TBA (December)
Final internal deadline (all materials due): TBA (January)
National deadline: Last Friday in January
https://www.noaa.gov/office-education/hollings-scholarship
Open to: U.S. Citizens
The Hollings Scholarship Program provides successful undergraduate applicants with awards that include academic assistance for two years of full-time study and a 10-week, full-time paid internship at a NOAA facility during the summer.
The internship between the first and second years of the award provides the scholars with hands-on, practical experience in NOAA-related science, research, technology, policy, management, and education activities. Awards also include travel funds to attend a mandatory NOAA Scholarship Program orientation and the annual Science & Education Symposium, scientific conferences where students present their research, and a housing subsidy for scholars who do not reside at home during the summer internship.
Application deadlines: September to January
https://www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/reu/reu_search.jsp
Open to: U.S. Citizens, U.S. Nationals, Permanent Residents
The National Science Foundation (NSF) funds a large number of research opportunities for undergraduate students through its REU Sites program. An REU Site consists of a group of ten or so undergraduates who work in the research programs of the host institution. Each student is associated with a specific research project, where he/she works closely with the faculty and other researchers. Students are granted stipends and, in many cases, assistance with housing and travel. Undergraduate students supported with NSF funds must be citizens or permanent residents of the United States or its possessions. An REU Site may be at either a US or foreign location.
Students must contact the individual sites for information and application materials. NSF does not have application materials and does not select student participants. A contact person and contact information is listed for each site.
You may examine opportunities in the subject areas supported by various NSF units:
- Astronomical Sciences
- Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences
- Biological Sciences
- Chemistry
- Computer and Information Science and Engineering
- Cyberinfrastructure
- Department of Defense (DoD)
- Earth Sciences
- Engineering
- Ethics and Value Studies
- International Science and Engineering
- Materials Research
- Mathematical Sciences
- Ocean Sciences
- Physics
- Polar Programs
- Small Business Innovation Research
- Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences
- STEM Education
https://www.nist.gov/surf/surf-program-research-opportunities-boulder-colorado
Open to: U.S. Citizens, Permanent Residents
Boulder, Colorado, Laboratories' National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program provides research experience for students majoring in science, mathematics, and engineering. Opportunities are available in the fields of:
- Chemical Engineering
- Electrical Engineering
- Information Technology
- Materials Science
- Physics
Application period: December to February
https://www.nist.gov/surf/surf-gaithersburg/research-programs
Open to: U.S. Citizens, Permanent Residents
Gaithersburg, Maryland, Laboratories' National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program provides research experience for students majoring in science, mathematics, and engineering. Opportunities are available in the fields of:
- Chemical Engineering
- Electrical Engineering
- Information Technology
- Materials Science
- Physics
Application period: December to February
https://udall.gov/OurPrograms/Scholarship/Scholarship.aspx
Open to: U.S. Citizens, U.S. Nationals, Permanent Residents
The Udall Foundation awards scholarships to college juniors and sophomores for their leadership, public service, and commitment to issues related to the environment and Native American nations. The scholarship honors the legacies of Morris Udall and Stewart Udall, whose careers had a significant impact on Native American self-governance, healthcare, and the stewardship of public lands and natural resources. There are three scholarship tracks:
- Tribal Policy: For Native Americans and Alaska Natives working on an array of policy issues in Indian country
- Native Health Care: For Native Americans and Alaska Natives pursuing health-related careers
- Environment: For all undergraduates interested in conservation and environmental issues
*Important: a campus nomination is required to apply
Whitman may submit up to eight nominees (four in the environmental category, four in the Native American tribal policy and healthcare category)
Application period: September to March
Campus deadline: TBA (January)
National deadline: TBA (March)
Teaching
https://www.breakthroughcollaborative.org/
Breakthrough is the largest pre-professional teacher training program in the United States. Breakthrough Collaborative trains college-aged teaching fellows to create empowering educational experiences for highly motivated, traditionally underrepresented middle school students on their path to college. Each year Breakthrough connects 10,000 students with 1,100 college-aged Teaching Fellows in 25 cities across the country.
Application period: December to February