Over 500 exceptional undergraduate students from around the world are conducting scientific research as part of Caltech's SURF program this year.
Now in its 26th year, the Caltech SURF program offers an exceptional opportunity for undergraduates to conduct independent research and to work on a close, one-to-one basis with faculty members. Interested students collaborate with potential mentors and write proposals that, if accepted, are funded with a summer stipend of $5,000. The mentor pays research costs and provides lab space and equipment. Approximately 273 Caltech faculty members, Jet Propulsion Laboratory technical-staff members, off-campus academicians, and small-business entrepreneurs are participating this year. In all, about 4,735 students have participated in the SURF program since its inception.
In addition to conducting research, SURF participants attend weekly seminars given by Caltech faculty and JPL technical-staff members, during which each speaker provides an overview of his or her area of research. Students also learn public-speaking skills as well as techniques for delivering a technical talk and for creating visual aids. Workshops are held regularly on issues students will face as they prepare for and commence their professional careers. Workshop topics include the role of communication in scientific careers, entrepreneurialism, and career planning.
At the end of their projects, the students present oral reports at a one-day conference modeled after a professional technical meeting. SURF Seminar Day this year will be held on October 16. Approximately 20 percent of the students will draw on their SURF research to author or coauthor articles published in professional scientific journals, contribute to significant reports, or give presentations at conferences.
This year's SURF program is funded by more than 196 donors, approximately 48 individual endowments, two corporations, three private foundations, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA, and the National Science Foundation.
Founded in 1891, Caltech is located on a 124-acre campus in Pasadena. The Institute also manages the nearby Jet Propulsion Laboratory and operates eight other off-campus astronomical, seismological, and marine biology facilities. Caltech has an enrollment of approximately 2,000 students, more than half of whom are in graduate studies, and a faculty of about 280 professorial members and 65 research members, and some 560 postdoctoral scholars. Caltech employs a staff of more than 2,666 on campus and 5,189 at JPL.
U.S. News & World Report consistently ranks Caltech's undergraduate and graduate programs as being among the nation's best. The average SAT score of members of recent incoming freshman classes has been approximately 1500, the highest in the nation.
Over the years, 30 Nobel Prizes and four Crafoord Prizes have been awarded to faculty members and alumni. Forty-seven Caltech faculty members and alumni have received the National Medal of Science; and nine alumni (two of whom are also trustees and one of whom is also a faculty member), two additional trustees, and one faculty member have won the National Medal of Technology. Since 1958, 14 faculty members have received the annual California Scientist of the Year award. On the Caltech faculty there are 79 fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; and on the faculty and Board of Trustees, 72 members of the National Academy of Sciences and 43 members of the National Academy of Engineering. ###
Contact: Deborah Williams-Hedges (626) 395-3227 [email protected]
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