Fellowships & Scholarships
Jill Barrett Research Award in Biology
Deadlines
  • Northeastern: 01/31/2025
  • Fellowship: 01/31/2025
Contact

If you meet the eligibility criteria and are interested in applying for this fellowship, please fill out a preliminary questionnaire. You may contact the office with any questions.

Award Details

The Jill Barrett Research Program provides prestigious research awards to outstanding undergraduate students who wish to pursue a rigorous research project in environmental sciences (from marine biology to the chemistry of plastics pollution and the socio-economics of fisheries), or behavioral neuroscience under the mentorship of a faculty member. Thus, awardees can expect to gain advanced research and lab skills, as well as scientific presentation skills. The program is structured as a research project under the mentorship of a participating NU faculty member and runs for 11 weeks at the MES Department/Marine Science Center in Massachusetts or for 10 weeks at the Mills College Oakland campus.

Students accepted into the program are expected to prepare for their summer research project during the Spring semester (e.g. reading scientific papers to learn about the research project and getting trained on procedures). At the end of the internship, participants will formally present their work as a talk at a Research Symposium. In many instances, research results may be suitable for regional or national conferences and or publications.

Internal Award
Term Length: Summer
US Citizenship Not Required

Priority is given to students in their sophomore and junior year and graduating seniors are eligible to apply.

Academic coursework and performance, previous research experience is highly recommended, motivation, ability to work collaboratively and independently, and potential for success in research are primary considerations in the selection process.

The program is structured as an 11-week summer (June 2 – August 14) research project under the mentorship of a participating NU faculty member at the Nahant campus. At the Mills campus, the program will be 10 weeks (June 9 – August 14).

  • These are paid positions, and on-campus housing is provided, at the Oakland campus only.

The Program includes weekly meetings with all Jill Barrett awardees, professional development and outreach activities, financial support for attendance at scientific conferences, and guidance on presentations for the Research Symposium.

Interested students should plan on reaching out directly to the Barrett Research Scholar Mentors about their interest in pursuing research this summer. There is currently one faculty member from Mills College Oakland campus serving as a research mentor, and six faculty members at the MES Department/Marine Science Center in Massachusetts. Before reaching out to them, please read through their biographies and current research.

The mentors from the MES Department/Marine Science Center in Massachusetts are:

Professor Jonathan Grabowski, (J.Grabowski@Northeastern.edu), Nahant campus
Professor Brian Helmuth, (B.Helmuth@Northeastern.edu), Nahant campus
Professor Mark Patterson, (M.Patterson@Northeastern.edu), Nahant campus
Professor David Kimbro, (D.Kimbro@Northeastern.edu), Nahant campus
Professor Steve Vollmer, (S.Vollmer@Northeastern.edu), Nahant campus
Professor Aron Stubbins, (A.Stubbins@Northeastern.edu), Boston campus

The mentor from the Mills College Oakland campus is:

After a student has had the opportunity to connect with the prospective research mentors, they should plan on putting together and sharing the Barrett Student Application 2025 with their prospective research mentor.

In addition to this application form, they will also have to submit:

  • Their Resume/CV
  • A project description describing the proposed research
  • A personal statement describing their interest in the Program and why they are a good candidate

Once materials are collected, students applying to work with a research mentor from the MES Department/Marine Science Center in Massachusetts should submit materials at the following link: https://forms.office.com/r/GW987P84TB

Students applying to work with Jared Young on the Mills College Oakland campus should submit all materials including the above application form to j.young@northeastern.edu.

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Interested? Have Questions?

If you meet the eligibility criteria and are interested in a fellowship or opportunity, please fill out a preliminary questionnaire. Contact the office with any questions: