Summer Undergraduate Research Experiences

CNF has an over 20-year history of conducting advanced undergraduate research programs. For summer 2026 CNF will offer or coordinate a variety of summer undergraduate research programs. Each program will provide an opportunity to contribute to advanced research within the Cornell NanoScale Facility and/or in individual faculty research groups. In addition to hands-on research, all programs include robust professional development activities and social cohort activities.

In summer 2026, CNF will host/coordinate the following three programs.

Research Experience for Undergraduates (At CNF & MIT)
Nanofabrication Internships (At CNF)
Cornell Cardiac Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) Program (a Biomedical engineering research program)

Note this covers only programs directly associated with the Cornell Nanoscale Facility.
There are many other unrelated REU programs at Cornell.

1. Research Experience for Undergraduates

Application Link for Summer 2026

Apply via NSF ETAP

Application Opens: Dec 1, 2025

Application Closes: Feb 8, 2026

CNF will host the SUPREME (an SRC JUUMP 2.0 center) Research Experiences for Undergraduates program with activities at both Cornell and MIT. Additional participants will be placed at Cornell on projects with related topics from related smaller CNF-affiliated programs.

The Cornell NanoScale Science & Technology Facility (CNF)is a national user facility supporting a broad range of nanoscale science and technology projects by providing state-of-the-art resources coupled with expert staff support. CNF has been serving the science and engineering community since 1977! Over 700 users per year use the fabrication and characterization resources of CNF to build structures, devices, and systems from atomic to micrometer length-scales, with applications across the range of physical and life sciences. The CNF cleanroom in Duffield Hall has one of the most extensive of nanotechnology tool sets in the U.S. academic community.

SUPREME "Superior Energy-efficient Materials and Devices" is a multi-university microelectronics research center sponsored by SRC, the Semiconductor Research Corporation. SUPREME researchers explore both fundamental new science and novel engineering technologies. The SUPREME REU program, funded by NSF (EEC- 2349310), will take place at both Cornell and MIT, two of the partners in SUPREME. Students at Cornell will work with Cornell faculty in ECE, Physics, and Materials Science with considerable activity in the CNF Duffield Hall Cleanroom. Students at MIT will work with MIT faculty in both faculty laboratories and the MIT Nano fabrication facilities.

In both cases, students will engage in hands-on research activity, be trained in a variety of advanced instrument techniques, and be provided with a range of professional development opportunities. Through the SUPREME Program, we expect to support 5 students at Cornell and 5 students at MIT.

In addition to the SUPREME program, CNF will support a number of REU students on related projects at Cornell with separate funding, These projects will support a number or REU students on related projects at Cornell with separate funding. These projects will likewise be in the area of micro and nanotechnology.

A common application (the NSF ETAP application) will be used for all the above positions, leading to a common applicant pool.

Specific project descriptions are not available at this time but will include a variety of microelectronic processing and materials project. Applicants must be US citizens or permanent residents enrolled at a U.S. academic institution. Applicants must not have received a Bachelor's Degree prior to June 2026. Relevant majors include physics, chemistry, materials science, electrical engineering, and chemical engineering. These are laboratory-based positions. Applications from computer science majors will not be competitive. These programs will run for ten weeks from the first week of June through the second week of August. Applicants must be available to start on June 2, 2026. Applicants MUST be available for the ENTIRE program period, June 2, 2026, through August 7, 2026.

Participants will receive a $7,000 stipend, plus housing and reasonable travel expenses.

Applications will be accepted until February 8, 2026. Applications will require personal statement, transcript, and 1 reference letter which will be requested and submitted via the ETAP portal.

Applications will only be accepted through the NSF ETAP common application - one application will cover BOTH the SUPREME programs and any affiliated REU programs. You may indicate your program/site preference (or both) on the application. Applications will be processed as one group, and students will be assigned to specific projects based on their experience, technical, and geographic preference.

CNF has been successfully conducting REU programs since 1997 with over 400 prior participants. Technical reports from prior projects are available via the individual year links in the REU sub-section menu.

REU opportunities are available to students from all U.S. institutions, however, REU students are typically NOT PLACED at their home institutions. Cornell students may apply to MIT projects and MIT students may apply to Cornell projects.

Please address any questions not answered here to Lynn Rathbun, subject: REU Question.

2. Internships in Micro/nanofabrication

Internships in micro/nanofabrication at CNF are introductory laboratory experiences, typically working directly with CNF staff instead of in research groups. These internships are hourly paid positions supported by NORDTECH (a Microelectronics Commons program) or by the Future of Semiconductor (FUSE) program. This internship does not come with housing or travel support - so they are for Cornell students who have summer housing in Ithaca or neighboring communities. Over the last 2 years, CNF has acquired about a dozen new nanofabrication tools, each dedicated to a particular application. Interns will learn both nanofabrication processes as well as associated characterization methods and apply that knowledge to developing and/or characterizing a particular fabrication process.

Interns can expect to earn approximately $6,000 over the course of the summer. Although administratively distinct from the REU program, interns and REU students will be treated as one large cohort, receiving all the same networking and professional development activities.

The SUPREME REU program and the CNF Internships will be drawn from the same application pool, obtained via the NSF ETAP application. There is no need to distinguish between the opportunities in the application process.

3. Cornell Cardiac Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) Program

In conjunction with Cornell Biomedical Engineering, CNF will be coordinating the Cornell Cardiac Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) Program. The CURE program, sponsored by the American Heart Association, will provide an introductory research experience toward understanding the growth, maturation, physiology, pathology, and regeneration of the heart. The program will introduce students to cutting-edge engineering approaches and technologies related to cardiac development, physiology, and disease.

Student participants will engage in valuable research experiences, gaining valuable skills that will prepare them for cross-disciplinary careers in cardiac research.

This program with pay a stipend of $6,000 for the 10-week summer period. The program DOES NOT support travel or housing, so it is limited to Cornell students with existing summer housing plans or to students from other universities whose families reside in the Ithaca area. Cornell will not be able to provide or arrange housing for this program. In addition, this program will support participation by the student in a national conference following the summer program.

This program is primarily suited for Biomedical Engineering majors.

Application and student support for this program is provided by the Cornell NanoScale Facility and participants will be integrated into the larger CNF REU/Intern community for social and professional development activities.

Applications for THIS PROGRAM will be handled via TBD. THIS IS A SEPARATE APPLICATION.