Fellowships to support Gettysburg students in summer research in Division III are available by competitive application to the X-SIG (Cross-Disciplinary Science Institute at Gettysburg) Board. For summer 2025, at least 60 fellows will be supported by the Dickson Fund, Kolbe Fund, Seygal Fund, Truex Fund, Alberte Fund (in Biology), Albaugh Fund (in Chemistry), and Cormack, Hendrickson, Peterson and Schweizer Funds (in Physics).
We currently plan to open student applications for the Summer 2025 program on February 6th, 2025, and strongly encourage you to apply.
The X-SIG Summer Research Program and Requirements
- Faculty-mentored student research during the summer for rising sophomores, juniors, and seniors.
- Any faculty member in Division III can apply for funds to have research students. Faculty will apply for research positions and then students will apply for these positions (see timelines/details below).
- Research projects are 8 weeks.
- Research project should be conducted on campus to take part in the X-SIG programming - the intent of the program is to create a science research community so both faculty and students need to be present to both contribute and benefit. If the research is to be conducted off-campus, there must be a research community for student participation - if you have any questions about this, contact the X-SIG Board.
- Students are required to take part in weekly brown bag lunches and several evening panel or round table discussion events and must present a poster at Family Weekend in the fall following their summer research (students abroad in the fall semester must present in another venue).
- Faculty are required to participate in weekly brown bag lunches and attend at least one evening event.
Stipends and Grants for Supplies
- Student will receive a stipend of $4,000 and housing for the summer program is provided by the College at no cost. On-campus students are expected to live in the provided housing.
- Faculty will receive a $1,500 stipend/student for the summer, up to a maximum of $4,500. Note that faculty with summer salary (through a research grant, for example) will not be eligible to receive a stipend.
- There will be ~25 ($500) summer student supply grants. The application and that process will be communicated by early March.
Timeline for Application Process for Summer 2025 Program
1. Faculty application for research position slots (application opens January 8, 2025 closes January 22, 2025).
- Request number of positions.
- Include a justification for your request and agree to the program commitments.
- Notification of student slots awarded and any wait list positions - on/around January 31st, 2025.
- Faculty should send a short research blurb (max of 2-3 paragraphs) about their current projects to Lisa McKenna by noon on February 4th, 2025, and include any prerequisites for a summer research position in your research lab, if applicable. This information will be compiled and included with the student application and posted here on February 6th, 2025.
From here on, all dates are our best estimates.
2. Students contact faculty who have available research positions (based on the Compiled List of Summer Projects) and apply for positions in the faculty labs using the X-SIG Common Application (will be available February 6).
- Applications distributed by Division III departments on February 6th and due to Lisa McKenna on Friday, February 28th. A student must turn in an on-time application in order to be funded as part of the program. Students will be notified of the acceptance into the research program by March 19th and asked to register for the X-SIG program.
3. Students register for the X-SIG summer research program (opens March 19th and closes April 1st).
- Registration includes a title and 300 word project description (written in their own words after meeting with their research mentor). We will communicate prior to this how the $500 supplies grant application/dissemination will work.
- Week of April 8th, students/faculty are notified with details about their X-SIG summer stipend funding source and also if supplies funds were awarded to their research group.