Eligibility. To be eligible to apply, the undergraduate student must:
1.Be pursuing any major at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL).
2.Be in academic good standing as defined in the Academic Policies 1.
3.Be going into their junior or senior year in the 2026 fall semester, which is determined by the total semester hours successfully completed as detailed in the Academic Policies 2. Seniors in the 2025-2026 academic year are not eligible unless they are starting graduate school at UNL in the fall of 2026.
4.Have a cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.0 or above.
NOTE: A previous recipient of this internship is eligible to apply again if the above criteria are met.
Funds. Information about the funds is as follows:
1. The maximum amount is up to or equal to six thousand dollars ($6,000). The actual personnel costs and the actual cost of printing the research poster for the summer session are the only eligible costs. All other costs, such as office and laboratory supplies, are the responsibility of the faculty sponsor. All living costs, such as lodging, food and transportation, are the responsibility of the student.
2. The funding award will be issued to the faculty sponsor in 2026. The faculty sponsor and the faculty sponsor’s home department will be responsible for all personnel actions and financial documentation.
3. Facilities & Administrative (F&A) costs are not applicable.
4. The funds will be authorized for direct costs incurred from May 11, 2026 – August 28, 2026.
5. NCESR will retain all unexpended funds.
6. All University rules and regulations will apply.
7. An additional $1,000 travel fund can be requested by the faculty sponsor to cover travel expenses for the intern to present the research conducted during the summer internship at a relevant conference by May
1, 2027. The intern must be enrolled at UNL during
the time of the conference.
8. Deadline. The deadline to complete the application and submit via DocuSign is Wednesday, November 5, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. CT.
Requirements. The applicant is responsible to complete items “1.” through “3.” as described under “Part II* Application Requirements” of the application form. All items with an asterisk are required for a valid application.
Submission. The undergraduate student is responsible to include one PDF in the application — with the required items in the order described under “Part II* Application Requirements” of the application form and submit via DocuSign at https://go.unl.edu/ncesr_2026_summer_undergrad_internship_application by the deadline.
Selection.
Each applicant and their faculty sponsor will be notified no later than the end of December 2025 of the selection decisions. All decisions by the review committee are final.
Recipient “Meet and Greet.” The interns and their faculty sponsor will be invited and expected to attend and talk about the internship at a meeting, which will be scheduled in May 2026.
Poster Session. The intern will register and prepare a poster to present their summer research at the 2026 UNL Summer Research Symposium poster session. This event is usually scheduled in early August. The research doesn’t have to be complete by this time.
Report.
At the end of the internship, the student will be required to submit 1) a summary, which describes the results of the energy sciences research and the work experience, 2) a thank you letter addressed to the Faculty Sponsor, NPPD and NCESR, and 3) a brief testimonial about their experience to help promote the internships. The faculty sponsor will review the report before the student submits to NCESR. The due date for the submission to NCESR is September 30, 2026.
Previous Recipients. To see information about the research projects of the recipients selected from previous years go to Undergraduate Summer Internship Posters.
Questions. For questions, contact Sue Wesely, NCESR Administrative Associate at swesely4@unl.edu.