APPLICATION FOR SUMMER 2024 is closed

Spend your summer immersed within the Tyson research community

In this 10-week summer program, undergraduate students are given the opportunity to work elbow-to-elbow with a faculty or staff principal investigator, post-doctoral scientist, or graduate student mentor on current Tyson-based research projects.

A weekly colloquium provides professional preparation activities including scientific communication practice, journal article discussion, research poster development, and discussion of environmental justice and diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusivity in STEM. Fellows also attend weekly community events with visiting environmental professionals and presentations from visiting scientists.

Tyson provides daily shuttle transportation from the Washington University Danforth Campus and each fellow receives a $6,000 stipend to assist with personal living expenses during the 10 weeks. Low income fellows (federal Pell grant eligible) are awarded a $500 scholarship to supplement the stipend.

Tyson does not have housing on site and fellows may choose to secure housing on their own or through WashU summer intern housing ($2,800 flat rate for 2024). Tyson can help with reservation of WashU housing to avoid having to pay the full housing amount before receiving the fellowship stipend.

At the end of the summer field season, all fellows present scientific posters during the Tyson Summer Research Symposium. Fellows are also encouraged to present these posters again at either the Washington University Fall Undergraduate Research Symposium or another similar symposium at their own undergraduate institution. Support for this is provided by mentors and Tyson staff.

Former fellows have presented their research at regional and national conferences and several projects have resulted in peer-reviewed publications. Many of our former fellows have entered graduate programs or careers in the environmental sciences.

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At Tyson we take you beyond data collection

“I learned how to operate in the field and all of the work behind creating, setting up, and working on a project.”

“My mentor allowed us the independence to take responsibility over certain parts of the project but was also there to answer questions. I never felt like I would be looked down upon for asking questions or clarifying protocols.”

“My mentor was very passionate about his research and that really showed. He made an effort to connect with us and talk about the research project in detail and how it fit into the ecology as a whole. His excitement and passion was contagious and the summer was incredible!”

“I learned more about team dynamics in a work setting. Also I learned about the methods behind many ecological research projects; both those being done at Tyson, and the others through reading papers and listening to seminars.”

“It encouraged me to think outside of the box as far as possibilities involving ecology/environmental science careers. I realize that while academia is still an option for me, I could also consider going the route of some of the lecturers and working for botanical gardens or a number of other places, or going into education as I really enjoyed the tiered mentorship.”

“The community at Tyson was my favorite part. All of the researchers and other students were really friendly, compassionate, and interesting. I really enjoyed talking with them about their research and passions.”

“The best part was getting to work outside with awesome people. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire summer and I am so glad that I was able to make it a part of my undergraduate experience.”

“I think one of Tyson's strongest assets is the sense of community and how well they do community building. I felt like the cohort of interns this summer really meshed well within themselves but also with the adults working at Tyson.”

“I loved working with the whole spectrum of experience - from high school to professors.”

“I felt like I was being treated like a graduate student and it was exciting and made me more excited about the research.”

Application information for Summer 2024

Washington University students and outstanding students from other universities are eligible to apply. We are particularly interested in increasing the diversity of our summer community and welcome people of all racial, cultural, ethnic, and gender identities. (See Tyson’s commitment to social justice here.)

You will be asked to provide contact information for three references (no letters will be accepted). Please consult the profiles of Tyson Mentors below as you will be asked to indicate your preferences for placement. It is highly recommended that you contact preferred mentors prior to submission of your application.

Timeline

Application will become available in December.
Application due date is February 15, 2024.
You may be contacted by a research team for an interview in February/March.
Notification of selection or wait list status will be emailed by March 22, 2024.
Mandatory start date is May 28, 2024.
10-week program runs Tuesday, May 28 through Friday, August 2, 2024.

Application is available through the button below

Apply

Application Due Date is February 15, 2024

Questions may be directed to Susan Flowers.

Meet the 2024 Tyson mentors

Erin O’Connell and Doug Ladd: PLANT CONSERVATION & HABITAT MONITORING

Our team goal is to create a master list with geolocations of Tyson’s vascular plant species. We will conduct intensive field surveys, create habitat classification maps, and apply our results to conservation efforts …

Rachel Penczykowski: Plant Disease

Our research group seeks to understand how environmental variation affects the ecology and evolution of infectious diseases, and how diseases can impact the ecosystems in which they occur. We use common weedy plants (Plantago species) …

Jonathan Myers: Forest Dynamics and Biodiversity

Our research team seeks to understand patterns and causes of biodiversity at multiple scales, ranging from variation in the diversity of species’ traits to gradients in the assembly, diversity, and dynamics of ecological communities …

Anna Wassel: Pawpaw Understory Diversity

Our team is investigating how the native pawpaw tree (Asimina triloba) affects the biodiversity of the understory plant community. We aim to determine at what stage of the recruitment process three target species are affected …

Katie Westby and Kim Medley: Mosquito ecology and evolution

Our lab is interested in how interactions between mosquitoes and their environment influence the geography, abundance, and rate of parasite infection in mosquitoes from both ecological and evolutionary perspectives …

SUSAN FLOWERS and SUzanne Loui: Humans at Tyson, Present and Past

Our team focuses on scientific research culture as experiential education. We facilitate, advocate, build community, and provide critical behind-the-scenes supports to the current field station while also researching Tyson’s unique history …

Tyson has been fortunate to receive funds specifically dedicated to the support of research experiences.

Endowed Fellowships

We thank our generous donors for helping us to mentor the next generation of environmental scientists.

Former undergraduate fellows

Support for Tyson Undergraduate Fellows is provided by NSF grants, Taylor Geospatial Institute grants, internal WashU fellowship and internship funds, Arts & Sciences, and Tyson Research Center.