Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF)


Thanks to 2018 Sponsors:

Merck

pfizer_small

 

Purpose

To provide funding for summer research opportunities for outstanding undergraduate organic chemistry students attending colleges and universities in the United States.

Nature

These competitive fellowships ($5,000) are awarded on the merits of students’ research proposals, academic records, faculty recommendations and their passion for laboratory science. SURF fellowships will provide support for undergraduates in organic chemistry to carry out research at their respective colleges/universities in the summer between their junior and senior year. In addition, the program will provide financial support to enable recipients to visit an industrial campus in the fall for a dinner, award session, scientific talks, a tour of the campus and a poster session, where the results of the summer research investigations would be presented. Information on the program and application forms are available below.

History

The program was established in 2009. The complete list of Previous DOC SURF Awardees is available

Support

Donations from companies and individuals for the Organic Division’s SURF Program is strongly encouraged. Please contact Jamison.B.Tuttle@pfizer.com to make an inquiry on how to support this rewarding program.

The 2018 DOC SURF Awardees

Student School Mentor Sponsor
Elise Brutschea Saint Joseph’s University Prof. Mark Forman Pfizer
Amy Chan Yale University Prof. Jonathan Ellman Pfizer
Rania Daboul University of Michigan Prof. Corinna Schindler  Merck
Jake Grabowski Illinois State University Prof. Andy Mitchell Biogen/Pfizer
Noel Jameson Occidental College Prof. Roul Navarro Amgen
Spencer Lawson University of Delaware Prof. Donald Watson Pfizer
Gina Partipilo Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign  Prof. Jefferson Chan Pfizer
Eric Rizzo Stony Brook University Prof. Ming-Yu Ngai Pfizer
Matthew Thompson  Case Western Reserve University Prof. Drew Adams Merck
The 2017 SURF awardees gathered at Merck Research Laboratories Boston on August 30, 2017 for an award session, scientific talks, a tour of the campus, and a poster session, where the results of their summer research investigations were presented.

Selection Criteria:

Fellowship recipients will be selected by an Advisory Committee using the following criteria:

  • Demonstrated interest and talent of the student in organic chemistry
  • Merit and feasibility of the research project
  • Commitment of the faculty mentor to support the student in his/her work
  • Academic record, particularly in organic chemistry and related sciences.
  • Demonstrated importance of the award in facilitating the personal and career plans of the nominee.
  • A Faculty advisor may not have two awardees within a three year period

Nomination process

The faculty mentor (who must be a member of the Organic Division) must submit the completed SURF Application and the requested documents through the online application form as a single PDF file consisting of the following items in the following order:

  1. The completed “Student Application Cover Sheet” (page 1 of the SURF Application as a docx file)
  2. A statement from the nominee describing the importance of this opportunity to his/her personal and career plans (typically 1-2 paragraphs). Indicate how a summer research project fits into your long-range plans. Provide any background about yourself and/or your personal or professional goals that you would like us to know.
  3. A description of the proposed research project, authored by the student in collaboration with the faculty mentor (typically 2-5 pages). Describe the project you propose to undertake next summer. Describe your background that has prepared you to do this work and your proposed methodology. Provide as much detail as possible.
  4. An unofficial transcript of the nominee and a list of courses to be taken during the rest of the current application year.
  5. The completed “Faculty Mentor Cover Sheet” (page 2 of the SURF Application as a docx file)
  6. A letter of recommendation from the faculty mentor on the qualifications of the nominee to carry out the project successfully.
  7. The completed “Department Chair/Head Cover Sheet” (page 3 of the SURF Application as a docx file)
  8. A brief letter from the Department Chair indicating that the student is a departmental nominee (there may be no more than 2 nominees per department, and no more than 1 nominee per research group) and that the department will provide the necessary equipment, space and administrative support to the project. In the event the faculty mentor is also the department chair, then the faculty member’s immediate supervisor should complete this form.

Student nominees should be U.S. citizens or permanent resident visa holders at the time of application. Applications from minorities are especially encouraged. This program targets current Juniors and they will be given preference. Seniors are not eligible for these fellowships. Student may not hold a DOC Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship concomitantly with a similar fellowship from another source. The student nominees are required to be members of the ACS and the Organic Division (their ACS number will be requested). Information on becoming a member of the Division can be found here. Please be sure the nominated students do not have fall travel/study commitments (i.e. study abroad) that conflict with the poster session, scheduled for September/October.

Applications are to be submitted by the Faculty Mentor who must be an Organic Division Member as a single PDF file (named using the format: StudentNominee’sLast Name_First Name-SURF.pdf i.e. Smith_Jane-SURF.pdf) through this online form  SURF

Application Deadline is TBD in 2019.

Applications submitted late, via mechanisms other than the online form, or out of order (as described above) will be disqualified.

Announcement of the awards is typically made in March.

Questions regarding the program should be directed to Jamison.B.Tuttle@pfizer.com