The application portal for the summer 2026 program is open now and you can click on the link to apply.

The CERN 2025 Summer Program is on site at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland.

The University of Michigan - CERN Summer Research Experience for Undergraduates Program (UM-CERN REU) provides undergraduate students from around the United States an opportunity to conduct nine weeks of summer research with some of the world's leading physicists at CERN in different research fields. The program is conducted in concert with the NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates Program and is supported by funds from the National Science Foundation.  Every year the program runs from the beginning of June (usually first week) to the beginning of August (usually second week).

Our program has been highly successful in the training of future scientists; the vast majority of those selected go on to graduate study in physics, mathematics or engineering. As one example, of the 15 students participating in the 2011 summer program, all fifteen participants went to graduate schools to pursue further education at top schools including Berkeley (4), Columbia (2), Cornell (2), Harvard (2), Princeton (2), Stanford (1), UIUC (2).  The 30 students who participated in 2008/2009 have garnered an impressive number of awards: seven NSF Fellowships, four NSF honorable mentions, one DOE Fellowship, one IGERT, and one NDSEG. Also over the years several of our students have received the prestigious Churchill and Marshall Awards. In addition, USA Today recently selected one as one of the 20 outstanding Academic All-stars in the nation. The NSF recognized the UM-CERN program as exemplary, featuring it on the Web page of NSF International Programs for an extended period. 

Numbers of awards received by participant students from 2014 - 2019 are listed below (We expect to have more students in the 2017-2019 programs to receive more GRFPs since many of them have not applied yet):

Professor Homer Neal and Professor Jean Krisch initiated the program in 1998 and have run the program from 2001 to 2013 with the help from on-site coordinator Dr. Steve Goldfarb. Professor Junjie Zhu and Professor Emanuel Gull run the program from 2013 to 2016. Professor Myron Campbell and Professor Junjie Zhu are running this program now.

For students interested that attend University of Michigan, check out this special program meant to send students to CERN: UM Research Abroad at CERN.

Students who are selected to participate in the program will:

• • Participate in the CERN Summer Student Lecture program.

  • Join active researchers at CERN.

  • Receive a stipend (about $5000).

  • Gain access to world-class research facilities.

  • Receive one-on-one instruction from internationally recognized faculty.

Additional REU programs organized through UMich are listed below:

• UMich REU: Optics in the City of Light

• UMich REU: Biophysics at UMich

• UMich REU: Physics at UMich

• International Teacher Program: Sending US Teachers to CERN