The Genetics Department partners with the Stanford Summer Research Program (SSRP) to bring undergraduate students to campus every summer for a research-intensive residential program. 

The Genomics SSRP scholars are offered a fully-funded 8-week summer research program, where they work in laboratories affiliated with the Genetics department and receive training in a wide variety of research techniques. In turn, scholars become a part of both the SSRP cohort and our broader Stanford Genetics community. Beyond research experience, this summer program helps prepare its scholars for applying to PhD programs by addressing the career, academic, and personal needs of each student.

The Genomics SSRP program especially encourages applications from students who come from low income families, those who are first generation college students, and others whose backgrounds and experiences would bring diverse perspectives (broadly defined) to the field of Genomics.

Program activities conducted with SSRP

The goal of this program is to provide talented undergraduates in STEM a valuable research opportunity in genomics to help prepare them to apply to PhD programs, regardless of previous research experience. We achieve this through the following steps: 

• 8 weeks of full-time research in conjunction with a faculty mentor and a primary lab mentor (e.g. current PhD student, postdoctoral fellow, and/or staff scientist) 

• Peer mentorship by current graduate students, including social events.

• Workshops on networking, career development, and the PhD or MD/PhD admissions process. 


• A final oral and poster presentation of scholars’ research to the Stanford Biosciences community sponsored by SSRP.

How to Apply

Interested students should submit their application through the Stanford Summer Research Program (SSRP) application portal and clearly express their interest in participating in Genomics research. Genomics-specific scholars are selected during the general SSRP review process.

Applications open in November and are due in February each year. See SSRP Criteria and Application Requirements for more information, as well as the SSRP Frequently Asked Questions page.

2019 cohort of Stanford Summer Research Program scholars.