Frequently Asked Questions

Please visit our Mission page to learn about the overall goals of the SIMR program.  Students who are applying to the 2024 summer program must be high school juniors or seniors in the Fall of 2023 (graduating class of 2024 or 2025). Students must also be 16 years old or older by the program start date (June 10, 2024).  The program is open to all U.S. citizens and permanent residents (with a green card) and MUST CURRENLTY BE LIVING IN THE U.S.  Housing/transportation are not provided by the program and all participants are required to live with a family member/legal adult guardian during the program.  If selected for the program, we will ask for immediate housing verification for those who are not from the Bay Area. 

This year we are expecting around 50 students.  The actual number will depend on the number of participating labs and our funding sources.

There is a $40 application fee to apply.  The application fee will be waived if your gross family income is under $80,000 or if you have special circumstances that make it difficult to pay.  If you need to waive the fee, you can indicate this on the online application.  If selected to participate in the program, there is no cost for any student. All students are given a $500 minimum stipend. Stipends of $2500 and above are given on a needs-based system from special grants. 

Unfortunately, the program does not offer any housing.  

$40

On the application you will rank the institute in which you prefer to work. If accepted, you will be given a list of faculty who have offered to host students in their labs and their research topics which you will rank again.  Please do not contact Faculty on your own for the lab placement.

The first day there will be an morning orientation session which includes mandatory safety training. During the first and second next week, you will attend lectures several times a week in the morning and the rest of the day you will be in your lab. Most of the summer is reserved for full time lab work. You should expect to be on campus around 40 hours a week during the program (Monday through Friday, no evening or weekend hours). Throughout the summer there will be special joint lectures. During the last 2 weeks of the program, you will be busy preparing your poster for the poster session.

This is the highlight of the summer for the SIMR program where students will present a research poster of their project. Family, teachers, and Stanford community members (faculty, students, and staff) attend to view the posters and speak with the students about their research. The poster session is usually held on campus in the evening on the last day of the program. A special talk on how to put together a research poster will be given during the first couple of weeks by the Faculty Director of the program.

All day to day mentors are Stanford graduate students or post-doctoral fellows who will work closely with each student to carry out a research project in the lab of a faculty member.

Students should expect to participate in all 8 weeks of the program and are required to attend the orientation on the first day and all safety sessions. Students will spend approximately 40 hours/week in the program (Monday through Friday, approximately 8 hours/day).  Students should not be here on the weekends or evenings.

To qualify for an application fee waiver, the total gross adjusted household income should be less than $80,000 per year.  Once you start a Slideroom application, there is a link in the application to request a waiver.