Students hiking in Acadia National Park, Summer 2007 (photo G. Secrist, REU '07)

The story of the MDI Biological Laboratory begins with a group of undergraduate students spending the summer conducting field studies on the coast of Maine.

In 1898, Professor J.S. Kingsley of Tufts University invited students to the Tufts Summer School of Biology, held in South Harpswell, Maine. The summer school blossomed, and when the Laboratory was moved to Mount Desert Island in 1921, the tradition of undergradute research moved as well. (Read more about the history of MDIBL.)

Over 100 years later, undergraduate students from around the country still select MDIBL as one of the premier laboratories for hands-on research training in the biological and biomedical sciences. Two undergraduate research programs are available, both supporting support summer research:

NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates at MDIBL

• Students must have completed at least one semester of undergraduate biology. Students interested in Bioinformatics or Computational Biology must demonstrate some experience with programming - the biology requirement may be waived.
• must be US citizens or non-citizen permanent residents
• graduating seniors not eligible for NSF REU funds
• research programs are eight to ten weeks long, and cover room, board, travel (airfare or mileage) and stipend ($400/wk)

Maine IDeA Network for Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) Fellowships

• Students must have completed at least one semester of undergraduate biology
• open to students from Bates College, Bowdoin College, Colby College, College of the Atlantic, The University of Maine, The University of Maine - Farmington, and The University of Maine - Machias, and all other Maine colleges and universities.
• graduating seniors not eligible for ME INBRE funds
• research programs are ten weeks long, and cover room, board, travel, supplies and stipend at any institution within the network

EPA Environmental Education Research Fellowship

• Students must demonstrate appropriate coursework and/or experience in environmental education, biology, marine biology, or museum studies.
• must be US citizens or non-citizen permanent residents
• research program is eight weeks long, and covers room, board and stipend ($3000/summer)

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

1. Each program has individual application requirements, please see the associated webpage for more information. (REU // INBRE // EPA)

2. All programs require supplementary documents that must be mailed to MDIBL prior to the application deadline.

3. Application deadline: January 18, 2008

For more information:
Michael McKernan
Director of Education
207-288-9880 ext. 102
internships@mdibl.org