Summer Fellows

The Gateway Summer Fellowship helps students remove financial barriers for summer experiential research or internship opportunities that facilitate career exploration and the development of professional networks. The program offers $4,000 stipends for social sciences undergraduates who identify unique, uncompensated full-time summer internships or research assistantships in the U.S. or abroad. Opportunities may span any industry, including research labs or institutes at other universities, and the award can be used to cover expenses such as room and board, airfare, and local transportation expenses.

Eligibility

Open to all non-graduating social sciences majors who have completed a minimum of twelve credit hours in their major. Students receiving other funding for the summer are not eligible. Each student may receive this award a maximum of once during their undergraduate career at Rice.

Opportunities do not need to be secured prior to applying. However, selected recipients will be asked to confirm their placement before the summer starts.

Eligible opportunities must meet the following criteria:

  • be unpaid;
  • take place off-campus;
  • be a least 8 weeks long and offer at least 30 hours of work each week;
  • have an individual identified as a supervisor who is available to provide regular performance feedback, and who is willing to submit a mid-term and final evaluation;
  • allow the student to spend the majority of scheduled work hours completing substantive and meaningful work for the organization;
  • align with the student's stated career path;
  • not charge the student tuition or other program- or placement- related fee; and
  • must take place between the first and last class days of the summer. (Opportunities that take place after graduation are not eligible.)

To apply, submit an application and supporting attachments no later than 5:30 p.m. on February 16th.

Once Selected

Selected Summer Fellows will be required to secure an uncompensated, minimum eight-week full-time internship or research opportunity by May 1st. Once confirmed, recipients will submit the site supervisor contact information and host organization form to the Social Sciences Dean's Office, attn: Mecia Lockwood for approval.

Summer Fellows will receive award funding of $4,000, to be disbursed after internship is confirmed. $250 of the fellowship award will be released at the end of the summer, upon completion of the following reflection reports:

  • The student will be assigned an alumni contact in the same city as their host organization. The student will be expected to interview the alumni, plus one additional person in a leadership role either within the host organization or local community and submit a reflection report upon their return.

All awards are considered taxable income and will be subject to annual IRS reporting.

Past Summer Fellows

Summer 2023
  • Emelia Gauch (SOSCI)- Texas Center for Justice and Equity (Houston, TX)
  • YiQing (Spring) Xia (POLI, SMGT)- Legal Aid Society (New York, NY)
  • Jack Eisinger (PSYC)- SGP International (New York, NY)
  • Samuel Lee (POLI, ANTH)- Baker China Studies Program- Center for Energy Studies (Houston, TX)
  • Luis Gomez Gorgonio (PSYC)- OCA-Greater Houston (Houston, TX)
  • Sophia Brandon (PSYC, PLST, HIST)- Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (Washington DC)
  • Chris Zheng (PSYC)- Menninger Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (Houston, TX)
  • Jenna Lee (PSYC)- Menninger Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (Houston, TX)
Summer 2022
  • Ashna Shah (PSYC, SOPA)- Baker Institute- Child Health Policy Internship (Houston, TX)
  • Dani Knobloch (SOPA, KINE)- University of Cincinnati Digital Futures Lab (Cincinnati, OH)
  • Kirsty Leech (POLI, SOCI)- Children at Risk (Houston, TX)
  • Emily Wolf (PSYC)- Child Mind Institute (New York, NY)
Summer 2016
  • Caroline Lee (CSCI, POST)- Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (Baltimore, MD)
  • Naomi Eigbe (PSYC, COMP)- ArticuLab (Pittsburg, PA)
  • Mishi Jain (POLI, POST)- White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (WHIAAPI) (Washington, D.C.)
  • Wendy Wu (POLI, FREN)- Global Governance Institute (Brussels, Belgium)
Summer 2015
  • Danielle Whyte (LING)- Laboratoire Parole et Langage (Aix-en-Provence, France)
  • Denise Lee (SOCI, PJHC)- Institute for Financial Management & Research (IFMR) (Kerala, India)
  • Joann Pan (PSYC)- University of Geneva (Geneva, Switzerland)
  • Paige Polk (ANTH)- Chimpanzee Pictures (New York, NY)
  • Sean Leong (ECON, POLI)- US State Department Bureau of Energy Resources (Washington, D.C.)
  • Ava Jang (PSYC)- Holt International Children's Services (Ilsan, South Korea)
Summer 2014
  • Aisha Jeeva (POLI, PSCY)- US Department of State (New York)
  • Cynthia Bau (SOCI, HIST)- Harris County District Attorney (Houston, TX)
  • Emma Hurt (POST, HIST)- The Wall Street Journal (London, UK)
  • Nathan Joo (MTEC)- Center for American Progress (Washington, D.C.)
  • Ashley Phillips (ANTH, POST)- Don Des Jarlais- Beth Israel Medical Center (New York)
  • Andrew Baca (ANTH, PHIL)- Forum 2000 Foundation (Prague, Czech Republic)
  • Myrna Garza (ECON)- Mayor's Office of International Trade & Development (Houston, TX)
Summer 2013
  • Bo Kim (MTEC, ASIA) - National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (Washington, D.C.)
  • Colin Ford (ANTH)- Research Intern with Dr. Valerie Olson (Irvine, CA)
  • Dorothy Bruggemann (POST, CSCI)- Amigos de las Americas (Colombia)
  • Irene Oh (SOCI, POST)- Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Kazakhstan (Astana, Kazakhstan)
  • Lavanya Rao (ECON, SOCI)- Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at the Harvard School of Public Health (Boston, MA)
  • Rachel Mitchell (POLI)- National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (Cincinnati, OH)
  • Rebecca Loftis (SOCI)- Detroit Nation (Detroit, MI)
Summer 2012
  • Colleen Fugate (SOCI)- Las Libres (Guanajuato, Mexico)
  • Gabriela Sposito (PSCY)- LSA Family Health Program- Early Childhood Socialization (Harlem, NY)
  • Glory Nwaugbala (POLI, PSYC)- Argentine Senate under Senator Daniel Filmus (Argentina)
  • Kori Bertun (SWGS, POLI)- Center for Neighborhood Technology (Chicago, IL)
  • Rahul Rekhi (ECON, BIOE)- World Health Organization (Geneva, Switzerland)
Summer 2011
  • Yusheng Chen (MTEC)- Burger King Corporation (Shenzhen, China)
  • Tara Slough (POLI)- US Department of State (Wahington, D.C.)
  • Jessica McElroy (SOCI, POST)- Regional Plan Association (Princeton, NJ)
  • Harrison Nguyen (CSCI)- Hong Kong Central Hospital/ Chinese University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong)
  • Jen Shafer (PSYC)- Texas Woman’s University (Dallas, TX)
  • Dylan McNally (POLI)- Embassy of Mexico
Summer 2010
  • Michelle Philiips (ANTH) – The National Journalism Center (Washington, D.C.)
  • Enstin Ye (PSYC)- Belevue Hospital, Department of Psychiatry (New York)
  • Benjamin Chou (POLI, POST)- US Dept of State Consulate General, political and economic sections (Shanghai, China)
  • Allonna James (SOCI)- AIDS Foundation at Camp Hope (Houston, TX)
  • Shuyi Li- HSBC Bank (Guangzhou, China)
  • Chris Chan (ECON, CEVE)- World Expo 2010 (Shanghai, China)