Summer Thesis Fellowships
Each year MBB awards several Mary Gordon Roberts Fellowships to undergraduates to support research that will contribute to their senior honors theses. Applicants must be juniors or first-semester seniors in an MBB track, or in the MBB secondary field if they are doing MBB-related theses.
Mary Gordon Roberts Fellowships are intended to support living expenses (stipend) and sometimes research expenses. Stipends are normally for full-time, ten-week work on your thesis project.
If you have already received an award that covers all expenses and precludes further funding (for example, PRISE), or if you anticipate no living or other expenses for your project (for example, if your home residence is local), you may apply for a non-stipendiary award. A non-stipendiary Mary Gordon Roberts Fellowship recognizes a high-quality thesis project and can thus be usefully noted in one's resume/CV and on professional/graduate school and employment applications.
Because MBB funds are limited, we recommend that students planning summer thesis research pursue other funding possibilities as well, including the Harvard College Research Program (HCRP), your thesis advisor or her/his laboratory/research program, and in some situations the Faculty Aide Program.
To apply for a Mary Gordon Roberts Fellowship, log onto CARAT (the Common Application for Research and Travel) for forms and instructions. For the MBB award, complete the CARAT form and upload a project proposal, unofficial transcript, and resume. Leave the budget section blank unless you are requesting research support, in which case you should itemize those. Your thesis/research supervisor should also upload a letter of recommendation by the deadline.
The application deadline for the summer 2027 Mary Gordon Roberts Fellowship will be in March; a specific date will be announced by the start of the spring term.
If you anticipate any challenges in meeting this deadline, please contact Shawn Harriman before deadline day. You should also feel free to email any questions about your application material to Shawn.
If you have received our award e-mail, congratulations on receiving a Mary Gordon Roberts Fellowship for the summer of 2026! We have made our funded awards in concert with several other granting groups at Harvard, so that our partial funding can combine with other partial funding to give you a viable budget. We hope this fellowship and any co-awards will help you undertake a gratifying research experience and a successful thesis project. This page will provide you with details of your responsibilities as a Mary Gordon Roberts Fellow.
Purpose of Funds, Changes to Research Plan: We are providing you with this funding to do the research you described in your fellowship application. If you do not undertake this research this summer, you must return the amount of your grant. You must also consult with us if you change the topic of your research, as a new topic may not be eligible for our funding.
Acknowledgements: The financial support provided by the Mary Gordon Roberts Summer MBB Fellowship must be acknowledged in your thesis and any related publications or posters you prepare.
Presentations: As a Mary Gordon Roberts Fellow (funded or not), you will be expected to present your research at an MBB event, for example an MBB poster session. This is in addition to your activities in the required thesis workshops next year.
Research Standards, Training, and Approvals: Before you begin your thesis research, we expect that you will receive appropriate animal training or human subjects approval as appropriate, and while you conduct your research, we expect that you will adhere to the professional standards for research in your discipline.
Dates and Deadlines
April 27th | Fellowship Acceptance To accept your fellowship and its terms noted above, and to allow us to process your award payment, complete the fellowship acceptance form you received with your award email and return it to MBB Financial Associate Andrea Martinez by 9 a.m., also copying Shawn Harriman. |
July 15th | Mid-Summer Progress Report This report should be up to one page in length and describe the work you have done so far. You may also note any particular challenges, expected or unexpected, that you have confronted. Attach your write-up to a completed mid-summer progress report form, which your thesis advisor must sign to attest to your satisfactory progress, and email this material to Shawn Harriman, |
August 17th | End-of-Summer Project Report and Poster Your final report should be one to two pages in length and should discuss what portion of your thesis project you completed, your findings if available, what you learned, the challenges and high points of your summer research, and how your research will shape your ongoing thesis work. Also prepare a pdf of a poster summarizing your summer research. We consider this poster an interim report on your work; it will be similar to but not the same as a poster for a completed project. You also do not need to print out this poster; we only require a pdf. Some basic information on poster preparation is available at the Life Science website. Attach your report and pdf to your completed end-of-summer report form, which your thesis advisor must sign, and submit your material to Shawn Harriman. Once we receive this material, we will process the second installment of your award. |
form forthcoming, spring 2027