Research Internships in Ocean Sciences (RIOS)
What is RIOS?
RIOS is an undergraduate research program that will introduce you to an active and collaborative ocean research environment. With support from the National Science Foundation, you will conduct ocean research over a paid, 10-week summer internship offered by the Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Continuing undergraduate students pursuing majors in environmental sciences, engineering, geology, biology, physics, or mathematics are encouraged to apply.
Why apply?
- You will interact with scientific leaders in ocean and environmental research
- You will start building a network of contacts for a future science career and advanced graduate study
- You will gain research, proposal writing, and presentation skills
- You will get a $7,000 stipend, free room, and paid travel expenses*
- You will be close to New York City, Philadelphia, and the New Jersey shore
When?
The program will run 10 weeks, from June 2 to August 8, 2025.
Who can apply?
You must be a US citizen or permanent resident, enrolled in an undergraduate program at a two-year or four-year institution. You should have completed at least one year of study, but must still be an undergraduate in Fall 2025. We encourage applications from students from underrepresented groups, or from institutions with limited research opportunities.
How to apply
To view this year’s projects, please download the 2025 RIOS Project Descriptions
The 2025 RIOS Application can be found here.
If you have problems logging in to the NSF-ETAP site, this might be due to high traffic near the various program deadlines (many of them are January 31st). Please keep trying! Here are some suggestions: Try early in the morning or during the day when the site is likely less busy (it’s usually particularly bad in the evening), restart your browser or your computer, clear the cache (you can google how to do that for your browser), and/o try a different browser. If all fail, please notify us and we’ll find an alternative way.
Applications and supporting materials are due by 11:59PM EST on February 6, 2025. (Note the extended deadline)
Questions? Email us at or write to:
rios@marine.rutgers.edu
RIOS Program, Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences
Rutgers University
71 Dudley Road
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
This program is supported by the National Science Foundation’s Division of Ocean Sciences located in Arlington, VA, under Award Number 2349293. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. The NSF contact for this program is Elizabeth Rom. NSF does not handle REU applications; please contact each REU site directly for application information.