Frequently Asked Questions

A: Each mentor chooses their own student. Mentors read as many of the applications as they wish, and submit a ranked list of acceptable students to Dr. Trilling, who then juggles these lists and makes the actual offers to students.

A: The NAU REU program anticipates selecting around 10 interns for the Summer 2021 program.

A: Students must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents of the U.S. or its possessions per NSF requirements.

A: Send correspondence to reu@nau.edu.

To check on the status of your application (complete/incomplete), please go to the Login Site and use your email address/password to access your application. Please note, once you have submitted your application, you cannot make any changes to it or upload additional information.

A: Please visit our deadlines page here with updated dates/deadlines for our program: https://in.nau.edu/astro-reu/deadlines/

A: You can provide an official or unofficial copy of your transcripts that is in digitized format (pdf or text). We prefer that transcripts are uploaded to your application directly, however, if your university is forwarding an official transcript to us, it should be sent to:

Dr. David Trilling

Northern Arizona University

Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science

NAU Box 6010

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-6010

A: No previous research experience is required.

A: Computer programming skills are important for most internships, however, specific languages and skills are unique to each research project and mentor, and that information is not known in advance of the application process.

A; We will begin contacting successful applicants in early March but it can take several weeks before the acceptance list is finalized.

If you have not heard from us during the first two weeks of March, it is likely that you are not on the initial offer list. All applicants will receive an email regarding our decision by the of March to early April.

A: In most cases the answer is yes. We really prefer all the students to start at the same time, but we often make exceptions. The only real problem is housing; the program dates are based on the NAU ten-week summer session, and the dorms close down at the end of that session. Some students have been able to arrange alternate housing and stay in Flagstaff for a longer time. Some students have been able to make up the missing week of work by working on weekends. Generally, these arrangements are made between the student and the mentor.

A: Yes, it is easy to bring a spouse. NAU has married student housing, although generally in the summer there are no apartments available. Typically, a regular dormitory will be set aside for couple/family housing. In this case, the program would contribute the cost of “normal” housing towards your housing bill. For more information on housing, see the web page for NAU’s Residence Life.