What is SIP?
The Science Internship Program (SIP) offers high school students the opportunity to spend their summer working on authentic open-ended research projects in science, engineering, social sciences, humanities, and art under the mentorship of UCSC researchers.
SIP 2024 will be a 9-week program. 2 online research prep weeks and 7 weeks of in-person active research.
Intern Information
The SIP 2024 intern application is now closed.
Please pay/waive your application fee here if you haven’t already done so.
For more details, please visit our Application Process Page.
Mentor Information
The SIP 2024 mentor application is open.
For more information about becoming a SIP mentor, visit our Mentor FAQ page to apply.
Key Dates for SIP 2024
| Application portal opens | Friday, March 1, 2024 |
| Application deadline | Sunday, March 31, 2024 (11:59 PM PDT) |
| Teacher recommendation deadline | Sunday, March 31, 2024 (11:59 PM PDT) |
| Initial round of admission offers emailed | Friday, April 26, 2024 |
| Admission offer acceptance & deposit deadline (initial round) | Monday, May 6, 2024 (11:59 PM PDT) |
| Full payment and registration form deadline | Wednesday, May 15, 2024 (11:59 PM PDT) |
| Research preparation weeks (online) | June 10–21, 2024 |
| Program kickoff | Sunday, June 23, 2024 |
| Active research weeks (in-person) | June 24–August 9, 2024* |
| Final presentation day | Saturday, August 10, 2024 |
*Please note: UC Santa Cruz and SIP will be closed on Wednesday, June 19, 2024 in observance of the Juneteenth holiday, and Thursday, July 4, 2024 in observance of US Independence Day.
Learn how you can make a meaningful impact with your time, energy, or giving to sustain our work and advance our vision. Click the blue button for more information. Thank you!
SIP Testimonials
Browse Research Projects from Previous Years
Find out more about CrEST
The Science Internship Program works hard to provide opportunities for all students to participate in the program and makes an intentional effort to recruit students from historically excluded backgrounds. Creating Equity in STEAM (CrEST) is the new initiative we have launched to strengthen the focus on these efforts across all of the programs SIP is connected to.
Record Number of SIP Alumni Participate in “the Super Bowl of Astronomy Conferences”
In January of 2021, 34 SIP alumni (as well as 4 SIP-STAR fellows from 2020) were featured as lead authors or coauthors on a cumulative total of 16 virtual poster presentations at the 237th meeting of the American Astronomical Society.