Who can apply?
- Applicants must be U.S. citizens or U.S. permanent residents and able to provide proof with the application.
- Applicants must be full-time undergraduate students at an accredited two-year or four-year college in the U.S. NIST says first-year undergraduates and graduating seniors taking part in a winter or spring commencement are eligible and encouraged to apply.
- Participants must be at least 18, pass a background check, provide proof of health insurance and receive payments by direct deposit.
Every document is required. An application missing proof of health insurance or of citizenship or permanent residency is not considered, and it is your job, not your references', to trigger their letter requests in the system.
Dates, pay & program timing
NIST expects the 2027 vacancy announcement to open on USAJobs in mid-October 2026, with applications due at the end of January 2027; program dates were still to be determined at review. SURF runs 11 weeks in Gaithersburg, Maryland, or Boulder, Colorado, with accommodations for schedules such as quarter systems, and participants work 40 hours a week. NIST's pages give $7,810 as the stipend for recent 11-week programs ($710 a week), plus a housing allowance of up to $4,500 and travel support of up to $500 for students who relocate; the 2027 amount was not yet published. NIST's FAQ says applicants receive offers by April 20.
View the deadline calendarThese details reflect the sources at the review date. An overview is not a live job offer. Check the official page for today's application status and the selected opening's written terms.
How to apply to NIST
- Watch USAJobs for the SURF vacancy announcement, which NIST expects to open in mid-October 2026.
- Prepare every required document: a resume with any research experience, an unofficial transcript with your Social Security number and date of birth removed, proof of U.S. citizenship or permanent residency, a copy of your health insurance card and a personal statement.
- Line up two recommendation letters, ideally from professors, department heads, past mentors or advisers. You must notify your references through the online application system, then submit before the end-of-January deadline.
You leave FirstInternships to apply. We do not accept applications, offer referrals, or represent the employer.
Our editorial advice · not employer requirements
How to prepare a stronger application
NIST places students on projects partly by the skills they bring, and the personal statement is where staff learn what those are. Name concrete techniques you have used — a lab instrument, a programming language, a statistics method — and the kind of measurement problem you want to work on, so a mentor can see where you fit.
Two letters are required, and a first-year student may not yet know two professors well. Choose instructors from a lab section or a small seminar where you did visible work, ask early in the fall, and give them a one-page summary of what you did in their class. This is our suggestion, not a NIST rule.
Your preparation, on this device
Make it a plan.
Checking an item saves this program. These are planning prompts, not a substitute for the employer's full requirements.
Add a stage & next actionOfficial sources & update notes
We reviewed these publisher pages on . They establish the program facts above; our preparation suggestions are independent editorial guidance.
- SURF page: eligibility, hours, stipend, housing support and 2027 application timeline
- SURF FAQs: program length, locations, required documents, references and offer timing
We do not infer deadlines, remote eligibility, or guaranteed offers from older recruiting cycles. Read our editorial process.