Undergraduate Summer Fellows Program
📣 Call for Applicants: Undergraduate Summer Fellows Program (July 6–31, 2026)
Application Deadline: March 1, 2026
What does it mean to be an effective self-regulated learner? College is a big transition from high school and both teachers and researchers often fail to consider how many competing goals and priorities undergraduates have. In our education research, we take a step back to understand students’ broader contexts. Students experience different facilitators and barriers to regulating their study behaviors most effectively. Students’ contexts vary in the types of motivation they foster and the support they offer.
Students often find themselves balancing multiple goals—academic as well as personal (financial, social, emotional, and so on). Students are often highly strategic in their academic behaviors—but they are also responding strategically to structural incentives, which may not always align with what instructors or education researchers might regard as optimal. In light of this, how can we best support motivated learning?
In this summer program, you will learn about cognitive, metacognitive, and socio-motivational psychology insights into self-regulated learning from experts in the field. Drawing on these insights, the summer program will culminate in the creation of evidence-based, theory-driven educational interventions that build on YOUR insights and experiences as undergraduate students. We need your help in creating interventions that will help other students like you!
This program is open to any undergraduates interested in education—any major welcome.
If you’re curious about how ideas from different fields can improve education, and want hands-on experience turning theory into real interventions, this program is for you.
Program Details
- 🗓️ Dates: July 6–31, 2026
- ⏱️ Commitment: Full participation across all 4 weeks required
- đź“Ť In-person requirement: Two weeks in-person at UT Austin required; preference given to applicants who can attend Weeks 1 and 4
- đź’° Support: $2,000 stipend + free housing provided on the UT Austin campus during in-person weeks (transportation to/from Austin is not provided)
We’re recruiting undergraduate fellows for a 4-week, paid Summer Fellows Program focused on interdisciplinary training in learning and intervention science.
What you’ll do:
Fellows will engage in structured instruction and collaborative, hands-on work focused on designing evidence-based and theory-driven educational interventions. Weekly activities begin with guided instruction (e.g., mini-lectures, examples, discussion) in cognitive, metacognitive, and social-motivational science, then transition to process-focused intervention creation to not only develop an intervention but learn how to meaningfully engage in the scientific process to develop quality, impactful interventions. Fellows will work closely with graduate students and receive guidance and feedback from faculty and research staff throughout the program.
Who should apply:
- Undergraduate students interested in education, broadly defined (e.g., learning, teaching, training, equity, technology, policy, design). Students must be at least 18 years old.
- No prior coursework or background in psychology or education required
- No prior research experience required
REQUIRED APPLICATION MATERIALS
Application Deadline: March 1, 2026
Application Form link (click here)
- All application materials will be submitted through the application link above:
- have a copy of your resume/CV ready to upload in .docx or .pdf format
- be prepared to provide an email address for a faculty member who can offer support for your application (if needed; a letter of reference is NOT required to submit an application)
- you may want to write your personal statement responses in advance and copy-paste them to the form:
- Write below a short personal statement describing your interest in education research (limit: 300 words)
- Describe how this program could benefit your academic or career goals (limit: 300 words)
This fellowship is ideal for undergraduates who want to explore how learning science connects to real-world educational challenges, whether or not they plan to pursue psychology or education in the future.
This program is run by Dr. Veronica Yan, Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at The University of Texas at Austin. The program is supported by National Science Foundation grant #2238567, “CAREER: Motivating Effective Strategies to Transform Student Learning”.