The SURF program, also known as the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship program, welcomed students not to the beach, but to the bench, as six talented undergraduate students spent their summers working in various stem cell labs across campus. This unique experience led by the Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center (SCRMC) Graduate Student Association (GSA) and funded by WiCell, pairs graduate students or postdoctoral fellow mentors with motivated undergraduate students for 10-weeks of collaborative research in stem cell and regenerative medicine.
The program, which has been around for over a decade, aims to foster interaction, collaboration, dialogue, and support among campus stem cell and regenerative medicine researchers, while supporting the next generation of scientists. Each of the six undergraduate students receives a stipend and the opportunity to engage in a research project while being mentored by a graduate student or postdoctoral fellow, who receives a travel award to support attendance at a scientific meeting. The research takes place with additional support and guidance of the specific SCRMC faculty lab director.
“The SURF program has been a truly incredible opportunity for me, with numerous benefits to my academic and professional goals,” says Bridget Kearns, an undergraduate SURF mentee. “Academically, the biggest benefit for me was being able to start doing and assisting in research in the biomedical engineering field and the opportunity to continue working in the lab during the school year.”
Kearns spent the summer working in the labs of Sean Palecek, PhD and Eric Shusta, PhD, who are both SCRMC members and professors in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. This summer she assisted on their project, “Programming of hPSC-derived endothelial cells to acquire blood-brain barrier properties using doxycycline-inducible KLF2 and KLF4 expression systems”.
“I have learned so much participating in this program, it has truly been an invaluable experience for me,” says Kearns. “I’ve learned and grown in lab skills greatly, learning how to culture cells, perform multiple different analysis– such as ICC, qPCR, and flow cytometry– as well as how to interpret and analyze the data and meaning I get from the tests performed.”
Kearns was paired with Fatemeh Yaghoobi Hashjin, a PhD student in the Palecek and Shusta Research Group. Yaghoobi Hashjin was happy to become a mentor as she benefited from exposure to research labs during her undergraduate experience.
“I had a chance to work in a lab during my undergraduate studies, and I found it very helpful in finding what might or even might not be my passion in grad school,” says Yaghoobi Hashjin. “I wanted to provide someone else with the same opportunity too. Also, as a PhD student, I aim to broaden my skill set, not just as a researcher, but as a mentor and several senior students in our lab recommended this program as a great way to do so. In my opinion, programs such as SURF provide benefits to both mentors and mentees.”
Kearns was matched with Yaghoobi Hashjin through an interview process led by members of the GSA. The GSA spends a great deal of time reviewing SURF applicants, finding a good match between mentor and mentee, and supporting the participants throughout the program.
“Facilitating the SURF program these past three years has been a great experience,” says James Rolland, a PhD student in the Bill Murphy and Sean Palecek Laboratories and one of the coordinators for the GSA and SURF program. “Seeing the hard work done by the administrative staff, the SURF Board, and the WiCell staff and its huge impact on the undergraduate fellows has been one of the most rewarding moments of my graduate school career. Additionally, seeing many students develop a passion for research/medicine and continue their studies in graduate school/medical school continues to be one of the most valuable outcomes from this program.”
The SURF program not only offers the opportunity to explore research interests but also provides mentees with the chance to present their research and expand their communication skills.
“My favorite experience in the SURF program was the poster presentation session at the end of the program,” says Kearns. “Being able to show my colleagues in the lab as well as my peers in the SURF and REU programs what I had been doing and learned throughout the course of the summer meant a lot to me and was a great reflection on how much growth and learning I had done throughout the program. Additionally, being able to see all of my friends presenting their research and learning about their experiences and the variety of research topics students were exploring was really interesting to me.”
Likewise, Yaghoobi Hashjin enjoyed watching her mentee shine and seeing what the SURF program means to each participant.
“In addition to spending time with my mentee in the lab and learning about other researcher’s projects, my favorite experience was when my undergrad was presenting her work in the poster session at the end of the program” says Yaghoobi Hashjin. “I was proud to see how she has grown and developed new sets of skills, and I was so happy to be part of her journey.”
Beyond just expanding communication, academic knowledge, and lab skills, Rolland shared that programs like SURF give students a unique opportunity that they can’t get in the classroom. Through SURF mentees get a glimpse into the daily lives of a graduate student and an experience that will help them determine what grad school is really like and if it’s a path they want to pursue.
“My undergraduate university did not offer programs like the SURF program, so I find it incredible rewarding to design and facilitate a program allowing students to start participating in high-level research earlier,” says Rolland. “The largest benefit of the SURF program is that it offers students the opportunity to find a supportive research environment where they can continue to do research throughout their undergraduate career.”
To learn more about the SURF program, please visit https://stemcells.wisc.edu/summer-undergraduate-research-fellowship-surf/
Information about the 2026 program and application process will be available in early 2026.