Ten simple rules for maximizing summer research experiences for students, mentors, and research groups

Whether hosted by colleges, universities, stand-alone research institutions, federal research labs, or private companies, immersive summer (6–12 weeks) research experiences build students’ confidence in their scientific capabilities and help to refine their professional trajectories. Such internships are an important tool to introduce students to STEM careers and energize participants, each of whom realizes a powerful benefit. The student gains hands-on research experience, insight into the research process, and clarity regarding their educational and career aspirations. The bench mentor, typically an advanced graduate student, postdoctoral researcher, or staff scientist, acquires essential skills in training and mentoring while incorporating fresh perspectives from an inquisitive novice into their research project. The principal investigator (PI) promotes the professional development of the bench mentor, expands interest in STEM careers, while exploring a focused and compact research question. This set of Ten Simple Rules is a guide for PIs, bench mentors, and research groups and seeks to foster excellence in the design of short-term research experiences for students. They emphasize projects co-created by PIs and bench mentors, accessible techniques that can be mastered in a few weeks, and strategies enabling interns to develop their own mental model of the research question and approach. Although tailored primarily to full-time summer internships for individual students in an academic research setting, this advice may be applicable to short-term, mentored research experiences in multiple settings.