Eligibility
Full-time faculty members at an accredited U.S. degree granting, postsecondary institution of higher education and Community Colleges who are historically underrepresented in the U.S. research community are encouraged to apply to the VFP Program.
Faculty are able to invite eligible students to accompany them to the VFP Program during the summer term.
Applicants must meet the following eligibility requirements:
Invited Undergraduate Students
Faculty Requirements:
Faculty applicants must meet the following citizenship requirements:
- Must be a United States Citizen or Lawful Permanent Resident at the time of applying.
Proof of U.S. Citizenship or Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) status will be requested at the time an appointment offer is accepted. Acceptable form of proof of U.S. Citizenship includes, but is not limited to, a Certified Birth Certificate, U.S. Passport, U.S. Passport Card, Naturalization Certificate, Certificate of Citizenship, Consular Report of Birth (of U.S. citizen) Abroad, or Certification of Birth. Lawful Permanent Residents must have a current United States Permanent Resident Card (USCIS Form I-551).
Please note: Applicants with a LPR status are encouraged to contact their DOE National Laboratory/facility of interest during the time of application due to the lead time for required processes for foreign national access to the laboratory/facility. Please be aware offers for the program are subject to change based on approval for site access prior to the planned start date.
- For the VFP Program, faculty applicants cannot be a faculty member at a university categorized as either “Doctoral Universities: Very High Research Activity” or “Doctoral Universities: High Research Activity” as reported in the 2021 Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, unless the applicant is a faculty member at any Historically Black College or University (HBCU). (That is, full-time faculty members at HBCUs are eligible to apply as long as they meet all other eligibility requirements.) A list of institutions that are not eligible for VFP is here.
- Faculty must be a full-time faculty member in an area (but may not be limited to) of physics, chemistry, biology (non-medical), engineering, environmental sciences, geology or geosciences, mathematics, materials sciences, or computer or computational sciences.
- A full-time faculty employee is defined as one who is considered to be a faculty member by his or her employing institution, is not characterized as having “adjunct” or “visiting” status, and who meets the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) definition of a full-time employee during the academic year in which application to the Visiting Faculty Program is made. The IRS defines a full-time employee as one who during a calendar month is employed on average for at least 30 hours of paid service per week or 130 hours of paid service per month.
***For faculty submitting an application to the VFP Teaching Initiative Track, you are required to have previously participated in VFP or FaST.
Please note: Faculty applicants for the Fall and Spring term must have previously participated in VFP. Summer Term applicants can be new faculty and returning faculty participants.
- Faculty applicants can apply to the VFP program a maximum of eight times.
- Faculty applicants are limited to participation in VFP program to no more than five terms. This includes past participation in the FaST program.
- Faculty applicants for the Fall and Spring term must have previously participated in VFP. Summer Term applicants can be new faculty and returning faculty participants.
- Teach track applicants must be returning faculty participants.
Invited Undergraduate Student Applicant Requirements
For the VFP Program, students are invited to participate by the applying faculty member. Undergraduate students must meet the following requirements:
- Academic and Enrollment Requirements
- Age and Citizenship
- Program application status
Academic and Enrollment Requirements
- Must have earned a high school diploma or General Educational Development (GED) equivalent at the time of applying (meet this requirement between the start date and due date of the application period.).
Proof of an earned High School diploma or for passing all five GED tests required to achieve a Certificate of General Educational Development should be provided on the applicant’s undergraduate transcripts.
Within the application, applicants will be able to provide the date they earned their high school diploma or General Educational Development (GED). - Must be currently enrolled as a full-time undergraduate student in an area of science, mathematics, engineering, or technology at the same university/college as the applying faculty member, and also have completed at least one year as a matriculating undergraduate student at the time of applying (additional undergraduate credits obtained prior to enrollment cannot be applied to meet the minimum one-year completion requirement).
- Applicants who will complete their undergraduate degree prior to starting their internship may apply as a "Graduating Senior", if:
- the applicant has not yet started a program of graduate study and will not matriculate as a graduate student prior to completing the VFP term, and
- the time period between receipt of an undergraduate degree and starting the VFP term is less than one year.
- Must have an undergraduate cumulative minimum Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale for all completed courses taken as a matriculated student at the applicant's current (or recently-graduated) institution and at any undergraduate institutions attended as a matriculated postsecondary student during the 5 years preceding the start of the current enrollment. (This does not include college or university courses taken while solely a high school student.)
- Must be 18 years or older at the time the appointment begins.
- Must be a United States Citizen or Lawful Permanent Resident at the time of applying.
Proof of U.S. Citizenship or Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) status will be requested at the time an appointment offer is accepted. Acceptable form of proof of U.S. Citizenship includes, but is not limited to, a Certified Birth Certificate, an U.S. State Government Issued Enhanced Driver’s License, U.S. Passport, U.S. Passport Card, Naturalization Certificate, Certificate of Citizenship, Consular Report of Birth (of U.S. citizen) Abroad, or Certification of Birth. Lawful Permanent Residents must have a current United States Permanent Resident Card (USCIS Form I-551).
Please note: Applicants with a LPR status are encouraged to contact their DOE National Laboratory/facility of interest during the time of application due to the lead time for required processes for foreign national access to the laboratory/facility. Please be aware offers for the program are subject to change based on approval for site access prior to the planned start date.
- Applicants a re subject to final approval by the DOE laboratory research advisor.
- Undergraduate students can apply to the SULI and VFP programs a maximum of four times.
- Undergraduate applicants are limited to participation in the SULI and VFP programs to no more than two internships.
- Undergraduate students are only invited to apply for the summer term.
Invited Graduate Student Applicants Requirements
- Academic and Enrollment Requirements
- Age and Citizenship
- Program application status
For the VFP Program, graduate students are invited to participate by the applying faculty member.
Academic and Enrollment Requirements
- Must be currently enrolled as a full-time graduate student in qualified Masters or Ph.D. program in an area of science, mathematics, engineering, or technology at the same university/college as the applying faculty member.
- Must have completed at least one semester as a matriculating graduate student.
- Must have a graduate cumulative minimum Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale for all completed courses taken as a matriculated student at the applicant's current institution and at any institutions attended as a matriculated graduate student during the 5 years preceding the start of the current enrollment.
- Must be supported by their academic institution for living expenses during the Summer Term. DOE will only provide housing and travel support.
- Must be 18 years or older at the time the appointment begins.
- Must be a United States Citizen or Permanent Resident Alien at the time of applying.
Proof of U.S. Citizenship or Permanent Resident Alien status will be requested at the time an appointment offer is accepted. Acceptable form of proof of U.S. Citizenship includes, but is not limited to, a Certified Birth Certificate, U.S. Passport, U.S. Passport Card, Naturalization Certificate, Certificate of Citizenship, Consular Report of Birth (of U.S. citizen) Abroad, or Certification of Birth. Permanent Resident Aliens must hold an active United States Permanent Resident Card.
Please note: Applicants with a LPR status are encouraged to contact their DOE National Laboratory/facility of interest during the time of application due to the lead time for required processes for foreign national access to the laboratory/facility. Please be aware offers for the program are subject to change based on approval for site access prior to the planned start date.
- Applicants are subject to final approval by the DOE laboratory research advisor.
- Graduate students may participate in two VFP internships.
- Graduate students are only invited to apply for the summer term.
