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The 2025 BESIP application site is currently closed. Check back here in mid-November when the online application site will reopen.
The BESIP Experience: Summer 2024
This summer, 24 student interns had the opportunity to work on cutting-edge research projects alongside top-flight experts on NIH campus. Learn more about a few of our interns and their projects and take a look at some photos from this summer.
The Biomedical Engineering Summer Internship Program (BESIP) is hosted by the BETA Center, an NIH-wide organization housed in the NIBIB intramural research program. The BETA Center was formed in 2023 to leverage advances in biomedical engineering and related disciplines to accelerate technology-driven interdisciplinary research and clinical translation in the IRP, and now has affiliate members with engineering and imaging expertise including biomedical imaging, biosensing, biomechanics, engineered/synthetic biology, nano/biomaterials, artificial intelligence, modeling, computation, and informatics.
Central to BETA Center’s mission is employing evidence-driven approaches to expand diversity, equity, and inclusion within NIBIB’s Intramural Research Program and serving as a model for recruiting diverse biomedical engineering talent to NIH.
Students interested in biomedical engineering research will come to the NIH campus from June 2, 2025 to August 8, 2025 for an intensive in-person research experience. The internship allows students to participate in cutting-edge biomedical research projects under the mentorship of world-class scientists and engineers in NIH laboratories in Bethesda, MD. BESIP interns can also participate in a variety of professional and career development programs offered by the NIH’s Office of Intramural Training and Education.
To meet our goals of providing cutting edge research opportunities to biomedical engineering majors, broadening and diversifying the trainee workforce, and getting more people excited about biomedical imaging and bioengineering, the BESIP program contains two tracks: BESIP-BME and BESIP-STEM.
BESIP-BME
Applicants must be working towards a bachelor’s degree in engineering, physical science, or computer science. Applicants should have completed at least three years of undergraduate study by summer 2025 and have prior hands-on experience in biomedical engineering research. If you are ready for a more independent project, this program is for you!
BESIP-STEM
Applicants are NOT majoring in engineering, physical science, or computer science but are interested in pursuing biomedical engineering in graduate school or as a career. This could include applicants from other science majors such as biology, biochemistry, mathematics, chemistry, and other related biomedical disciplines. Alternatively, BESIP-STEM applicants may be majoring in engineering, physical science, and computer science but have not had a previous in-person biomedical engineering research experience.
We welcome applicants from diverse backgrounds and strongly encourage applications of individuals: from racial and ethnic groups that have been underrepresented in biomedical research and healthcare fields, with disabilities, who are/were Pell Grant-eligible in college, who are/were enrolled in Tribal Colleges and Universities, community colleges, Hispanic-serving institutions, or Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), who identify as LGBTQ+, disadvantaged by life circumstances that have negatively impacted their educational opportunities.
How to Apply
Follow this link to the Application Information page for information about eligibility, stipends, deadlines, and how to apply for BESIP using the SIP application form.
Deadlines and Important Dates
BESIP follows the deadlines for the general SIP; these have not been released yet. Based on past years:
Online application must be submitted by late February 2025 (exact date TBD)
Reference letters must be submitted by late February 2025 (one week later – TBD)
BESIP Projects
Potential mentors/researchers at NIH submit options for biomedical research projects to BESIP that involve areas of engineering or physical science expertise. Participants will have the opportunity to indicate several project preferences from the available list. We will try to match BESIP interns with their highest possible preference for the summer, but interns may be assigned to any one of these projects. The 2024 project list can be found here.