GLHEC Undergraduate Research Experience – Summer 2026
Leveraging GLHEC academic partnerships, summer 2026 will be the inaugural session of the GLHEC undergraduate research experience. The initiative is researcher-led and includes members of the GLHEC’s Great Lakes Health Working Group to foster collaboration across institutions through undergraduate summer research.
With GLHEC support, two undergraduate students from the University of Illinois will participate in the University of Wisconsin’s Freshwater@UW summer internship program, which consists of over 100 undergraduate students participating in summer research projects at over 10 University of Wisconsin system locations. Students will gain valuable hands-on research experience in the field as well as participate in additional Freshwater@UW program-wide activities, including orientation week and final project poster presentations.
The summer of 2026 is expected to be a pilot for a larger GLHEC-supported undergraduate summer research exchange program in the future. Academic partnerships within the GLHEC will be leveraged to recruit excellent students for this program in 2026 and beyond.