Duke University-Montana State University STAR Program Partnership for Undergraduate Students
Children are at high risk of catastrophic drug-related adverse events. The unique and changing physiology of children prevents successful extrapolation of data from older patients. The research focus of our team is to determine optimal dosing, safety, and efficacy of drugs to improve child health. To achieve this goal, our research group mentors and trains young investigators in high-quality clinical research methods.
Our Summer Training in Academic Research Program (STAR), supported by NICHD since 2013, is housed at the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI) in Durham, NC. STAR is a vibrant summer community of ~30 trainees and eight core faculty.
The unique strengths of our program include national recognition and productivity, as evidenced by more than 95% of program participants since 2013 being authors on peer-reviewed publications indexed in PubMed.
This STAR program is a partnership between Duke University and Montana State University (MSU-Bozeman). Please note that for 2025-2026, eligible applicants for the Duke-Montana State partnership are students from MSU.
Teams will assemble (remotely) in the spring and will complete background reading and planning for the summer. The trainees will travel to the Duke for the in-person component of the program.* This will be followed by instruction and hands-on skills acquisition that will occur in a hybrid approach. This will be an intense in-person mentorship experience with DCRI faculty. Each team will complete a small research project through which trainees will learn advanced clinical research methods and obtain skills for their future careers as scientists. DCRI and MSU will partner to provide mentorship, advice, and guidance.
A strength of the proposed program is its link to the Pediatric Trials Network (PTN). The PTN initiates multiple projects each month that are led by trainees and directly relate to the practical research experiences offered in the proposed program. Trainees will present the results of their work to Duke research faculty and (via video conference) to MSU faculty. Throughout the program, the trainees will also undertake rigorous didactics in research methods and medical writing through short courses, small group sessions, and 1:1 tutoring to complement the practical summer research experience.
Due Dates, Links, and Contacts
MSU Undergraduate Students
Application Due Date: January 2, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. ET
Contact: Anna Tuttle or Jovanka Voyich
Please submit the following:
- Completed application for high school or college students (use the button below).
- School transcript.
- Two letters of recommendation provided by non-relatives. Letters are to be submitted by the person who wrote the letter by January 2, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. EST (use the button below).
- Essay: “What I want to be, and how I’m going to make it happen” (300 to 500-word limit).
Additional Contacts
Other undergraduates: Please see the STAR Program main page
*Students will receive a stipend for participation in the program.