About DICR Internships
The Diversity in Cancer Research (DICR) Internship Program is part of the ACS Center for Diversity in Cancer Research Training.
The DICR internship program targets under-represented minority (URM) undergraduate college students to increase their awareness of, and enthusiasm for, opportunities to work in cancer research. The ultimate goal is to increase the number of URM cancer researchers.
Internship Program in General
DICR interns spend 10 weeks during the summer engaging in hands-on research. They’re mentored by an accomplished investigator in a cancer research lab or in a clinical or community setting.
Interns receive a stipend of $500 a week, for a total of $5,000 for the summer internship. They additionally receive an allowance to help offset housing and travel costs or to cover expenses related to networking and career-development activities. No academic credit is awarded.
Throughout the year, interns engage in planned, career-development and networking activities.
The goal is to have the program fund 100 DICR internships a year, starting in the summer of 2023. The program started in 2021 with 8 universities and funded 32 summer internships. It was so successful that in 2022, 12 universities were awarded with funding for 81 summer internships.
How Universities Are Funded
Universities receive funding for the DICR internships by applying for, and being awarded, supplemental funding through the Institutional Research Grant (IRG). In both 2021 and 2022, all universities that applied for supplemental funding were approved.