MIT is in finals, Harvard graduation is this week and BU, Tufts and Northeastern are launching their summer terms. That means young scienctists are starting to gather in Boston and Cambridge for a wide range of summer programs from camps for middle schoolers to lab experiences for Native American scientists.

Here are a few:

• The Brigham and Women’s Hospital Four Directions Summer Research Program is open to Native American students interested in a career in medicine or biomedical research. The program is designed by and run by Native American medical students and faculty, according to the program website. Each participant is assigned to a faculty member and works in a lab for 8 weeks.
• Summer Honors Undergraduate Research Program at Harvard: “SHURP is a ten-week summer research program primarily for college students belonging to groups that are under-represented in the sciences…The research experience will be supplemented by a weekly career discussion series, in which students learn about the career paths of current faculty and graduate students and about many aspects of choosing graduate programs, preparing applications, and preparing for interviews. Students also meet on a weekly basis to discuss their research projects with other students and faculty. Program participants give a final oral presentation and write an abstract about their research.

• At Boston University, it’s called SURP: Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) sponsored by the Division of Graduate Medical Sciences, “provides a rigorous ten week summer program to undergraduate students whose professional goal is the accomplishment of a Ph.D. in a basic or biomedical science, and a career path as a research scientist.”

• Northeastern University is one of the hosts one of  The ExxonMobil Bernard Harris Summer Science Camps  a free program for students entering grade 6, 7 and 8. “The two-week academic, residential camp emphasizes increasing students’ mathematics/science skills, introducing them to college life, and stimulating their interest in science and engineering as a potential career path.”