Hampton University Graduate Studies Program (HUGS)

The program

Organized annually since 1986, The Hampton University Graduate Studies (HUGS) Summer Program at Jefferson Lab is an internationally renowned summer program in Nuclear Physics designed to train the nuclear workforce's next generation of researchers.

HUGS is designed for second and third year experimental or theoretical Nuclear and Particle physics graduate students who have finished their coursework. Students who are well into a research project are encouraged to apply as well. The program includes lectures and special topic seminars by internationally renowned physicists, and is simultaneously intensive, friendly, and casual. Participants are selected on a competitive basis from each year’s pool of applicants, and the HUGS program provides support to a large fraction of the accepted participants by covering their local expenses, and in exceptional cases their domestic travel expenses. Participants will be housed on-site at Jefferson Lab, where they will have many opportunities to interact with the lecturers, as well as Jefferson Lab staff, graduate students, and visitors; they will receive excellent insight into contemporary nuclear and hadronic physics, and the right set of tools to contribute to the advance of the field in the upcoming years.

Since 1986, HUGS at Jefferson Lab (formerly HUGS at CEBAF) has provided hundreds of students with a strong background in contemporary research topics in nuclear physics, and many former students now hold prestigious faculty or staff positions in academia and industry. The style of HUGS emphasizes a strong program of lectures with intense student participation. Lecturers stay for days, and are available to the students both formally and informally throughout the school. Formal, informal and social interactions among students are strongly encouraged, and two School Managers are appointed each year to coordinate and chair discussions during the lectures, assist the students, chair the student seminars, and organize short weekend trips and social activities.

HUGS 2025

The HUGS2025 program will take place on May 27 - June 13, 2025. The program is under construction, but applications will open soon (or by the time you read this they may already be!). To get an idea of the program, you are welcome to browse last year's school webpage or go back even further in time through our "Archives".

Student Support

Thanks to a grant from the United States Department of Energy, we will be able to offer a limited number of standard HUGS fellowships that will cover lodging at the SURA residence facility (where kitchen facilities are available) and a contribution towards meal expenses. Students interested in this financial support should indicate this on the registration page, and briefly describe their need in the designated field. (Please also ask your advisor to comment on this in their reference letter.) For full consideration, apply before February 7th, 2025.

We also expect the JSA/HUGS fellowship for Graduate Students from Developing Countries supported by the JSA Initiatives Fund Program to be available again this year. Under this fellowship, which supplements the standard one, we will be able to support up to two graduate students from a developing country, fully covering travel expenses (including international airfare), lodging, and meals. This fellowship may allow for an additional one- to two-week visit to Jefferson Lab, depending on funding, to meet with laboratory researchers and users, and to initiate or strengthen a research collaboration. Application to the JSA/HUGS fellowship is separate from the HUGS school application. Note that you will also need to submit your application to the HUGS program, in addition to applying for the fellowship.

Contact

Please forward all queries to:

HUGS at Jefferson Lab
Attn: Bernice Whitehead
12000 Jefferson Avenue. Newport News, VA 23606
Phone: (757) 269-6263 Fax: (757) 269-7002
e-mail: hugs@jlab.org