SNF participates in the NNIN Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) each summer. In this program, approximately 70 undergraduate students from across the country work on mentored research projects which utilize the NNIN facilities. The objective is to give the students an experience in cutting edge research and to give them a view of graduate school. A diverse group of participants is sought with students from smaller schools who do not have research opportunities available to them at their home institutions especially encouraged.

Participants are matched with faculty research groups for their ten-week mentored research internship. In most cases, the undergraduate works with one or two graduate students in the assigned research group on a project that assist that group’s research program, often contributing to a graduate student’s Ph.D. thesis research. Research topics span the whole range of nanotechnology, from developing articial retinas to making carbon nanotube transistors to working on new characterization and fabrication techniques, as well as nanotechnology-enabling projects.

SNF usually hosts 5-10 NNIN REU students each summer. The Stanford REU students are initially given a lab orientation and safety training through the SNF training modules. For the remainder of the summer, SNF organizes weekly meetings in which the students are instructed in writing research papers and giving research presentations. In addition, SNF REU students attend events sponsored by other summer programs on campus such as the Center on Polymer Interfaces and Macromolecular Assemblies’ (CPIMA) Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) Program's Graduate School Workshop.

SNF REU students are also especially encouraged to interact with other NNIN REU students at the other sites, with videoconferences, webcasted seminars, webbased demos (using SNF’s remote user webtools) and email exchanges. Towards the end of the summer, all the NNIN REU students from the different NNIN sites convene at one site for the NNIN REU Convocation. All 70 students give oral presentations and present posters of their summer research. Special seminars, such as in Social and Ethical Issues in Nanotechnology, are held. All the talks are webcast live as well as archived for later viewing. The Convocation is always a highlight of the NNIN REU experience.