Internships

The Nutrition Research Institute (NRI) studies why people’s metabolism and nutrient requirements differ from person to person. As scientists, physicians, and healthcare practitioners better understand nutritional individuality, they will be able to enhance human health, improve brain development, and more effectively treat diseases like obesity, cancer, and diabetes. The NRI has the business and administrative infrastructure to support all aspects of running a $20 million research organization. It is located on the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis, North Carolina and is part of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

UNC Nutrition Research Institute faculty and professional support staff accept unpaid student interns for short-term immersion and semester-long learning experiences. We work with your institutions to help you earn class credit when possible.

At the UNC Nutrition Research Institute (NRI), we regularly welcome members of our community to come “behind the scenes” to learn more about our work. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic forced our team to cancel all in-person activities for summer 2020. We knew that we could not let the summer pass by without offering students the chance to learn and grow at our unique facility and thus, the NRI Virtual Internship Program (VIP) was born. 

Designed for high school students (rising freshman through seniors), the program ran for six weeks and offered weekly lectures and group mentoring sessions via Zoom. Over the course of these six weeks each student was also expected to complete an independent research paper on the nutrient of their choice. We are excited to present the exceptional work of our summer interns in our first ever Virtual Internship Program Student Journal.