<p>Good old pounding on profs doors (or emailing) works too. My freshman S started his search over winter break for a research op at home since he attends college 800 miles away. He emailed profs at a local college who do research. Some responded favorably, one forwarded his email to collegues at local med school. One prof at local med school arranged 4 interviews for him during his winter break. He ended up with 4 research offers for this summer from both schools. Accepted offer from local med school that prof has NSF funding for undergrad students, but is not an official NSF REU. </p>
<p>Simple browsing of local college websites led to initial contacts that led to networking with profs at other local institutions. </p>
<p>Both my S and I were surprised at how quick and easy the whole process was. Doubt it will be this easy next summer, but he will have a start on more prestigious REU's thanks to this summers lab job, and his NSF funded REU on campus at Case Western this semester.</p>