Are you an undergraduate STEM major at a Minority Serving Institution (MSI) with an entrepreneurial spirit and a passion for energy innovation?
ARPA-E’s INTEREST internship—Inspiring New Transformations in Energy Research by Emerging Scientists and Technologies—offers a unique opportunity to dive into cutting-edge energy research while learning how to turn breakthrough technologies into market-ready solutions.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) Summer Internship Program for rising Juniors and Seniors at Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) was instituted for Summer of 2024. Known as Inspiring New Transformations in Energy Research by Emerging Scientists and Technologists (INTEREST), this paid internship program connects talented STEM majors at MSIs with active ARPA-E Performers to assist ARPA-E-funded projects and allow students to collaborate and contribute to high-profile, high-impact next generation energy technology development and R&D. INTEREST internships are hosted at the sites of active ARPA-E Performers or their Partners. Details of the program are below.
DOWNLOAD INTEREST PROGRAM FLYER HERE
Program Details
- ARPA-E seeks to place talented rising Junior and Senior students in STEM majors at MSIs with a curiosity for entrepreneurship in internships at ARPA-E performer sites to gain valuable professional and technical experience while contributing to the advancement of active ARPA-E-funded projects.
- ARPA-E anticipates funding internships that span a range of geographic locations and technical topics currently supported by ARPA-E. However, the number of internships funded under the INTEREST program will be limited.
- Through the program, interns will have the opportunity to engage in the ARPA-E supported entrepreneurial process of technology development toward commercial deployment. ARPA-E will provide customized learning and engagement opportunities to the interns, while the interns will provide valuable technical assistance to ARPA-E teams under the leadership of their host site mentor.
- Each summer internship will be unique in scope and technical focus.
- Summer internships run 12 weeks but may be longer or shorter depending on the internship needs.
2025 INTEREST Projects
- ARPA-E teams and projects eligible to participate in the INTEREST program are as follows:
- Active Period of Performance at least through January 1, 2026 or later
- Technical progress status not RED as of July 30, 2024.
- Internship projects must have outcomes aligned with active ARPA-E projects in good standing as detailed above. Not all proposals submitted will be selected for sponsorship by ARPA-E.
- Host teams must have an actively involved mentor for the intern who is stationed at the host site for the internship.
- Host teams must also provide a plan of engagement for the intern that focused on the student experience in a way that captured the spirit of technical development with commercial deployment befitting an ARPA-E funded project.
INTEREST MSI Student Interns
INTEREST interns will receive financial support including a monthly stipend, housing support and round-trip airfare to and from the host site. In addition, interns will gain:
- Insight into active entrepreneurial thinking while developing next-generation technologies.
- Technical and professional experience while working alongside an engaged mentor involved in the ARPA-E project.
- Unique networking opportunities with experts at host and other institutions, and through other ARPA-E engagements.
The INTEREST program is open to rising Junior or Senior undergraduate students pursuing degrees in STEM fields showing a curiosity for entrepreneurship, and meeting the following criteria:
- Active full time enrollment in an undergraduate STEM major at an accredited Minority Serving Institution (MSI) that meets the statutory criteria for identification as a MSI defined by the U.S. Department of Education. (https://orise.orau.gov/zintellect-files/files/Minority-Serving-Institution-Designation-List.xlsx)
- At least 18 years of age
- An individual protected against specified unfair employment practices, e.g., “protected individual” as defined in 8 U.S.C. Section 1324b (US citizen, permanent resident (“green card” holder), lawful refugee or asylee timely seeking U.S. citizenship, etc.)
- Completed at least two years of college credits (as per official transcripts)
- Minimum overall GPA of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale
Download the INTEREST Program FAQs
Applying to Internship Opportunities
2025 Internship programming under development.
Projects and application portal will be made available by November 2024.
2024 Internship Projects (Archive)
Location: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) – Richland, WA
What is the carbonation and critical mineral recovery potential of the Josephine Ophiolite, Northern California? To answer this question, the intern will analyze the composition and texture of a dunite sample from the Josephine Ophiolite before and after a 60-day reaction with supercritical CO2 and water. The internship will provide training and mentorship on a wide variety of analysis techniques including X-ray fluorescence (XRF), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), x-ray diffraction (XRD), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) to quantify and characterize any newly formed carbonate minerals and the mobility of critical minerals (e.g., nickel) during the reaction.
Location: University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC) – Urbana, IL
The intern will participate in the work related to modeling, fabrication, and measurement of green light emitting diodes for the solid-state lighting. Specifically, the intern will be investigating the optical properties of phase-transitioned cubic (In)GAN material using temperature and excitation dependent measurements. The intern will search for the various polar, nonpolar, and semipolar LEDs and try to summarize the origins of droop in these devices. The student will be trained by staff members and have access to clean rooms to conduct photonic materials testing. In addition, the intern will have the opportunity to attend the annual Advanced Materials Characterization workshop.
Location: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) – Chicago, IL
The intern will investigate the electrochemical stability of a subset of next-generation anode materials under the guidance of the mentor and staff researchers. This project will provide a valuable opportunity for the intern to develop a wide array of technical skills including material synthesis, electrochemical testing, material characterization, and data analysis. The work will contribute to the research and development of a highly efficient oxide reduction process that is vital to enabling commercially viable recycling of used nuclear fuels.
Location: Clemson University – Clemson, SC
The intern will work closely with the structural engineering team members to advance the construction, documentation, and testing of an assembly of a novel mass timber floor system. The intern will be responsible for the quantification of construction metrics including time for construction, energy consumption, and documentation of construction sequencing. In addition to construction metrics, the intern will also quantify deconstruction metrics related to cross-laminated timber (CLT) and glue-laminated timber (GLT) connections to evaluate end-of-life potential of the floor system.
Location: Brigham Young University (BYU) – Provo, UT
This internship will enable a more in-depth and fundamental study of volatility behavior of uranium chlorides in a wider variety of non-radioactive fission product salts. The intern will quantify the yield and purity of uranium as well as the waste stream from a two-step chloride volatility (TSCV) process developed to reprocess advanced reactor fuel. Training and mentorship will be provided to perform chloride volatility experiments with HCl and Cl2 gas, sample preparation for inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS) and related analysis.
Location: Columbia University – New York City, NY
The intern will play a pivotal role in investigating suitable precursors and determining the optimal phosphorous content to incorporate into doped oxide membranes fabricated by wet chemical processing. Experience will be gained in the areas of thin film deposition, electrochemical, chemical, and physical characterization of such films under guidance of the mentor and team. Additionally, the intern will gain hands-on experience with ellipsometry to measure membrane thickness. This effort will be very complementary to ongoing efforts by project partner Forge Nano, which is making oxide membranes using atomic layer deposition (ALD).
Location: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) – Golden, CO
In this engineering-based project, the intern will test a series of custom-made bipolar membranes (BPMs) for performance and durability in BPM electrodialysis reactor stacks designed for electrochemical bicarbonate conversion for carbon capture applications. The intern will get hands-on experience with the assembling and testing of industrial scale electrodialysis stacks and gain an understanding of the electrochemical engineering related to direct air capture of CO2. The intern will also assist the rest of the team with fabricating novel BPMs using an electrospinner to achieve a blended anion- and cation-conducting polymer nanofiber 3D interface, an air sprayer for catalyst addition, and hot press for enhanced adhesion.
Location: Texas A&M University (TAMU) – College Station, TX
The intern will be performing computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations of novel prechamber designs that can reduce methane emissions from natural gas pipeline compressor station engines. The intern will first perform literature survey evaluation of various prechamber designs and plasma ignition systems, then develop computational model of a proposed chamber design to be simulated in CFD. The intern will also create a 3D print of the prechamber for fitment testing and other potential design iterations before executing full cycle engine CFD simulation to assess improvement in methane reduction compared to conventional baseline engines.