Joint UMD/APL Summer Internship in Spacecraft Engineering

ASTRA-UMD (UMD’s new center for space exploration technology, astra.umd.edu) and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) are funding a joint internship program, open to both graduate and undergraduate students. For a 10 week period in the summer, students will split their time between UMD and APL, working a total of 40hr/week with guidance from UMD faculty and APL mentors. Due to APL badging requirements, all student interns must be US Citizens. Student interns will be expected to spend a portion of the summer working on-site at APL near Maple Lawn, MD (which is accessible via MARC train and a shuttle). Internship funds will cover the student’s stipend, 1 week of faculty mentor support and 1 week of APL mentor support.

Applications must identify the student, UMD faculty mentor and APL mentor who will participate in this project. Students are encouraged to identify APL mentors with input from UMD faculty. If you need help finding an APL staff member who does relevant work, please contact Prof. Christine Hartzell (hartzell@umd.edu) with a short description of your proposed research project.

Internship start dates are flexible, but will nominally be June 2, 2025.

How to Apply:

Students should submit the following in a single PDF at https://go.umd.edu/UMD_APL_interns:

Email confirmation from APL mentor to supervise/collaborate on the proposed research
Email confirmation from UMD faculty mentor to supervise/collaborate on the proposed research
Student’s resume (2 page max)
A 2 page (single spaced) research proposal (inclusive of figures, not inclusive of references) describing the proposed research topic, it’s relevance to space exploration, proposed research tasks to be accomplished during the internship, and the methods to be used. Only research relevant to a space exploration technology (including instrument development) will be considered.

Please submit your application by March 7, 2025.

Selection decisions will be announced no earlier than March 28, 2025.

Published February 13, 2025