Institutes offer internships focused in specific technical areas. Interns at institutes work predominantly in teams under the supervision of a Sandia mentor. Sandia/California currently has six institutes:
When it’s offered: Year-round
Who can apply: High school through Ph.D.-level students majoring in computer science, engineering, or other technical areas
The Center for Cyber Defenders (CCD) gives computer science interns practical experience directed toward understanding computer systems, network operations, and information protection. The year-round program provides a legitimate venue for interns to perform experiments on attacking and defending computer systems with proper guidance and protective measures in place.
Computer security is of critical importance not only to Sandia but to industry in general. Interns with expertise in this area are in high demand.
The program combines research with education, and the goal is to train cyber defenders who can move into computer security jobs at Sandia. CCD interns receive on-site training, attend weekly information technology seminars, and participate in activities aimed at securing Sandia’s information system.
Scott Maruoka (left) and Chris Kershaw (right) use a custom power meter to measure the amount of energy consumed by CCD interns’ computers and monitors.
Interns are expected to gain skills in the following areas:
By the end of the program, interns will be able to do the following:
When it’s offered: Year-round
Who can apply: University faculty in computer science, math, statistical science, or engineering and upper-division undergraduate (juniors/seniors) through Ph.D.-level students majoring in those fields
The Computer Science Research Institute (CSRI) brings university faculty and students to Sandia National Laboratories for focused collaborative research on Department of Energy (DOE) computer and computational science problems.
CSRI is organized under the DOE Stockpile Computing Program. CSRI provides a mechanism by which university researchers learn about problems in computer and computational science at DOE laboratories. Participants conduct leading-edge research, interact with scientists and engineers at the laboratories, and help transfer the results of their research to programs at the labs.
Some specific research interest areas include the following:
Learn more about CSRI.
When it’s offered: Summer only
Who can apply: Upper-division undergraduate students and graduate students majoring in engineering, materials science, computer science, or a related field
EPSRI intern research results showing finite-element representations of deciduous, coniferous, and shrub trees used in wildfire modeling and simulation.
The Enabling Predictive Simulation Research Institute (EPSRI) at Sandia National Laboratories conducts cutting-edge research and development to enable the application of predictive simulation capabilities. In this context, predictive simulation is the multidisciplinary fusion of core engineering disciplines with phenomenological understanding and computer modeling and simulation. A wide range of engineering and scientific disciplines is represented, including the following:
Core activities within the institute encompass the full spectrum of experimental discovery and validation, model development, code development, and engineering analysis in a wide range of scales—from atomic to continuum—corresponding to the requirements of Sandia’s national-security mission.
Students at EPSRI participate in summer internships where they conduct research in a focused project in the engineering sciences, with an emphasis on predictive science and engineering. Sandia staff members mentor and assist interns with their scientific research. A seminar series given by staff volunteers provides an opportunity for EPSRI interns to interact with one another and with other Sandia staff. Interns are also given the opportunity to present their research to the Sandia scientific community.
In previous summers, EPSRI student participants have come from Brown University; Cornell University; the Georgia Institute of Technology; North Carolina State University; Stanford University; the University of Colorado at Boulder; and several universities within the University of California system, including the Berkeley, Davis, and Los Angeles campuses. At the end of their internships, these students presented papers on various topics, including the following:
Learn more about EPSRI.
When it’s offered: Summer only
Who can apply: Upper-division undergraduate students and graduate students majoring in computer science or electrical, mechanical, or computer engineering
Harvey Ho inspects a circuit prototype.
The National Security Engineering Institute (NSEI) offers hands-on engineering experience to undergraduate and graduate students in electrical- and mechanical-engineering disciplines and computer science. Interns can expect to do real engineering work—with projects tailored to their individual interests, technical background, and experience.
NSEI interns have opportunities to design embedded-control systems, program microcontrollers, lay out printed wiring assemblies, and fabricate and test their own designs. Additional project areas critical to Sandia’s mission as a national-security laboratory include the following: programmable logic for quick-turnaround prototypes and flight-test telemetry systems, secure microprocessor architectures, process development and fabrication of high-aspect-ratio micromachines, microelectronics fabrication, microsystems engineering, defense and energy technologies, environmental sciences, and much more.
Like interns at other institutes, NSEI interns work under the guidance of an outstanding Sandia mentor while using state-of-the-art equipment and facilities. The internship experience is supplemented with technical seminars, tours, and workshops, as well as myriad social activities—giving interns a wonderful sense of what Sandia is all about.
The changing national-security landscape offers a wide variety of technical problems that require innovative electrical- and mechanical-engineering solutions. Join our team today!
Learn more about NSEI.
When it’s offered: Summer only
Who can apply: Undergraduate through Ph.D.-level students
Working in the Physical Sciences Institute (PSI) at Sandia National Laboratories, graduate and undergraduate interns take physical-science problems “hands on.” Whether working among the energetic and talented microfluidics team to solve today’s challenging chem-bio problems or collaborating with top researchers in the world-renowned Combustion Research Facility (CRF) to develop ground-breaking diagnostic and remote sensing tools, PSI interns are immersed in a scientifically rich and dynamic research community.
PSI internships are available during the summer. Interns work full-time, side-by-side with Sandia scientists and are expected to make a strong contribution to their assigned projects. Some of last year’s PSI projects included the following:
When it’s offered: Year-round
Who can apply: Undergraduate and graduate students majoring in computer science or software engineering
The Sandia Institute for Modeling and Simulation (SIMS) gives students an exciting opportunity to conduct engineering research, design, and development in support of exploratory computer and software engineering. Interns will explore and contribute to national-security projects in the areas of enterprise modeling and parallel simulation, distributed-sensor systems, mobile-device applications, and ad hoc wireless networking. These technologies are applied in support of the national-security missions of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the DOE National Nuclear Security Administration.
Student participants in this program are assigned engineering projects and responsibilities in cooperation with Sandia researchers in the fields of computer engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, mathematics, physics, chemical engineering, and materials science. Students may attend a series of presentations on related topics, including distributed computing, massively paralllel computation, and simulation techologies. SIMS students also have access to state-of-the-art computing equipment and facilities.