My Ivory Tower

Five (5!!!) additional opportunities opened this week for community college students and undergraduate students to get paid to do quantum research this summer. These opportunities are provided through the Department of Energy’s Office of Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists, the University of Tennessee, the National Institute for Standards and Technology, and the University of Waterloo’s Institute for Quantum Computing.  How awesome is that??? More details below!

The Community College Internship program offers opportunities for students to expand their technical skills and expertise while exploring careers at the DOE national laboratories across the country.  These are PAID 10-week summer internships.  Not only do DOE national labs like Sandia, Berkeley Labs, LANL, etc lead groundbreaking quantum research, they also support research in microelectronics, energy, security, computing, you name it!  I was fortunate to get my start at a DOE national lab when I was an undergraduate student with no clue what I wanted to do with my life and cannot recommend the experience highly enough!  Learn more and apply here. 

Likewise, the Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship program is open to undergraduate students and recent graduates ready to use their STEM or science policy major to help make a difference in the world.  These are PAID 10-week summer internships allowing you to enhance your professional network and develop your interests in state-of-the-art research facilities at the DOE national labs.  Learn more and apply here. 

The Quantum Algorithms and Optimization Research Experience for Undergraduates program at the University of Tennessee is officially accepting applications!  This is a unique opportunity for students to conduct quantum computing related research and apply this cutting-edge methodology to solve currently intractable, real-world optimization problems through a PAID 10-week summer program.  Learn more and apply here. 

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) at NIST provides research opportunities for students to work with internationally known NIST scientists, to explore them to cutting-edge research and promote the pursuit of advanced degrees and careers in science, technology, engineering, and math.  As a SURFer (? Megan made that up), you’ll have the opportunity to work with NIST researchers on a wide breadth of problems, including quantum science!  This is a PAID 11-week summer program.  Learn more and apply here. 

The Undergraduate School on Experimental Quantum Information Processing is a 2-week program on the theoretical and experimental study of quantum information aimed primarily at students one year away from completing their undergraduate studies.  This is a free program hosted at the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.  Note also that there are paid opportunities available through Undergraduate Research Awards, which allow you to continue learning for an additional 10-week research experience alongside an IQC researcher.  Learn more and apply here. 

These applications are due in January, but don’t delay! Some require letters of recommendation, statements on your interests, etc, so get a head start now!