Summer Undergraduate Research Internship

• Work on a research project under the guidance of a mentor
  Mentor(s) and mentee(s) sign a document after discussion that sets expectations and goals for their summer collaboration. The student carries out a research project crafted by the mentor(s), with the opportunity for modifications and/or additions based upon the student’s skills and motivation.
   
• Acquire expertise in research methods while carrying out a research project 
  Acquiring expertise in the research methods starts the first week the student is at EPL, and within several weeks, students can carry out independent work.
   
• Participate in research and science communication skills workshops. 
  The student participates in several research and science communication skills workshops that supplement the more topic-specific skills they gain from the research project, and meet weekly as a group with the coordinator to provide research updates.
   
• Meet weekly with the program coordinator to provide research updates
   
• Present results at a formal campus-wide symposium 
  The results of intern projects are presented at a campus-wide symposium open to all the scientific staff. The oral presentations are styled after national meetings (AG, GSA, or AAS), and questions by the audience are encouraged. An abstract for the presentation is required, which will if the student chooses, form the basis for an abstract to be submitted for a presentation at a national meeting during the following academic year.
   
• Participate in evaluations
  Students and mentors participate in a series of beginning, mid-, and end-of-program evaluations to assess the mentor-mentee interactions, the progress of the students in gaining research skills, and overall experience in the full program.

• Must be an undergraduate student at time of application
• Must live in or go to school locally (DC, VA, or MD)
• Ability to commit to the full 10-week program (June 5, 2023 - August 11, 2023)
• Strong interest in Earth, planetary and astronomical Sciences

The online application form asks for information about you (name, address, demographic information), your previous research experience, and your motivation for pursuing this internship. There are several short prompts (<300 words.) We also ask for the contact information of one reference (but they do not need to submit letters), and that you upload a CV or resume and unofficial undergraduate transcripts.

Please read over the application first, and draft your response in a separate document before filling out the online form for submission.

Application Materials:

• Curriculum Vitae 
• Unofficial Transcript
• Reference Contact Information

Subfield: Astronomy

Planets form in disks of gas and dust around young stars. But how do the properties of the host star affect the planet-forming materials that surround it? In this project, we aim to simulate the chemical evolution of pre-planetary materials around a variety of low-mass stars. By exploring the range of gas and dust compositions around different stars, we can better understand the initial conditions needed to form the planets that we see today—both in our own solar system and in extrasolar planetary systems across the galaxy. By participating in this project, the intern student will gain skills in research computing, including computational modeling of chemistry in planet-forming environments, data visualization, and the communication of scientific results. Virtual participation is possible, but in-person participation is strongly encouraged.

Subfield: Mineral Physics

The thermal history of the core and mantle and their dynamics is one of the most fundamental topics in geophysics. It is related to the processes of planetary accretion and differentiation, the time evolution of mantle and core temperatures, and the generation of Earth’s magnetic field. The thermal conductivity of materials in the Earth’s and planetary interiors is the key to understanding these phenomena. In this project, the intern student will conduct direct measurements of thermal conductivity of Earth’s minerals and alloys in a laser-heated diamond anvil cell at extreme pressure- temperature conditions representative for the Earth’s interior. The student will gain familiarity with optical experiments with diamond anvil cells, electron microprobe methods, and finite element calculations of heat flux propagation. Research will be conducted in-person.

Subfield: Planetary Science, Data Science

The goal of this project is to develop a data-driven approach to characterize and classify the diversity of planetary objects in the cosmos using multi-dimensional exoplanet data, including mass, radius, temperature, age, chemical composition, host star type, orbital parameters, dynamical relationship to other planets in the system, and more. The intern will learn to curate planetary data and develop machine-learning techniques to achieve our goal of identifying planetary kinds, thereby helping us create a more complex planetary analog to the temperature–luminosity diagram for stars. The student will gain experience in all aspects of planetary informatics, including planetary data resource management, data visualization, data analysis and interpretation of machine learning models, and communication of key scientific findings. Research will be conducted in-person.

Subduction zones are the locus of an incredible amount of geologic activity, including earthquakes, volcanoes, mountain-building, and tsunami generation. As the forces and temporal and spatial scales involved in these processes are so massive, computational models are essential tools to understand long-term subduction zone evolution. These tools have, however, traditionally remained primarily accessible to modeling experts, but recent advances in numerical software libraries mean that such geodynamic models can now be designed with a much broader audience in mind. The goal of this project is to develop a computational model of the thermal evolution of a subduction zone and make it as accessible as possible to the community.

The work is ideally suited to a student who is enthusiastic about programming and learning about geodynamic modeling. Training will be provided in the underlying equations, and numerical discretizations, and the student will gain experience with cutting-edge software packages and development methods as well as have the opportunity to release a tool likely to garner significant interest from the community. Ideally, the work on this project will be performed in person, but remote work can be discussed.