SPS Summer Internship Adds New Host Sites in 2025
SPS summer intern Kavin Siaw at the United States Geological Survey. Photo by Siaw.
The SPS Internship Program started in 1999 with a single intern. Over the years, the number of interns—and the variety of positions offered—has steadily grown. SPS now brings around 15 undergraduate interns to Washington, DC, every summer, with placements in science outreach, history, policy, writing, and research at various organizations, labs, and agencies. SPS administers the program, hosts joint orientation and concluding sessions, and holds many professional development and community-building activities throughout the season.
In addition to placing interns with returning hosts—the American Institute of Physics (AIP, home to Sigma Pi Sigma), the American Association of Physics Teachers, the American Physical Society, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the Space Telescope Science Institute—this summer’s program included internship positions with five new hosts!
American Astronomical Society
Position: TEAM-UP Together Intern
The American Astronomical Society (AAS) is an international organization of professional astronomers, astronomy educators, and amateur astronomers. AAS is a key partner in TEAM-UP Together, an initiative by several professional societies (including SPS) to drive systemic change in the physical sciences community and improve graduation outcomes, including among African American students. This summer an SPS intern worked to ensure that undergraduate students, especially those in the target group of the TEAM-UP Together program, are aware of and can benefit from TEAM-UP Together resources.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Position: AI Laboratory Guide for Physics with Smartphones Intern
Over the past five years, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in California has developed a curriculum that leverages smartphone technology for physics education in high school and college labs. The next phase of this initiative aims to integrate recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) with mobile sensor technology. This summer an SPS intern worked remotely from Washington, DC, (and a few days from Livermore, California!) to create a platform that guides students through an array of experiments while providing real-time feedback and enhancing critical thinking.
National Science Board
Position: AIP Mather Public Policy Intern
The National Science Board (NSB) is the governing body of the US National Science Foundation and serves as an advisor to Congress and the president. This summer an AIP Mather Policy intern contributed to the day-to-day policy work at NSB, as well as longer-term, policy-focused projects. The intern also supported NSB meetings, attended policy events on Capitol Hill, and gained experience in broad, federal-level science and technology policy.
United States Department of Defense
Position: Office of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE) Intern
CAPE, the Office of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation, is charged with providing senior leaders in the Department of Defense (DOD) with independent, unbiased, and fact-based decision support. This summer an SPS CAPE intern worked at the Pentagon, supporting the DOD’s Space and Intelligence (SPIN) Division by analyzing program and budget data. The intern gathered and analyzed data from open sources and government-owned data sets related to topics of strategic interest, such as the balance of commercial and government space assets and the lifecycle costs and utility of different systems.
United States Geological Survey
Position: Research Intern
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) is a federal science agency that collects and analyzes earth, water, biological, and mapping data. This summer an SPS intern joined a research team developing and applying petrographic thermal indices. Measuring the fluorescence color of sedimentary organic matter can be a proxy for thermal maturity, which is helpful for predicting the locations of hydrocarbon resource volumes and petroleum system properties and for calibrating burial history models. The intern assisted in microscope data collection, data analysis, and interpretation in the context of developing this new standard test method.
