Summer Internships

Participants in the EPIIC internship are expected to: 
 

• 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 on 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 professional development 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 meets weekly as a group with the coordinator to provide research updates.
   
• Present results at a campus-wide symposium. 
  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. 
   
• Meet weekly with the program coordinator to provide research updates.

• Must be an undergraduate student enrolled (part-time or full-time) in a degree program leading to a baccalaureate or associate degree.
• Students who are transferred from one college/university to another and are enrolled at neither institution during the intervening summer may participate
• Must be able to commit to the full 10-week program (June 3, 2024 - August 9, 2024)
• Research projects will be conducted on-campus and in-person.
• Preferences will be given to students who live in or go to school locally (DC, VA, MD).
• Strong interest in Earth, planetary and/or astronomical sciences

The online application form asks for information about you, your previous research experience, and your motivation for pursuing this internship. There are several short prompts (< 250 words.) We also ask for the contact information of one reference (but they do not need to submit letters).

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

Application Materials to Prepare:

• Curriculum Vitae 
• Unofficial Transcript
• Reference Contact Information
• Short Essay Question Responses

Note: We believe academic environments should be places where diverse groups of people with a variety of viewpoints and ideas can thrive and work together. As such, we encourage applicants from underrepresented groups and backgrounds to apply. The Carnegie Institution is an equal-opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of gender, race/ethnicity, protected veteran status, disability, or another protected group status.

Subfield: Geochemistry

Submarine volcanism affects the cycling of carbon between the Earth’s interior and oceans by introducing organic compounds of thermogenic, abiotic, and microbial origin to the overlying water column. As such, understanding the volcanic contributions of methane is profoundly linked to habitability in extreme environments and the origin of life.

The project will study the controls on the chemical characteristics of methane emitted from submarine volcanoes. This project will use laboratory experiments and theoretical models to explore the isotopic composition of methane and carbon dioxide. We will develop new methods of tracing the origins of methane with important implications for constraining its sources linked to fossil fuel exploration, atmospheric chemistry and bio-geosciences. The intern student will be trained in experimental and theoretical geochemistry, physical chemistry of geothermal fluids, and in handling solid, liquid, and gaseous samples.

Subfield: Mineral Physics, Data Science

Both natural and synthetic compounds in solid matter have atoms predominantly arranged in repeating patterns (motifs). We can discern properties of materials like organics, polymers, inorganics, and metal alloys both of natural and synthetic origin based on their structure. If the relationships between structures and their properties can be understood for all known compounds, we can gain insights into planetary evolution, organic matter potentially connected to previous life, or predict new materials for energy conversion and storage processes. Machine-learning methods can identify the structural characteristics and quantify the differences in motifs.

In this project, the student will first explore crystal structure data for both minerals and synthetic materials from the major crystallographic databases. On this basis, an algorithm for recognizing similar structural motifs found both in natural and synthetic compounds will be developed.

Subfield: Planetary Science, Data Science

What kinds of planets lie beyond the Solar System? In this project, we will develop a data-driven approach to characterize and classify the diversity of planetary objects in the cosmos. Using multidimensional exoplanet data (including mass, radius, temperature, age, chemical composition, host star type, orbital parameters, and dynamical relationship to other planets in the system), we aim to identify planetary kinds, thereby helping us create a more complex planetary analog to the temperature–luminosity diagram for stars.

In this project, the intern will learn to curate planetary data, utilize network science methods to explore planetary data, and develop machine-learning techniques to classify planetary kinds. As a result, the intern will gain experience in all aspects of planetary informatics, including data resource management, data visualization, data analysis, the interpretation of machine learning models, and the communication of key scientific findings.

Subfield: Geophysics and Geodynamics

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 for understanding long-term subduction zone evolution. However, these models are often complicated and difficult for non-experts to understand.

The goal of this project is to use modern, accessible software libraries to develop numerical models of subduction zones and provide them 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 discretization and the student will gain experience with cutting-edge software packages and development methods as well as have the opportunity to contribute to a tool likely to garner significant interest from the community.

Is there life beyond Earth? In 2023, Carnegie scientists pioneered a brand-new technique for searching for life in the cosmos based on machine learning. The accuracy and applicability of this biosignature technique rely on a breadth of data collected by a laboratory method called “pyrolysis–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry” (pyGCMS).

In this project, we will explore scores of new carbon-rich samples using pyGCMS. Not only will the student intern help build the training data set for the next-generation machine learning model, but they will also pioneer the analyses of enigmatic specimens from the early Earth that may contain remnants of ancient life. As a result, the intern will become an expert in the pyGCMS analytical technique, gain experience in data processing and data analysis, learn the basics of machine learning, and gain valuable experience in the communication of key scientific findings.

The Earth's record of meteorite/asteroid impacts is key to understanding the delivery of volatiles and carbonaceous materials to the early Earth.

The project would seek to utilize Raman imaging spectroscopy to map the distribution of carbonaceous materials within impacted terrestrial rocks and elucidate the nature of co-occurring minerals in these rocks. From these observations it may be possible to further analyze the minerals using microprobe and electron microscopy to understand the interaction of extraterrestrial carbonaceous materials delivered to the Earth during the impact process. Specific examples of carbonaceous species of interest that would be formed during the impact process are graphite, graphite whiskers, diamonds, and other high-temperature polymorphs.