High School Summer Internship

High School

PPPL internships for summer are available for highly motivated high school students! 

High School Summer Internship Application (the summer after you graduate)

Please contact [email protected] with any issues. Please note that email notifications may go to your spam/junk folder.

Key dates:

November 20 – summer internship application opens

March 1 – summer internship application closes (midnight)

PPPL's Science Education department offers a limited number of internship positions for outstanding high school seniors for the summer after their graduation. Each term, which lasts about 8 to 10 weeks during the summer, offers students the chance to work on a project with a member of our research or engineering staff. The exact dates of the internship depend on the participant's school schedule. The summer internship schedule is Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., 40 hours per week.

Attention parents/guardians: All communication regarding applications must be between the applicant and the administrators of the program. We cannot share application status or other information with anyone other than the applicant themselves.

To be eligible, students must:

  • Be at least 16 years of age AND a graduating senior in high school when the internship begins. The internship begins the summer after you graduate. NOT the summer after your junior year.
  • Be a United States citizen or permanent resident alien at the time of application
  • Obtain transportation to and from the Laboratory (The High School Internship is a commuter program. Housing is NOT provided. Reimbursement for mileage to/from the lab is NOT provided.)
  • REMOTE projects may be available. Please indicate in your application if you prefer a remote project.

For students who will be minors at the start of the internship, students must:

  • Arrange with their school to obtain working papers prior to the internship start date

It is strongly recommended that students have:

  • some experience relevant to an experimental or computational project in plasma physics
  • a strong interest in plasma physics, fusion energy, etc.
  • taken some or all of the following classes: physics, chemistry, advanced math, engineering, etc.
  • some experience with coding/computer languages, such as Python or Java, and/or computer-aided design (CAD), such as SolidWorks or AutoCAD