Summer Research Internship Program

Program Description

Overview

ISI welcomes enthusiastic, qualified PhD students and highly talented undergraduates as paid interns in our Marina del Rey, California, Arlington, Virginia, and Boston (Waltham), Massachusetts offices. We offer the chance to join in groundbreaking research in convivial, intellectually stimulating environs. Interns work directly with our senior research leaders and their teams, have the opportunity to attend lectures and study groups, and may also mentor others.

In Marina del Rey, CA, ISI inhabits one of the city’s best waterfront addresses. We’re in the midst of the emerging Silicon Beach community of startup and established tech companies, along with bike paths, boating, beaches, diverse restaurants, and the heart of LA's Westside.

In Arlington, VA, our offices are centrally located in the vibrant Virginia Square/Ballston area, an easy metro ride from Washington D.C.’s famed museums and other cultural attractions.

In Boston, MA, our offices are located in the suburb of Waltham, directly off of I-95. Our location provides convenient access to Boston and Cambridge’s many universities, museums, and restaurants, as well as historic Lexington and Concord, the site of the “shot heard round the world.”

Schedule

Our 2024 Summer Internship hiring season will run through mid-March, 2024. Within this window individual internship opportunities will be posted to our application page as they become available, with most posted by early February. Please check back often in this time frame to see if new opportunities have been posted!

Research Areas

Internships may be available in any of ISI's wide-ranging research areas. Please see our application page for the specific opportunities that are currently open. For more information about some of our research areas that have sought interns in the recent past, please expand the description boxes that interest you below.

Director's Interns

Each year, a small number of outstanding individuals participating in ISI’s summer internship program may be named as Director's Interns. Director's Interns receive Institute-wide recognition for their work, including the opportunity to present their research at a colloquium honoring their accomplishments. ISI summer interns are eligible for consideration as Director's Interns based on their research accomplishments within the internship and recommendations from their research mentors, with selections made by a committee of senior ISI researchers.

Program Details

How to Apply

Please apply by submitting an application to our website. You may apply using our general application URL, or through a link to a specific opening provided to you by a potential mentor or supervisor at ISI.

When you apply, we'll ask you for a few details about your current studies, and to upload a brief statement of research interests and your CV. For most research areas, we'll also ask you for the name and contact information of a recommender familiar with your research background and prepared to write a short recommendation for you. We'll contact that person directly for a recommendation. Once you have these things handy, applying will only take a minute!

Background and Qualifications

ISI looks for strong, enthusiastic students with a wide variety of technical interests. While most of our interns have computer science or data science backgrounds, we're also interested in students with relevant engineering, math, or scientific academic majors. A number of our internship opportunities combine deep intellectual research with practical system development, and we’re particularly interested in working with students whose background, experience, and research interests combine those objectives.

Our summer internships are extremely popular, and many students choose to intern more than once. We encourage you to tailor your research statement to clearly express your specific interests, goals, and desires for a summer internship, so that we may best match you with potential ISI research mentors. If you're interested in working with a particular ISI supervisor, and are familiar with their work and research area, please use your research statement and the application form to let us know!

Unfortunately, we are only able to accept applications from students already in the United States or holding all necessary documentation for travel and student employment in the US. Due the the short time between the application process and the start of the internship, it is not possible for us to accept students who would need to obtain a visa or other employment documentation before joining the program.

Internship Duration and Compensation

Summer Internships typically span a ten to twelve week period starting in late May, and are intended to accommodate the academic schedule of your university or institution. Compensation will be stated in your offer letter should you be accepted, and will be competitive with comparable internship opportunities.

If you're interested in an internship at another time during the academic year, we encourage you to contact the appropriate research area by sending a short email request to [email protected]. Openings are more limited, however, and not available under a formal program.

Additional Questions?

Please see our FAQ page for answers to several common questions about our program. If you have a question not answered there, please write to us directly at [email protected]. Thanks for your interest in our summer internships program!