Education
Internships
NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) offers a limited number of internship opportunities to high school, undergraduate and graduate students. There are typically about twenty openings for summer interns, and about a dozen for autumn and spring interns.
Many summer internships at NASA GISS are part of the year-round Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI). Teams of high school and undergraduate students and faculty work alongside graduate students and the lead scientists of NASA-funded research projects at colleges and universities in the New York City metropolitan region or at NASA/GISS under the mentorship of a GISS scientist.
Information about future GISS internship opportunities that are not described below may be available from the NASA Internship Programs website.
Opportunities
GISS internship opportunities that are announced for Summer 2024 include the following. Students are encouraged to apply by the priority deadline of Oct. 20, 2023. Some opportunities may remain open until Feb. 2, 2024.
- Development of a NASA climate game
- Algorithm development for satellite retrievals of oil slicks & other substances
- Code development for the remote sensing of snow properties
- Machine-learning approaches to accelerate satellite retrievals
- Merging and analysis of multi-sensor imagery over polar regions
- GISTEMP code development
- Exploring the dynamics of exoplanetary atmospheres and oceans with ROCKE-3D
- Fire, climate, and the carbon cycle in ModelE
- From soil to sea: Dust aerosols and climate
- Climate Change Research Initiative: NASA Education Resource Specialist
- CCRI — SnowEx and Understanding the Role of Snow and Measurements
- CCRI — Monitoring and Studying Lakes from Space in and Changing Climate
- CCRI — Land Surface Temperature via Satellite and Remote Sensing Technologies
- CCRI — Deciphering Changing Probabilities of Extreme Climate Events
- CCRI — Connecting the Local Urban Fabric to Global Climate Change
- CCRI — Climate Change in the Hudson Estuary – Past, Present & Future
Further information about internship opportunities that are part of the CCRI program is provided elsewhere.
Eligibility for these opportunities is generally limited to undergraduate and graduate students. More specific requirements are provided on the NASA Internship Programs website. Details are also provided there on in-person vs virtual work requirements.
How to Apply
Interested students interested must apply for NASA/GISS internships via the NASA Internship Programs website.
Applicants must be US citizens and currently enrolled in a formal education program of study with a minimum grade point average of 3.0. Depending on the particular project, interns may be required to reside within 50 miles of NASA/GISS (located in New York City) or NASA/GSFC (Greenbelt, MD); some projects may allow for remote participation (WFH).
Information regarding international student eligibility requirements to apply for internship programs at other NASA facilities can be found on the NASA Internship Programs website.
Contact
For more information about educational opportunities at NASA/GISS, at any time of year, please contact Mr. Matthew Pearce.
