ARGONNE, Ill.  — This summer, 250 students from around the country will work to solve some of the nation’s most pressing scientific issues at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory. Argonne’s internships encourage students, teachers and postdoctoral researchers to continue to mature as future scientists and engineers who will make tomorrow’s important discoveries.

“Well-trained scientists are critical to America’s national security and economic stability,” said Harold Myron, director of Argonne’s Division of Educational Programs. Argonne’s Division of Educational Programs is the largest in the Department of Energy system and sponsors traditional internships, teacher training and other programs that take advantage of the laboratory’s unique facilities.

Argonne’s interns will work side-by-side with Argonne biologists, chemists, computer scientists, physicists and environmental scientists. The internships focus on hands-on laboratory experience, pairing students with leading scientists in a wide array of different disciplines.

Starting this year, Argonne has begun to offer a new internship for American Indian and Native Alaskan college students. The Council of Energy Resource Tribes and the Department of the Interior’s Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development worked to place these students in projects relating to energy resource development and environmental evaluation and analysis.

“Meeting future energy demands requires a strong understanding of environmental impacts,” said Myron. ​“Argonne will play a critical role in this effort by providing the training and expertise to help manage the development of sustainable energy and natural resources.”

The many Summer Intern Programs offered at Argonne this year include:

• The FaST program pairs faculty with students for common work on a particular research project.
• The Pre-Service Teachers program enables future teachers to experience the applied world of science, mathematics and technology—which in turn encourages more creativity in science education.
• The Community College Institute of Science and Technology program gives students interested in technical careers direct access to major scientific research facilities and the laboratory’s scientific and technical staff.
• The Academies Creating Teacher Scientists Program is designed by DOE’s Office of Science to create a cadre of outstanding science and math teachers with the proper content knowledge and scientific research experience to serve as leaders and agents of positive change in their local and regional teaching communities.
• The Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship provides special training and research experiences to college and university undergraduate students.
• In the Research Aide program, students gain hands-on technical experience working on specific research projects under the supervision of laboratory scientists.
• Student research participants work on different research projects throughout the lab.
• The Givens Associate intern program specifically targets graduate students beginning careers in numerical analysis or computational mathematics.