summer internships
Energy-related research opportunities with faculty members, as well as with non-profit and government organizations, are listed below. Alternatively, a student may self-initiate an energy-related project with a faculty member of their choice.
- Applications open on November 21, 2022. Students should apply for an Andlinger Center summer internship in the Student Activities Funding Engine (SAFE). Application instructions can be found below.
- Princeton first-years, sophomores, and juniors in good academic and judicial standing may apply for up to two Andlinger Center summer internship opportunities.
- Students on a leave of absence for the 2022-2023 academic year are not eligible to apply for summer 2023 internships.
- The final deadline for submitting applications is January 9, 2023.
- Selected students receive a stipend of $600/week, plus a research-related or travel-related award, if applicable.
- Questions? Contact Moira Selinka at mselinka@princeton.edu
Summer internships are funded by the Peter B. Lewis Fund for Student Innovation in Energy and the Environment and the Dede T. Bartlett P03 Fund for Student Research in Energy and the Environment.
Internships with Faculty
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Ammonia (NH3), one of the main components of fertilizers, is vital in global food production. Additionally, NH3 is a promising “chemical reservoir” for hydrogen (H2) – an alternative zero-carbon-emission fuel that may be sustainably manufactured. NH3 can be more safely stored and transported than H2 and can later be decomposed into nitrogen (N2) and H2 molecules when needed. NH3 production currently requires extreme reactor conditions – high temperatures and very high pressures – to be synthesized from air (which is 80% N2) and H2, a method known as the Haber-Bosch process. Rather unfortunately, NH3 decomposition also requires high temperatures, although low pressures are desirable in this case. An energy-efficient decomposition method thus, is also required for NH3 to be used successfully as a H2-carrier. Iron (Fe) is among the best catalysts for NH3 synthesis and also for its decomposition. Understanding the pathways of NH3 decomposition on Fe – from N-H bond breaking to N2 gas formation – can provide a benchmark case from which new better catalysts can be engineered.
Prof. Emily A. Carter’s group seeks to identify avenues to chemically modify the surface of Fe to lower the temperature needed to thermocatalytically crack NH3. They plan to achieve this through atomic-scale simulations based on quantum mechanics, notably density functional theory. Recent data from their simulations show that N2 production via desorption of surface-bound N atoms inhibits this process. The student(s) will be involved in exploring elemental surface doping to facilitate N2 production (by weakening the metal-to-N bond) while not significantly affecting the ability of Fe to decompose NH3 (to surface-bound H and N atoms) and release H2 gas. Primary supervisor name and title: Dr. Mark Martirez, Staff Research Scientist.
Background desired: physical chemistry or chemical engineering background preferable; physics up through quantum mechanics, physical chemistry through thermodynamics, quantum mechanics, and statistical mechanics; math up through differential equations and linear algebra; coding/scripting experience helpful but not required.
Duration: 9 weeks, full-time 35-40 hours/week (June 5 to August 4, 2023)
Location: In-person, on campus and at PPPL, hybrid is a possibilitySpecific Application Materials requested: resume and transcript
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This project will develop a systematic approach to rapidly and autonomously characterize power magnetic materials at high frequencies. Students will learn about power electronics characterization, machine learning, and data engineering. Primary supervisor name and title: Prof. Minjie Chen, Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment.
Background desired: Basic knowledge about electrical engineering and data science.
Duration: 9 weeks, full-time 35-40 hours/week (early June to early August)
Location: In-person, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment
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Cellulosic biofuels play a vital role in addressing the climate and clean energy crises of the 21st century. However, biofuels face economic viability constraints due to lignocellulose recalcitrance to degradation. Caldicellulosiruptor bescii, a non-model extremely thermophilic bacterium (Topt ~ 75 C), is an emerging metabolic engineering host organism due to its highly effective lignocellulosic enzyme inventory and availability of a rudimentary genetic system. Nevertheless, the potential of C. bescii as a model microbial platform for biofuels production is limited by a relatively poor understanding of its sugar transport systems for moving extracellular oligosaccharides inside the cell for metabolism.
We aim to resolve this challenge by characterizing structure-function relationships in C. bescii’s repertoire of ABC sugar transporters to predict transported substrates. Using well-established protein expression and crystallization workflows, we will obtain three-dimensional protein structures of the substrate-binding-domains in each ABC sugar transporter. In addition we will measure substrate-binding affinities through isothermal titration calorimetry. Altogether, our efforts will accelerate the development of C. bescii as a model metabolic engineering platform for biofuels production to address present day climate and energy challenges. Primary supervisor name and title: Prof. Jonathan Conway, Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering.Background desired: Science or engineering major required. Prior laboratory experience preferred, but not required.
Duration: 9 weeks, full-time 35-40 hours/week (start and end dates tbd)
Location: In-person, on campus
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Cellulosic biofuels play a vital role in addressing the climate and clean energy crises of the 21st century. However, biofuels face economic viability constraints due to the recalcitrance of lignocellulosic feedstocks to complete degradation. Enzymes from extremely thermophilic microorganisms are of interest for their ability to be incorporated in biomass processing steps that operate at elevated temperatures prior to sugar fermentation. Through this project we will explore unique hemicellulases and cellulases from extremely thermophilic microbes. We will clone and produce these enzymes for biochemical characterization and we will assess their ability to be incorporated in biomass treatment processes. These data will help inform engineering of enzyme mixtures to improve plant biomass degradation processes to realize the goal of producing biofuels and biochemicals from lignocellulosic biomass sources. Primary supervisor name and title: Prof. Jonathan Conway, Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering.
Background desired: Science or engineering major required. Prior laboratory experience preferred, but not required.
Duration: 9 weeks, full-time 35-40 hours/week (start and end dates tbd)
Location: In-person, on campus
Background desired: Science or engineering major required. Prior laboratory experience preferred, but not required.
Duration: 9 weeks, full-time 35-40 hours/week (start and end dates tbd)
Location: In-person, on campus
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Polyethylene (PE) and Polypropylene (PP) are the two main contributors to municipal plastic waste streams, accounting for two-thirds of all plastic waste. However, due to prevailing plastic recycling methods often being based on material densities, PE and PP are regularly separated from plastic waste streams together due to their similar physical properties, with further separation not being economically viable. Importantly, these PE/PP mixtures have poor mechanical properties due to their immiscibility, making them one of the least favorable recyclates in all plastic recycling and significant contributors to plastic waste in landfills. Recently, the addition of copolymers that preferentially organize at the interface between the two immiscible polymers has demonstrated promise as a compatibilization approach, leading to greatly improved mechanical properties of the blend and potential for material use. In this project, novel block copolymer architectures of increasing molecular weights will be synthesized and their compatibilization efficiency in iPP/HDPE blends will be evaluated using a myriad of experimental techniques. Because PE and PP are of great economic importance (more than ca. $200 billion in annual sales, worldwide), strategies such as these may have considerable potential to affect plastic sustainability as well as the economy moving forward. Primary supervisor name and title: Dr. Shawn M. Maguire, postdoctoral researcher.
Duration: 9 weeks, full-time 35-40 hours/week (start and end dates tbd)
Location: in person, on campus
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Next generation energy dense solid state batteries will play a critical role in electric vehicle, portable electronic, and potentially grid energy storage applications. However, assessing failure onset and growth mechanisms in solid electrolytes is necessary for high performance solid-state batteries. While phenomenological understanding of failure mechanisms in solid electrolytes exist, limited experimental validation is available
The student involved in this project will be engineering in situ and operando devices for investigating solid state batteries during realistic operating conditions. The student will be using x-ray imaging tools to visualize material transformation pathways. Primary supervisor name and title: Prof. Kelsey Hatzell, Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment.
Background desired: Experience and interest in coding, visualization, and image processing. Student will be working with image data sets and processing them into 3D images.
Duration: 9 weeks, full-time 35-40 hours/week (start and end dates tbd)
Location: In-person, on campus
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This project aims to design an interactive decision support tool (and underlying methods and data processing) that can quantify and illuminate impacts and tradeoffs salient to stakeholders in the energy transition to facilitate informed decision-making and consensus building. We plan to initially apply to tool to support decision-making in New York state, which has aggressive state-wide requirements to reach 100% carbon-free electricity by 2040 and net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, economy-wide, by 2050. The open source GenX power system optimization model equipped with the modeling to generate alternatives algorithm and related quantitative impact metrics will be used to generate data for visualizing energy, economic, social, and environmental tradeoffs that we expect in the upcoming energy transition.
The student intern will be primarily responsible for helping develop, implement, or improve an interactive graphical interface for the decision support tool and underlying data processing and computation. Students are expected to learn about the energy modeling software (GenX power system model) and Modeling to Generate Alternative (MGA) algorithm, open-sourcing their modeling work (using GitHub), and design an interactive data visualization platform (see Calliope tool here https://explore.callio.pe/, for example). Students will acquire and handle a significantly large amount of data, analyze it using data analytics techniques, and develop systematic approaches using computer algorithms, optimization, and simulation, which requires sufficient CPU/GPU power and ram memory.
While participating in this project, students will learn (i) the importance and current practices of exploring tradeoffs in energy transitions, (ii) to use open-source energy modeling software to solve real-world, large-scale problems and design an interactive tool to visualize the results and, (iii) contribute to promoting clean energy sharing in communities using domain knowledge and techniques that they have learned through academic curriculum.
The student will work with a collaborative team at Princeton’s ZERO Lab and with Prof. Neha Patankar at SUNY Binghamton and Prof. Erin Mayfield at Dartmouth College (both formerly ZERO Lab postdocs). Primary supervisor name and title: Prof. Jesse Jenkins, Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment.
Background desired: students with experience in basic python coding and a working knowledge of linear programming or optimization models would make an ideal candidate for this project.
Duration: 9 weeks, full-time 35-40 hours/week (June 5 to August 4, 2023)
Location: In-person, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment
Specific Application Materials requested: Provide cover letter explaining why you are interested in this project along with resume and transcript.
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A rapid transition to a net-zero carbon-emission power grid is expected to be the linchpin for economic-wide decarbonization. As the variable renewable energy penetration increases, firm power generators that provide dispatchable power generation become critical to preserving a reliable and economical power grid. ZERO lab is interested in assessing different combinations of firm generators, including (1) natural gas combined cycle with 100% CO2 capture rate, (2)., natural gas plants with 90% or 0% CO2 capture rate, with direct air capture to offset fossil emissions, and (3) H2 turbines, to achieve a net-zero carbon-emissions grid. By understanding the trade-off between the capacity factor and the cost/revenue from the aforementioned combinations, we will have a better idea of the installed capacity share, total system costs, and CO2 emissions of the future power grid under various contexts.
The intern will assist in the techno-economic evaluation of different combinations of aforementioned generators using a capacity expansion model (i.e., GenX). The intern may also contribute to sensitivity analysis, data analysis, and data visualization. The results of the assessment will be translated into tables, graphs, and papers. The intern will learn the role that different combinations of generators will play in the future electricity system and use the capacity expansion model for future power system planning under uncertainty. Primary supervisor name and title: Dr. Fangwei Cheng, Associate Research Scholar.
Background desired: ideal applicants for the internship would be majoring in a field of science or engineering. Experience with optimization and Julia (or other computer programming language will be beneficial).
Duration: 9 weeks, full-time 35-40 hours/week (June 5 to August 4, 2023)
Location: In-person, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment
Specific Application Materials requested: Provide cover letter along with resume and transcript explaining what you are interested in and why.
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Intern to work with a graduate student to conduct experimental studies of plasma-assisted ammonia synthesis involving laser diagnostics in a pulse plasma-activated plasma reactor. Primary supervisor name and title: Prof. Yiguang Ju, Robert Porter Patterson Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
Background desired: thermodynamics or physics
Duration: 8 weeks, full-time 35-40 hours/week (flexible dates from late May/early June to late July/early August)
Location: In-person, EQuad D wing
Specific Application Materials requested: CV/Resume
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Students will have the opportunity to contribute to making fusion energy a reality. There are four possible paths the student can take:
1. Machine learning for fusion data: You’ll be given access to big fusion data (labeled and unlabeled) and will be asked to design control policies based.
2. Help run experiment on real fusion reactors: Our group designs and runs experiments at different fusion reactors in the world. We mainly try to increase performance and reduce instabilities of the fusion plasma in our experiments. You can participate and help with these experiments.
3. Optimization of stellarators: Stellarators are complicated 3D fusion devices which requires a great deal of optimization. We developed a new stellarator optimization platform called DESC. The student would be expand this code (python) or using it for optimization.
4. Liquid metal technology: The head flux coming to the fusion wall is hard to take by solid metals. We develop liquid metal technology to take this heat. The student can run numerical simulations available in openfoam of the free surface flow with magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) or run experiments in the lab. Primary supervisor name and title: Prof. Egemen Kolemen, Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment.Background desired: depends upon the project applied for
Duration: 9 weeks, full-time 35-40 hours/week (early June to early August)
Location: In-person, on campus
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In Princeton’s recent Net-Zero America study fuels synthesized from sustainably produced biomass coupled with carbon capture and storage (CCS) play critical roles in achieving economy-wide net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 because they provide carbon-negative energy carriers. However, quantifying the positive contributions to climate change mitigation from forest bioenergy remains challenging. On the one hand, forest bioenergy is not immediately carbon-neutral, as emissions from the supply chain and forest carbon contribute emissions to the atmosphere. On the other hand, sustainable forest management practices, utilization of the produced bioenergy to substitute fossil fuels, and carbon capture and storage of biogenic CO2 (generating negative emissions), effectively reduce CO2 emissions. This project aims to establish a novel framework that accurately quantifies the value of forest bioenergy in achieving the net-zero goal. More specifically, both forest management practices and bioenergy conversion technologies will be considered, and their impacts during the complete life cycle of a forest-bioenergy system will be compared to counterfactual scenarios where the energy carriers are provided by other sources.
The student will assist with using forest models (e.g., the USDA Forest Vegetation Simulator) to generate growth data of different types of species under various forest management practices. Additional work will involve learning and applying data analytics and geospatial analysis. The intern will also assist with analyzing results from biomass-to-fuel modeling studies.
This internship is with the Andlinger Center’s Energy Systems Analysis Group, which engages in a variety of energy- and sustainability-related research in a highly interactive, collaborative environment. Primary supervisor name and title: Dr. Fangwei Cheng, Associate Research Scholar.
Background desired: Science, math, or engineering major with working knowledge of one or more programming languages and comfortable working with modeling software.
Duration: 9 weeks, full-time 35-40 hours/week (June 5 to August 4, 2023)
Location: In-person, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment
Specific Application Materials requested: Resume, transcript, and short (1/2 to 1 page) statement of interest in the internship.
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The Princeton Net-Zero America (NZA) study highlighted the importance of CO2 capture and storage (CCS) for meeting the U.S. goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Building on the NZA study, researchers in the Andlinger Center’s Energy Systems Analysis Group are exploring opportunities for deploying CO2 capture, transport, and storage systems to serve existing “hard-to-decarbonize” industries and power plants and hypothetical future facilities, including biomass energy conversion facilities. A wide range of modeling, optimization, and analytical approaches are used to evaluate technical and economic performance, and the work includes investigating alternative time-evolution pathways for the development of clusters of capture plants and storage sites connected through shared CO2 pipeline infrastructure. The case-study geographic focus for the work is the Louisiana-Gulf Coast region, one of the most heavily industrialized regions in the U.S., which happens to be co-located with some of the country’s best prospective underground CO2 storage resources.
The student will assist with modeling, analysis, and post-processing visualization work in the project.
The student may expect to 1) gain an appreciation of the opportunities and challenges associated with deployment of CCS hubs, 2) gain familiarity with optimization tools for analysis of CCS hubs, 3) gain familiarity with methods for technical and economic performance analysis of CCS hubs, 4) gain appreciation for effective communication of techno-economic findings.This internship is with the Andlinger Center’s Energy Systems Analysis Group, which engages in a variety of energy- and sustainability-related research in a highly interactive, collaborative environment. Primary supervisor name and title: Dr. Arya Gunawan, Postdoctoral Fellow.
Background desired: Science, math, or engineering major with working knowledge of one or more programming languages and comfortable working with modeling software. Experience with the integrated development environment (IDE) for Java such as NetBeans/Eclipse/IntelliJ. Geographic information system experience in ArcGIS Map/Pro/Online or open source such as QGIS, Map Box, etc. also would be useful.
Duration: 9 weeks, full-time 35-40 hours/week (June 5 to August 4, 2023)
Location: In-person, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment
Specific Application Materials requested: Resume, transcript, and short (1/2 to 1 page) statement of interest in the internship.
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Rational engineering of enzymes to degrade poly ethylene terephthalate (PET). Building on a successful ongoing senior thesis, we will continue to engineer PETases that work at elevated temperatures. Primary supervisor name and title: Prof. Jamie Link, Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering.
Background desired: majoring in CBE or related area
Duration: 9 weeks, full-time 35-40 hours/week (early June to early August)
Location: In-person, Hoyt Lab
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A lot of press has been given to how heat pumps can help shift our energy system off of natural gas (see Bill Mckibben). Shifting to an electrically driven heating supply from a largely gas-based one has many challenges and opportunities. This project will contribute to ongoing research in the CHAOS lab researching design, control, and smart building integration of heat pumps. Heat pumps can dramatically reduce energy consumption when combined with geoexchange, as with the Princeton campus project, and they can also enable thermal storage that can enable electrical load shifting to facilitate use of variable renewable sources without batteries while also being integrated with more effective thermal comfort delivery in buildings. The internship will work with researchers on prototype heat pump experiments and control systems, and may contribute to larger analyses modeling impacts of shifts to heat pump systems. Primary supervisor name and title: Prof. Forrest Meggers, Associate Professor of Architecture and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment.
Background desired: Ideally an understanding of thermodynamics or at least basic physics of heat. Students who enjoy tinkering, making, and solving practical problems with real world skills are welcome to apply.
Duration: 8 weeks, full-time 35-40 hours/week (flexible start and end dates)
Location: In-person on campus
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Chemical manufacturing accounts for nearly 10% of global energy consumption. Recent research has explored light-mediated chemical processes as a means of increasing the efficiency of chemical manufacturing. This summer internship will explore use of plasmons to enhance upconversion of light, wherein two low-energy photons are incoherently ‘combined’ to form a higher energy photon. The student will fabricate thin films of organic semiconductors, metals, and dielectrics using both spin coating and thermal evaporation, and use various characterization and data analysis techniques to measure optical and electronic properties of samples. Primary supervisor name and title: Jesse Wisch, Ph.D. student.
Background desired: Intro E&M and chemistry preferred but not required; no prior lab experience required.
Duration: 9 weeks, full-time 35-40 hours/week (flexible start and end dates)
Location: In-person on campus
Background desired: Ideally an understanding of thermodynamics or at least basic physics of heat. Students who enjoy tinkering, making, and solving practical problems with real-world skills are welcome to apply.
Duration: 8 weeks, full-time 35-40 hours/week (flexible start and end dates)
Location: In-person on campus
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Most plastic waste originates from single-use packaging, as current recycling and recovery technologies are not practical and economically viable. As such, chemical recycling or conversion methods can serve as potential ways to break down plastics into liquid products that can be used as fuels and chemical intermediates. Here, we utilize tailored bifunctional metal/acid catalysts to convert polyolefins to fuels and chemicals under mild conditions to probe effects on metal accessibility and identity (including bimetallic species) on reaction mechanism and catalyst stability. This project will involve: (1) synthesis and characterization of catalysts, (2) operation of conversion reactions in a Parr reactor; (3) characterization of solid, liquid, and gaseous products. Primary supervisor name and title: Prof. Michele Sarazen, Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering.
Background desired: undergraduate with mid-level chemistry and some wet lab experience (can be from class) preferred
Duration: 9 weeks, full-time 35-40 hours/week (start and end dates tbd)
Location: In-person on campus
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Renewable energy resources reduce carbon footprint and marginal cost, but also introduce risk to the grid that is not fully accounted for under current operational paradigms. Modern electricity markets face new sources of risk as renewables footprint increases, and price formation in the traditional sense will ultimately be subordinated to reliability quantification. The ORFEUS project (orfeus.princeton.edu) ascribes risk and costs to each asset’s contribution to system operational cost. Its major components include:
Nodal load and generation scenarios
Analysis of system operation costs
Risk allocation and construction of system risk indices
Securitization and risk transfer
The internship will involve all these aspects. Primary supervisor name and title: Prof. Ronnie Sircar, Eugene Higgins Professor of Operations Research and Financial Engineering.Background desired: Good understanding of statistics, probability and coding in Python required.
Duration: 9 weeks, full-time 35-40 hours/week (early June to early August)
Location: In-person, Sherrerd Hall
Specific Application Materials requested: resume, transcript
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The presence of microplastics in natural waters is one of the greatest environmental challenges of our time. Since traditional wastewater treatment typically does not include high-end microfiltration or ultrafiltration steps (due to their high cost), most microplastics under tens of microns are not successfully captured from used water. Recently, diffusiophoresis (the spontaneous motion of solids in the presence of concentration gradients) has been proposed as an inexpensive alternative to separate microscopic solids from water [Shim et al. (2017), https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms15181]. In this project, the student will (i) build microfluidic channels to observe and quantify this separation process at small scales, (ii) analyze and process experimental results, comparing them to theoretical models, (iii) explore the usage of different chemicals to induce diffusiophoresis, in order to simultaneously achieve filtration and chemical treatment of water. Primary supervisor name and title: Dr. Fernando Temprano-Coleto, Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow.
Background desired: no prior research experience is strictly required, although students with previous experience with basic laboratory work and/or experimental data processing (with MATLAB, ImageJ, or similar) are preferred.
Duration: 8 weeks, full-time 35-40 hours/week (start and end dates tbd)
Location: In-person, on campus
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In this position, the intern will work on one of several projects focused either on the deep and rapid decarbonization of energy systems or on climate adaptation planning processes of the United States, India, and areas of Europe. The intern will assist in the comparative research efforts to model perceptions of and responses to energy or disaster management policy and system change, and identify behavioral barriers to decarbonization or risk reduction actions. Topic areas include willingness to adopt and install energy structures (e.g. smart grids, electricity transmission lines), exploring mechanisms for corporate and urban institutional climate action, and investigating climate adaptation and mitigation behaviors -, focusing both on understanding existing social norms and perceptions of these environmental areas and the institutions, agents, and other forces that impact them. Primary supervisor name and title: Prof. Elke Weber, Gerhard R. Andlinger Professor in Energy and the Environment, Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs, Princeton School of Public and International Affairs
Background desired: Social Science (Psychology, Economics, Sociology, Politics, Public Policy), or Computer Science background preferred but not required. Knowledge of psychology/policy literature helpful. Basic statistical knowledge and coding experience (R/Python) helpful.
Duration: 9 weeks, full-time 35-40 hours/week (start and end dates tbd)
Location: In-person, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment
Background desired: no prior research experience is strictly required, although students with previous experience with basic laboratory work and/or experimental data processing (with MATLAB, ImageJ, or similar) are preferred.
Duration: 8 weeks, full-time 35-40 hours/week (start and end dates tbd)
Location: In-person, on campus
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Professor White’s research group is focused on developing new sustainable concrete by understanding and optimizing the sub-micron processes (i.e., reactions) occurring in conventional and alternative cements. This undergraduate research project will complement one of the ongoing projects being undertaken in the group and will include working in a wet lab with graduate students to synthesize materials and perform materials characterization measurements. The student will use and learn various experimental characterization equipment, such as X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. There is also the opportunity to gain experience with computational modeling and/or data analysis using commercial software and in-house codes. Primary supervisor name and title: Prof. Claire White, Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment.
Background desired: interest in materials science and performing experimental research.
Duration: 9 weeks, full-time 35-40 hours/week (early June to early August, 2023)
Location: In-person, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment
Specific Application Materials requested: Resume, academic transcript, short essay outlining interest in position.
Internships with Non-profit and Government Organizations
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Comprehensive home energy retrofits are greater than the sum of their parts. Individual one-off home energy projects can help reduce energy use but combining them together reduces the total cost of ownership and produces savings that are orders of magnitude greater. But how can homeowners be persuaded to upgrade their whole homes rather than just a few pieces? The ACEEE Behavior and Human Dimensions Program conducts research on energy efficiency from a behavioral perspective and will be examining these questions through a combination of research and experimentation. The intern will be asked to conduct background literature reviews and preliminary studies to inform the design and implementation of a messaging experiment. The intern will assist with this project and others conducted by the Behavior and Human Dimensions program. ACEEE will publish this study in 2023 with the goal of informing the US Department of Energy, contractors, and program implementors how to best encourage comprehensive energy retrofits among homeowners. Primary supervisor name and title: Reuven Sussman, Director of the Behavior and Human Dimensions Program.
ACEEE has an excellent internship program over the summer in which interns have opportunities to meet with ACEEE executives, learn research and analysis skills through brown bags, and engage in a variety of online and in-person social activities.
Background desired: Experience, skills or knowledge in psychology or behavioral science are preferred but not required. A keen interest in learning, a strong work ethic, and an interest in the topic area is important. As a part of the program, the intern will learn and strengthen their research skills.
Duration: 10 weeks, full-time 35-40 hours/week (May 25 to August 16, 2023)
Location: A hybrid In-person/remote in Washington D.C. is preferred (a few days per week in the office) but fully remote is a possibility as well.
Specific Application Materials requested: CV/Resume
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EDF offers internships and fellowships for students and recent graduates in a variety of programs and departments throughout the organization. The ultimate goal of our internship and fellowship program is to provide high-quality experiences (including relevant projects and opportunities for networking) that form the foundation for any individual who is serious about pursuing an environmental career.
Program/Department Overview
With world attention focused on both the environment and the economy, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) is where policymakers and business leaders turn for win-win solutions. This leading green group has tripled in size over the past decade by focusing on strong science, uncommon partnerships, and market-based approaches.
You can be part of a vibrant workplace that welcomes diverse perspectives, talents, and contributions, where innovation and a focus on results are a way of life.
About EDF+Business: We believe companies, communities, and the environment can thrive in unison – and we’re making it happen by forging unexpected partnerships that catalyze environmental leadership and collaboration across companies and supply chains. We combine cutting-edge science, economic expertise, and unexpected partnerships to help high-impact companies – including BP, Legal & General Investment Management, Lyft, and Sephora – transform business as usual.
The Energy Transition team leads investor and company engagement on oil and gas decarbonization issues, with a traditional focus on methane emissions. The team plays a key role in advancing knowledge of under-the-radar industry decarbonization issues, such as the role of non-operated assets and the implications of transferred emissions.
Overall Function
The Energy Transition Analytics Intern will play a central role in conducting research and analysis on the oil and gas sector and emerging energy transition topics to inform communications aimed at investors and financial institutions. The intern will be a key team player in developing thought leadership for EDF’s new investor insights platform, which intends to equip the financial community with the independent analysis and tools needed to manage climate risk, assess opportunities, and accelerate urgent action in the sectors that matter most.
Under the supervision of a Manager in the EDF+Business Energy Team, this position will leverage business, financial, policy, and technical energy sector knowledge to support a key workstream that helps achieve EDF’s strategic goals. Primary supervisor name and title: Dominic Watson, Manager, EDF+Business.
Key Responsibilities
Tasks will include but are not limited to:
- Conduct research and analysis necessary to EDF’s work with investors and financial institutions, with a specific focus on emerging oil and gas industry decarbonization issues.
- Translate complex, technical subject matter into language that resonates with and helps drive desired behavior by investor audiences, especially on methane management.
- Contribute to an internal knowledge hub to house the growing body of analytical work related to EDF’s energy transition work.
- Support communication of project results to EDF staff, corporate partners, other businesses, media and various stakeholders through reports, blogs, social media, presentations, and other methods.
- Support the creation of educational materials for the investor network, including a quarterly newsletter, new analysis and thought leadership.
- Participate in advancing EDF Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) goals in which people from all backgrounds and experiences feel connected, included, and empowered to address the environmental and organizational challenges in alignment with EDF values.
Qualifications/Background Desired:
- Demonstrated interest, coursework and/or experience in the energy sector; some knowledge of the oil and gas industry preferred.
- Demonstrated interest and/or experience in environmental issues, energy policy, or corporate finance/ESG issues.
- Excellent written and oral communication, especially in explaining technical information to a non-technical audience.
- Must display initiative, along with strong research and problem-solving skills.
- Must be well-organized, motivated, and detail-oriented.
- Ability to multi-task, prioritize and meet deadlines.
- Ability to work in a team setting and have the ability to work independently when projects are due.
- Demonstrated self-awareness, cultural competency and inclusivity, and ability to work with colleagues and stakeholders across diverse cultures and backgrounds.
Duration: 10 weeks, full-time 35 hours/week
Location: Hybrid out of New York City Office, preferred. U.S. Remote as an option.
Specific Application Materials requested: Interested applicants should attach their resume, cover letter and writing sample to the EDF application.
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The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), located in Washington, D.C., regulates interstate sales of electricity and transmission of electricity. FERC also promotes strong national energy infrastructure, including adequate transmission facilities. FERC’s Office of Energy Market Regulation, Division of Electric Power Regulation analyzes regulatory filings involving Regional Transmission Organization (RTO)/Independent System Operator (ISO) wholesale electricity markets and other electric rate matters related to wholesale energy sales and transmission of electric energy in interstate commerce.
The intern will learn about the fundamentals of wholesale electricity markets from FERC experts, participate in interdisciplinary teams analyzing regulatory filings, and work with a mentor to define an independent research project at the intersection of engineering, economics, and policy. At the conclusion of the internship, the intern will present their research findings to the Office of Energy Market Regulation’s senior leadership. Past research topics include: (1) participation rules for new energy technologies, including renewables, demand response, and storage resources in electricity markets; (2) transmission expansion required to achieve decarbonization goals; and (3) electricity market reforms necessary to integrate distributed energy resources. Primary supervisor name and title: Doug Roe, Manager.
Background Required: Enrolled in a bachelor’s program in engineering, economics, or related field. The ideal candidate will have a demonstrated interest in electricity markets and previous energy-related coursework, research, or work experience. Must be a U.S. citizen.
Duration: 10 weeks, full-time 40 hours per week (flexible start and end dates)
Location: This position is hybrid. Located in Washington, D.C.
Specific Application Materials requested: Cover letter and resume. The internship is contingent upon a successful completion of a background investigation.
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If you are passionate about water issues and environmental equity, please consider joining our Moonshot Missions team! Moonshot Missions is led by George Hawkins, a visionary leader in the water sector and well known for transforming DC Water into an innovative, customer-driven enterprise. We are a small but rapidly growing non-profit start-up, working directly to improve drinking water quality and wastewater services, as well as affordability and resiliency for underserved communities. Whether you are just launching your career or looking to broaden your experience in the water industry, becoming part of the Moonshot Missions team will enable you to work alongside veteran water leaders, make a direct impact on our sector, while helping to ensure safe and clean water is delivered to the people who need it most! To learn more about us visit: www.moonshotmissions.org
Moonshot Missions seeks an intern to serve as a technical resource to the organization, reporting to the Senior Director and supporting the project leads for our EPA grants. The associate will apply research and knowledge to address the challenges facing drinking water and wastewater utilities, particularly in economically distressed communities. Moonshot Missions is currently working on topics related to environmental equity, such as drinking water and wastewater operational optimization and affordability, providing access to clean water in communities across the U.S. Our work aims to level the playing field in the water sector, so every American has access to clean and affordable drinking water and sanitation services. Primary Supervisor Name and Title: Gloria Cadavid, director of business development.
Job Duties:
- Conduct research on water and wastewater utilities using publicly available information.
- Review and interpret documents highlighting the operational, managerial, and financial characteristics of prospective and current utility clients.
- Identify economic, social, and environmental characteristics of the communities served by utilities.
- Research and participate in learning about field-tested and innovative water and wastewater utility solutions that can improve service delivery and reduce costs for Moonshot Missions utility clients.
- Develop Moonshot Missions modules, standard guidance documents that provide solutions and steps to implementation for specific water and wastewater utility issues that can be applied by and among utility clients.
- Support the Moonshot Missions team in engaging with prospective and current utility clients, including the evaluation and identification of potential utility challenges and recommendations of effective and field-tested solutions.
- Research potential funding sources and opportunities to support the implementation of client utility projects.
- Support Moonshot Mission’s partnerships with various organizations that align with the Moonshot Missions vision and mission.
- Engage with utility sector experts to provide field-tested solutions to Moonshot Missions utility clients.
- Collaborate with the Moonshot Missions team to deliver optimal services to utility clients.
- Conduct additional research of publicly available information as required and prepare written reports
Background Required: Enrolled in a bachelor’s program in Engineering or related field.
Qualifications Desired:- Strong interest in the water and wastewater utility sector, specifically related to the engineering, operations, and maintenance of these systems.
- Ability to identify and review technical studies, interpreting and extracting relevant information.
- Effective written and verbal communication skills, ability to present technical information in clear, easy to understand language.
- Ability to interact positively in an evolving, fast paced team environment.
Duration: 10 weeks, full-time 35-40 hours per week (flexible start and end dates).
Location: Remote
Specific Application Materials requested: Cover letter and resume should be included with application.
application instructions
Applications must be submitted via SAFE.
Activity Type: Undergraduate Internships
Time Period: Summer Break
Opportunity: Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment Undergraduate Summer Internships
- For internships with faculty members chosen from the list of available projects, include with the application: a copy of your transcript and a copy of your resume/CV. Though it is not required, we recommend contacting the faculty member whose internship you plan to apply for to let them know you are interested and find out additional details about the project. **Please carefully review the application requirements–some of these opportunities also require a cover letter and/or a writing sample.**
- For self-initiated, internships with faculty members, include with the application: a project description of no more than two pages, a note from the faculty member who has agreed to supervise your project, a budget for project materials if needed, a copy of your transcript and a copy of your resume/CV. Indicate whether the project will be worked on in person or remotely.
- For internships with non-profit organizations, include with the application: a copy of your transcript and a copy of your resume/CV. If the internship is located outside of Princeton, include your anticipated travel expenses in the budget section. Applications for internships with these non-profits and government agencies are reviewed by the host organization in addition to Princeton faculty and program coordinators in order to determine the most suitable candidates for each position. The host organization may contact the student to arrange a telephone or Zoom interview. **Please carefully review the application requirements–some of these opportunities also require a cover letter and/or writing sample.**
Important things to note about the SAFE application form:
- In the Budget section, put $1.00 if you do not have travel expenses or project materials to include. The stipend is a set amount meant to help cover your summer living expenses, so there is no need to estimate your summer lodging or food costs, but the form cannot be submitted without a dollar amount.
- In the “Project Details” section, under “Internship Title” put the specific title of the internship for which you are applying.
- Be sure to complete the “Undergraduate Internships Questions” section. If a “Supervisor of Internship” is not listed in the internship description on our site, you do not need to fill this out.
Check that your application is submitted and locked before the January 9, 2023 final deadline. Incomplete and/or draft applications will not be considered.
If you have any questions about the application process, contact Moira Selinka, Program Manager, Education and Outreach, at mselinka@princeton.edu.