Blue Waters Student Internship Program

The National Science Foundation will not be funding any additional cadres within the Blue Waters project.

As part of the Blue Waters efforts to motivate and train the next generation of supercomputing researchers, the program is sponsoring about 20 undergraduate research interns each year. The goal is to engage undergraduate students in petascale computing research and development projects. The program provides each student a stipend totaling $5,000, a two-week intensive Petascale Institute, and an education allocation on the Blue Waters system. Select students will travel to the Blue Waters Symposium. This program includes support for undergraduate internship activities at any accredited degree granting institution in the United States. The internships awarded through this program may be for students working with a faculty mentor on their home campus, or at another campus. Interested faculty can work with a particular student that they identify, or may select a qualified student with Blue Waters support through our program.

Students and faculty who are members of groups traditionally underrepresented in STEM are strongly encouraged to participate in the program.

The students for the 2018-2019 program have been selected.

Applications for the 2018-2019 cadre are now CLOSED!

The application form for students will request the following information:

  • Information about your academic background such as current GPA, relevant coursework, and previous relevant work or internship experiences
  • The name, title, institution, and email address of your potential faculty mentor if you have already identified one
  • Names and email addresses for two references willing to complete a recommendation form

Faculty Mentors

The program is open to faculty who are willing to mentor undergraduate students in a year-long internship that involves teaching or researching the use of high-performance computing in studying problems in the sciences, engineering, or mathematics.

Faculty should create descriptions of undergraduate internship positions they have available by clicking the button below, indicating either that the position is intended for a particular student applicant, or that it is open to qualified applicants.

Please include the following with a internship project proposal:

  • A title for the intern position
  • A summary of the project
  • A description of the work to be completed by the student
  • A description of how the project will make use of the Blue Waters supercomputer or other HPC resources
  • Name and email of student for which the project is proposed if the position is intended for a particular applicant
  • A list of requirements, experience and qualifications for the intern

Dates

Applications for the 2018-2019 cadre are now CLOSED!

  • Mentor project descriptions must each be submitted by February 2, 2018
  • Deadline for student applications and recommendation forms is February 2, 2018
  • Notifications will be made by February 15, 2018
  • Student work on the internship will begin after the Petascale Institute to be held May 21 - June 1, 2018 at NCSA
  • Students will work full-time over the summer and up to eight hours per week during the academic year
  • Students are expected to submit a paper to the Journal of Computational Science Education by the end of May 2019
  • Select students will be asked to submit a poster on their project for presentation at the Blue Waters Symposium in 2019