Clarification from the agency

The Summer High School Intern Program (SHIP) is a NIST-wide volunteer summer intern program for students who will have finished their junior or senior year of high school by the start of the program and are interested in scientific research. This program is open only to United States citizens and applicants must have a permanent residence within 50 miles of the host NIST campus.

The SHIP program provides research opportunities for students to work with internationally known NIST scientists and engineers, to expose them to cutting-edge research and explore research careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). SHIP gives students an opportunity to:

• Gain substantive experience related to academic interests
• Learn about a career in public service
• Build professional relationships, contacts, and networks
• Observe the daily operations and working environment of a premier federal laboratory

Imagine Yourself in the NIST Laboratories

NIST welcomes students with interest in a broad range of STEM disciplines, including but not limited to biochemistry, biology, biophysics, chemistry, computer science, engineering, materials science, mathematics, nanoscale science, neutron research, physics, and statistics. Students work under the guidance of a research mentor in one of the participating laboratories. The following laboratories participate in SHIP: 

• Communications Technology Laboratory (CTL)
• Engineering Laboratory (EL)
• Information Technology Laboratory (ITL)
• Material Measurement Laboratory (MML)
• NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR)
• Physical Measurement Laboratory (PML)

As part of the application process, all applicants must select a first-choice host laboratory for placement consideration. Applicants should carefully choose host laboratories because the completed application is considered primarily by the first-choice host laboratory. Descriptions of the types of research going on at NIST can be found at www.nist.gov/careers/summer-high-school-intern-program-research. 

Due to the multidisciplinary nature of NIST's research, we encourage students to look through the different laboratory websites to discover interesting project areas.

All students must work in person at the NIST campus in Gaithersburg, MD, or Boulder, CO, for the entire appointment.

While duties and responsibilities may vary by laboratory, all students must:

• Work with their mentor on a designated research project
• Compose and submit an abstract halfway through the program summarizing their research project
• Create and present a poster during the final week of the program

SHIP participants are invited and strongly encouraged to

• Attend a technical seminar series
• Participate in professional development and other group activities

Conditions of employment

Applicants must meet all the following requirements to be eligible for SHIP:

• Possess a strong interest in participating in scientific research
• Be able to commit to seven (7) consecutive full weeks of program dates
• Be a high school junior or senior at time of application
• Provide proof of U.S. citizenship
  • Birth certificate or current passport is required
  • Driver's license or state identification is NOT acceptable for this requirement
• Have an unweighted GPA of 3.0 or higher
• Have a permanent residence within 50 miles of the host NIST campus
• Be able to pass a background check

Qualifications

We are looking for students interested in gaining valuable, hands-on experience working with cutting-edge technology in one of the world’s leading research organizations. Additional preference will be given to students who possess the following qualities: 

• A high level of motivation and a positive inquisitive workplace demeanor
• Interest in conducting technical research in a federal laboratory in Gaithersburg, MD, or Boulder, CO
• Ability to commit to eleven (7) continuous weeks (Monday through Friday) during the summer

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

At any time between Feb 17th  and April 17th, students may be contacted for a phone or in-person interview or students may receive an offer of a position.  While we encourage students to investigate what type of research is currently going on at NIST, students are not required nor encouraged to contact potential mentors.  Students should be aware that actively soliciting more than two offers from different mentors will result in disqualification from the program. All students will receive information regarding the final status of their application by April 18th.

A complete application must include (NOTE: Applicants must upload items 1-5 through the documents selection section. PDF is the preferred format for all submitted documents.):

1. Resume which includes name, email, high school, unweighted GPA, and graduation date. Uploaded pdf is the preferred format.
2. Personal statement (one page maximum) which will include:
   • Description of scientific area(s) of interest
   • Reason for choice of host laboratory (See www.nist.gov/careers/summer-high-school-intern-program-research for a list of NIST laboratories)
   • Description of future plans after high school graduation
3. High school transcript 
   • Official or unofficial is acceptable for application
   • If accepted into the program, an official transcript is required
   • Transcript must indicate that the applicant's class standing is 11th grade/a Junior, or 12th grade/a Senior
4. Availability Form
   • Signed by the applicant and a parent/legal guardian
   • Confirms applicant's commitment to volunteer in-person at NIST for all days of the work week for a continuous 7-week period during the summer if a position is offered and accepted
   • This form is available at www.nist.gov/careers/summer-high-school-intern-program-application-process 
5. Proof of U.S. citizenship
   • Acceptable forms of proof of U.S. Citizenship include
     • a Certified Birth Certificate,
     • U.S. Passport,
     • U.S. Passport Card,
     • Naturalization Certificate,
     • Certificate of Citizenship,
     • Consular Report of Birth (of U.S. citizen) Abroad, or
     • Certification of Birth
   • Social security cards, school identification cards, and driver's licenses do not meet the requirements for proof of U.S. citizenship.  
   • Submitted proof of U.S. citizenship must have all Social Security numbers and/or dates of birth removed (blanked out, blackened out, made illegible, etc.) before uploading into the application system. 
6. Two (2) letters of recommendation
   • One must come from a teacher in a STEM field
   • The second may be written by any teacher or a professional reference, such as a club advisor, coach, volunteer supervisor, or workplace supervisor.
   • Applicants must notify their references through the online application system
   • Use references' personal emails to avoid firewall issues
   • References must submit their letter via the online application module within 4 calendar days after the vacancy closes. Letters for the 2026 SHIP program must be submitted by 11:59PM ET on January 30, 2026

Please note: By design, SHIP application data entry fields are not intended for the insertion of sensitive personally identifiable information (SPII), and may contain data or detail which, in aggregate context, can be particularly sensitive or confidential. Please take Federal best practice precautions in not inserting any extraneous data or any data which is not explicitly requested.  For example, since social security number and passport numbers are NOT requested, please do not enter this SPII in any SHIP data fields.  You should only provide the requested information. 

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