OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — An internship program that brought undergraduate students to East Tennessee so they could learn research techniques and work directly with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory is wrapping up its summer 2023 class.
Organizers behind the SMaRT internship program said in 2021, they welcomed 18 students. The internship program is officially named the "Student Mentoring and Research Training Program." It was open to rising sophomores, juniors and seniors.
It is meant to give interns a chance to get first-hand research experience in fields like quantum information sciences and data sciences. Interns also have a chance to work with research instruments like 3D printers of metals and polymers. Graduate mentors work closely with interns, helping them through the program and showing them how research is done.
This year, they said they had 45 students join from across the U.S. They also said around 20% of those students indent to return to East Tennessee for a joint graduate program. The program lasts for ten weeks.
The UT-Oak Ridge Innovation Institute launched the SMaRT Internship program in 2021. It lasts around ten weeks and focuses on four disciplinary areas. Those areas are listed below.
- Electrochemical Energy Systems
- Advanced Science and Engineering of Materials and Manufacturing
- Predictive Systems Biology for Circular and Sustainable Economies
- Autonomous, Smart, Secure and Resilient Energy Systems
Students also learned about aspects of data science and engineering, according to organizers.
Students who joined the internship program received a stipend of $694 per week, according to the program. On-campus, apartment-style housing at UT was also provided, and travel was reimbursed for inbound and outbound expenses, up to $1,000, for students who live more than 50 miles away.