SMaRT INTERNSHIPS

SMaRT Internships

The University of Tennessee-Oak Ridge Innovation Institute (UT-ORII) is looking for the nation’s best and brightest undergraduates for its 2024 Student Mentoring and Research Training (SMaRT) Summer Internship program.

SMaRT interns have the unique opportunity to work daily with researchers from ORNL and UT for 10 weeks over the summer. Interns receive a stipend, housing and an allowance for travel to and from Knoxville, Tennessee.

In 2023, UT-ORII hosted 45 undergraduates from 26 institutions across the country, including six historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). UT-ORII is accepting applications for its 2024 SMaRT summer program. Rising college sophomores, juniors and seniors are eligible to apply. For more information and for updates on UT-ORII’s 2024 SMaRT program and application deadlines, please email us at oriismart@utk.edu

The SMaRT program focuses on four interdisciplinary areas*:

  1. Electrochemical energy systems
  2. Advanced science and engineering of materials and manufacturing
  3. Predictive systems biology for circular and sustainable economies
  4. Autonomous, smart, secure and resilient energy systems

*Data science and engineering threads will be woven through each of these four areas.

Our interdisciplinary atmosphere gives interns a “team science” experience, an increasingly important platform for research. Interns gain firsthand research experience in emerging fields, such as quantum information sciences and data sciences, while working with state-of-the-art research instruments at UT and ORNL. Together, these experiences help prepare our interns for exciting and rewarding careers.

UT and ORNL researchers serve as mentors to interns throughout the summer. Graduate students work daily with the interns, sharing their own graduate school experiences to help interns better understand and evaluate their future career options in academia, national laboratories and the industries of the future. 

Interns prepare CVs and personal statements for future opportunities, as well as short research presentations and scientific posters that can be presented at conferences.

Stipends, Housing and Travel:

  • The stipend will be $694 per week.
  • University of Tennessee Knoxville on-campus housing will be provided. Housing will be single-room.
  • Travel will be reimbursed for inbound and outbound expenses up to $1,000 for participants who live more than 50 miles, one-way, from the assigned hosting site.

How to Apply

Apply now for the 2024 cohort. You will be asked to submit the following with your application:

  • A statement of interest
  • An updated resume
  • An unofficial copy of your current transcript
  • Two letters of recommendation

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Internships are expected to be awarded in March or April 2024.

Need more information?

To learn more about UT-ORII’s SMaRT program and other activities, check out UT-ORII’s LinkedInFacebookTwitter and Instagram sites.

Check out what our former interns have to say about their SMaRT internships