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Summer High School Internship Program (SHIP)
SHIP Poster Session - Wednesday, August 6, 2026
Gaithersburg, Bldg 101, Poster Hallway - Posters must be displayed on the wall on the Posterboard Wall starting from Bldg. 101 Green Auditorium wall to Lecture Room B wall. Attendance by students, mentors, judges, and family members is welcome (campus access required).
- 9:00 am – 11:00 am ET: Bldg. 101 Poster Hallway (walls of Green Auditorium to Lecture Room B) Poster presentation for Labs: EL, ITL & NCNR
- 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm ET: Bldg.101 Poster Hallway (Walls of Green Auditorium to Lecture Room B) Poster presentation for Labs: CTL, MML & PML (including Boulder virtual presentations from 11:00 – 11:30 am MT)
- Boulder SHIP Session - Bldg. 1-1203D (11:00 am – 11:30 am MT)
- VTC to Gaithersburg, Bldg.101, Rm B113, 1:00 pm - 1:30 pm ET (judges, mentors & students)
- Remaining poster presentations in Building 101 Poster Hallway 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm ET
- Boulder SHIP Session - Bldg. 1-1203D (11:00 am – 11:30 am MT)
Applications for SHIP 2027 are expected to open in mid-October.
- Students interested in science can spend their summers in our labs at the Boulder, CO, or the Gaithersburg, MD, campuses through NIST’s Summer High School Intern Program (SHIP). Students learn from top scientists at NIST and work on your own research project.
- SHIP is a seven-week, unpaid educational internship.
- The program runs annually from mid-June to early August. Actual dates vary each year.
- Learn more about the deadlines in our application page.
Eligibility and Requirements
The applicant must
- be a U.S. citizen
- be a high school junior or senior at time of application
- have a minimum unweighted GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale
- demonstrate a strong interest in participating in scientific research
- be able to commit to the full seven-week program
- have a permanent residence within a 50-mile radius of their host campus (NIST Boulder or NIST Gaithersburg)
- Students and their parent(s)/guardian(s) must provide their own housing and transportation
- No exceptions will be made
What You’ll Get
This competitive volunteer program will give you the chance to participate in cutting-edge research at NIST and work with our staff scientists and engineers on a research problem. Learn about previous SHIP students’ research projects for more information.
How to Apply
Applications generally open on November 1 and close in last week of January of the following year. Learn more about the application process.
Helpful (but Not Required) Skills for SHIP Students
- Python
- Physics
- Electronics
- LabView
- AutoDesk Inventor
- Java
- AI knowledge generation
- SQL server
- SQL Stored Procedures
- Visual Studio
- Web development
- Next generation computing
- Chemistry (basic)
- Math
- Computer programming
Stories from our SHIP Students
- Reaching for the Stars: My Summer Internship Learning About Spectroscopy in Space and on Earth
- Solving a Robotics Puzzle During a Summer Internship at NIST
- A semi-supervised deep-learning approach for automatic crystal structure classification (Research Paper)
Contact Us
ship [at] nist.gov (ship[at]nist[dot]gov)