If you are a graduate student looking to conduct your thesis research or preparing to pursue your doctorate, are currently a doctoral student or candidate, or anywhere in between – the Army’s S&T enterprise has an opportunity to enhance your education and research experience. Check out the various internship, scholarship, apprenticeship, and fellowship opportunities available to graduate and doctoral students.
Army Educational Outreach Program – Scholarships and Grants
The Army Educational Outreach Program offers our nation’s youth and teachers opportunities for meaningful, real-world STEM experiences, competitions and paid internships alongside U.S. Army researchers, with the goal of creating a diverse, agile, highly competent STEM talent pool, representative of our nation’s demographics to strengthen the U.S. Army, DoD, and the Nation’s workforce. The Department of Defense provides a variety of opportunities that enable students to pursue STEM education through fellowships, grants and tuition-for-service programs.
Army Educational Outreach Program – Apprenticeships & Fellowships
The Army Educational Outreach Program offers our nation’s youth and teachers opportunities for meaningful, real-world STEM experiences, competitions and paid internships alongside U.S. Army researchers, with the goal of creating a diverse, agile, highly competent STEM talent pool, representative of our nation’s demographics to strengthen the U.S. Army, DoD, and the Nation’s workforce. AEOP apprentices (high school, undergraduate) and AEOP fellows (graduate, post-doctoral) conduct real-world, Army-sponsored research alongside scientists and engineers in world-class facilities. Whether you are seeking a summer, semester, or long-term STEM research and career development opportunity, AEOP has a program for you.
Army Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs
The Army Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs align innovative small businesses with critical U.S. Army priorities to turnover game-changing solutions to our most critical customer—the Soldier. Open to US-based small businesses, the SBIR and STTR programs offer competitive, awards, seeking to identify the top emerging technical solutions to meet critical Army priorities to modernize our world-class Army and transition life-saving technology into the hands of our Soldiers.
xTech Program
The xTech Program manages the Army’s prize competitions to award and accelerate innovative technology solutions that can help solve Army challenges. xTech competitions engage the non-defense business sector and start-up technology companies, with the Army Science and Technology ecosystem to leverage cutting edge technologies. Recent competitions include xTechHBCU, designed to engage with eligible institutions, and highlight opportunities to collaborate with the Army to tackle critical Army challenges, earn prize money, network with Army program managers and provide potential funding opportunities to tackle Army challenges.
Department of Defense Science, Mathematics and Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarship Program
This program offers scholarships for students pursuing bachelor, masters and PhD degrees in STEM. While in school, students will receive full tuition, monthly stipends, health insurance and book allowances, as well as summer internships that range from 8 to 12 weeks. Upon degree completion, scholars begin working in a civilian position with their sponsoring facility.
CyberCorps: Scholarship for Service
The CyberCorps Scholarship for Service program is designed to recruit and train the next generation of information technology professionals, industrial control system security professionals and security managers to meet the needs of the cybersecurity mission for federal, state, local and tribal governments. This program provides scholarships for up to three years of support for cybersecurity undergraduate and graduate (MS or PhD) education. In return for their scholarships, recipients must work for the U.S. government after graduation in a position related to cybersecurity for a period equal to the length of the scholarship.
DEVCOM Army Research Lab Single Investigator (SI) Program
The DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory’s Single Investigator Program pursues the most innovative, high-risk, and high-payoff ideas in basic research. Research proposals within the SI Program are received throughout the year in a continuously open, worldwide Broad Agency Announcement solicitation. The grant awards in the SI Program typically support one or more faculty members plus graduate students and/or postdoctoral researchers for up to three years. The short grant cycle allows approximately one-third of the extramural portfolio to be reinvested into new or advancing areas each year, which provides the Army with a dynamic method for rapidly investing or divesting in research.
Pathways Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) Program
The Presidential Management Fellows Program offers a prestigious two-year opportunity in the federal government working on various assignments at different agencies. Individuals who have completed a qualifying advanced degree such as a masters or professional degree within the past two years are eligible to apply.
American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) Tribal Colleges and Universities Summer Research Program
AIHEC is inviting STEM research teams from Tribal Colleges and University to participate in a 10-week summer research program sponsored by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD(R&E)).
A faculty-student research team consists of one faculty member and one student from the same institution. Research teams will work alongside DOD research laboratory scientists and engineers, providing a unique professional development and learning opportunity for faculty members and students that can provide a pathway to exciting career possibilities for students and sustained partnerships with DOD researchers for faculty.
National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship Program
The National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship Program is a highly competitive, portable fellowship that is awarded to U.S. citizens and nationals who intend to pursue a doctoral degree in one of fifteen supported disciplines. The NDSEG Fellowship Program confers high honors upon its recipients who choose the U.S. institution they wish to attend. NDSEG Fellowship Program lasts three years, pays full tuition and all mandatory fees, a monthly stipend, and up to $1,000 USD a year in medical insurance (dental and vision insurances are not included).
SMART Procurement Government Conference
The Strengthening Mid-Atlantic Region for Tomorrow (SMART) Procurement Government Conference is an annual event and provides small business, industry, and academia with vital information necessary to better understand the federal procurement process, mission requirements and forecast opportunities. HBCU-MI affiliates are encouraged to participate as a means to compete for a variety of procurements, such as contracts and grants.
ARI Broad Agency Announcements
Broad Agency Announcements W911NF-21-S-0007 and W911NF-18-S-0005 provide an opportunity for academic institutions, students, and faculty to collaborate with ARI on basic research questions related to personnel, organization, Soldier, and leader development issues. To learn more, click the link and enter the numbers referenced above.
Consortium Research Fellows Program
The Consortium Research Fellows Program provides a unique opportunity for students and faculty to work alongside Army S&T personnel to execute original research in support of Army needs and capabilities. The CRFP is a leading fellowship program that recruits, employs, funds, and mentors student and post-doctoral researchers. Through the CRFP, graduate and undergraduate students and post-doctoral Fellows are matched with government agencies that provide applied research experience in support of the U.S. Department of Defense. With the supervision of mentors and specialists, research Fellows develop research, analytical, and technical writing skills by assisting experts while maintaining classes and pursuing a degree. Research fellowships give students and post-doctoral researchers 1-3 years of experience in applied research settings, making their fellowship as beneficial for their future career as it is for their education.
U.S Army Space and Missile Defense Command (USASMDC) Technical Center STEM Student Employee Program (SSEP)
The USASMDC Technical Center seeks qualified students pursuing bachelors or advanced degrees in a Scientific, Technical, Engineering, or Mathematics (STEM) course of study at an Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) institution of higher education who are willing to accept the reward of challenging scientific and engineering positions. Students hired will be placed into the USASMDC Technical Center STEM Student Employee Program (SSEP) located at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama.
HBCU/MI Summer Research Program
The DOD HBCU/MI Summer Research Program provides a bridge between the classroom and real-world experiences and aims to increase the number of minority scientists and engineers throughout the DOD.
The initiative encourages students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines, guides them toward advanced studies, and prepares them for careers in science and engineering fields important to the defense mission. Students, both undergraduate and graduate, will participate in the program for 11 weeks and will be placed in DOD facilities across the nation. Students conduct research relevant to the defense mission under the supervision of DOD scientists and engineers.
U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command Underserved Community Cybersecurity and Engineering Education Development (SUCCEED) Program
The U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command Underserved Community Cybersecurity and Engineering Education Development (SUCCEED) Program is a joint effort between the command and the University of Alabama in Huntsville to create a talent pipeline and reach students at underserved high schools and universities across the state and beyond. Students are trained in the foundations of cybersecurity in the UAH Cyber Force Incubator development platform which is an experiential laboratory providing low-cost, low-risk, cutting-edge cyber solutions to students with hands-on learning, cyber training and work rotations in multi-discipline cyber fields to prepare them for a cybersecurity career through the instruction of industry experts. Most importantly, students will receive real world, cutting-edge work experiences that prepare them for employment opportunities in cybersecurity and engineering fields. Current HBCU partners are Alabama A&M University, Alabama State University, and Tuskegee University. Other partners include the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, Alabama School of Cyber Technology and Engineering, Black Data Processing Association – Huntsville Chapter, and the LeBlanc Foundation.
ORISE Research Participation Program at the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)
To ensure the robust supply of scientists and engineers to meet the DoD’s future science and technology needs, the ORISE program places individuals from the academic community (students, recent graduates, and faculty) in DoD research projects. Whether you are interested in applying to the program, are a current participant, or are a DoD employee sponsoring or mentoring participants, the Program has an opportunity for you.
Scholarship For Service (SFS)
Scholarship For Service (SFS) is a unique program designed to recruit and train the next generation of information technology professionals, industrial control system security professionals, and security managers to meet the needs of the cybersecurity mission for Federal, State, local, and tribal governments. This program provides scholarships for up to 3 years of support for cybersecurity undergraduate and graduate (MS or PhD) education. The scholarships are funded through grants awarded by the National Science Foundation. In return for their scholarships, recipients must agree to work after graduation for the U.S. Government, in a position related to cybersecurity, for a period equal to the length of the scholarship.
Department of Defense Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI)
The Department of Defense Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative is a tri-service Department of Defense Program, part of the University Research Initiative. The MURI program supports university teams whose research efforts link several traditional science and engineering disciplines. Multidisciplinary team efforts can accelerate research progress in areas particularly suited to the cross-fertilization of ideas by supporting team efforts across multiple universities. MURI grants typically range from $1.25 million to $1.5 million per year for three years and may be extended two more years as an option.