Are you an undergraduate student currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree and looking for an opportunity to complement your education with research experience? Jumpstart your career by teaming with the Army early in your education. Check out the various scholarship, grants, internship, and apprenticeships opportunities the Army S&T enterprise has for undergraduate 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.
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.
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.
Pathways Internship Program
Designed to provide students enrolled in a wide variety of educational institutions with opportunities to work in agencies and explore federal careers while getting paid for work performed. Students who successfully complete the program may be eligible for conversion to a permanent job in the civil service.
ERDC Professional, Administrative, Assistant, Clerical and Technician Student Employment Program (PAACTSEP)
The Professional, Administrative, Assistant, Clerical and Technician Student Employment Program (PAACTSEP) is a Direct Hire Authority (DHA) to place students and recent graduates into non-STEM professional, administrative, assistant, clerical and technician positions. Under this DHA, qualified students and recent graduates may be noncompetitively appointed and subsequently noncompetitively converted to term or permanent competitive service positions in occupations that do not require expertise in STEM.
All ERDC DHA candidates must submit a resume and transcript(s) to ERDCRecruitment@usace.army.mil for consideration.
Watch this video to learn more about working for ERDC.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Army HBCU/MI SPARK
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.
ERDC Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics (STEM) Student Employment Program (SSEP)
The Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics (STEM) Student Employment Program (SSEP) is a Direct Hire Authority (DHA) for students enrolled (or accepted for enrollment) in an academic program in pursuit of Scientific, Technical, Engineering or Mathematical (STEM) courses of study leading to a bachelor’s or advanced degree. The purpose of this program is to streamline the hiring process which allows ERDC to successfully compete with private industry for high caliber STEM students when filling scientific and engineering positions. SSEP interns who have successfully completed the program may be noncompetitively converted to temporary, term or permanent competitive service positions
All ERDC DHA candidates must submit a resume and transcript(s) to ERDCRecruitment@usace.army.mil for consideration.
Watch this video to learn more about working for ERDC.