Internships

The Berkeley Space Center accelerates opportunities for UC Berkeley students to access internship and additional research opportunities.

NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Opportunity

Proposals are due November 1, 2024 by 3pm PT.

NASA has announced that the 2025 NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Opportunities (NSTGRO25) solicitation is now open. NSTGRO is a fellowship opportunity focused on graduate student research and the development of advanced and innovative space technologies critical for our Nation to meet its goals to explore and understand the Earth, our solar system, and the universe.

Through this collaboration, graduate students will be able to take advantage of broader and/or deeper space technology research opportunities directly related to their academic and career objectives, acquire a more detailed understanding of the potential end applications of their space technology efforts, and directly disseminate their research results within the NASA community.

Eligibility: Please see page 8 of the program solicitation for the full eligibility requirements. This award is for students pursuing (or planning to pursue) master’s or doctoral degrees relevant to space technology. US citizens or permanent residents are eligible. The student’s faculty advisor serves as the PI.

Budget: Awards are up to up to $84,000 per year for four years.

More Information: Those who are interested should see the program solicitation for more detailed information.

Featured Companies

NASA

UC Berkeley students can take advantage of NASA’s pre-existing internship opportunities. Currently, NASA has two internship programs – the Pathways Internship Program and the NASA Office of STEM Engagement (OSTEM) internships. Both are paid and engage students with real-world experiences while contributing to the operation of a NASA facility and the advancement of NASA’s missions. Information on these programs are available below.

NASA Office of STEM Engagement (OSTEM): These paid internships allow students to contribute to agency projects under the guidance of the NASA Mentor.
Pathways: This work-study (co-op) program specializes in multi-semester experiences and offers current students paid internships that are direct pipelines to full-time employment at NASA upon graduation. All Pathways Interns must be U.S. citizens.
Fellowships: NASA fellowships allow graduate-level students to pursue research projects in response to the agency's current research projects.

ATAC Corporation

ATAC Corporation is a US small business aviation technology and services provider based in Santa Clara, CA with extensive aviation modeling, software development, simulation, analysis and operational expertise with direct applications to multiple NASA Ames research goals. For nearly a decade, ATAC has partnered with UC Berkeley to deliver cutting edge research to NASA Ames through multiple NASA Research Announcements (NRAs) and Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) efforts. ATAC has provided funding directly to UC Berkeley to support the NASA sponsored efforts, including student work in Moffett Field. As a result of these industry-academia-government collaboration efforts, ATAC and UC Berkeley have achieved synergies to advance the state-of-the-art in applications of machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) to support NASA Ames in meeting today’s pressing aviation research challenges.

Bay Area Environmental Research Institute

The Bay Area Environmental Research Institute (BAERI) is a scientist-founded research nonprofit that enables groundbreaking work in the Earth and space sciences. Since its founding in 1993, BAERI has supported over 350 researchers and has partnered with dozens of organizations, including NASA, Stanford University, USGS, Protectores de Cuencas and The University of Sydney. These collaborations have resulted in more than 800 first- or co-authored peer-reviewed publications. BAERI is dedicated to training the next generation’s researchers and scientists by creating and leading internships for students and early-career professionals in the fields of Earth and space science and science communications. BAERI is a 501(c)(3) public benefit corporation.

Crown Consulting, Inc.

Crown Consulting, Inc. (Crown) is an industry leader offering unequaled expertise and technical support in aviation automation, advanced air mobility (AAM), innovative air traffic management solutions and the introduction of modern technologies into the National Airspace System. It has created and sustained continued collaboration between UC Berkeley professors, researchers,and NASA Ames, providing opportunities for students at Moffett. The collaboration has resulted in several research papers and technology development in novel areas such as fast-time air/ground traffic interaction simulation and vertiport management for AAM operations with Crown providing no cost access to the proprietary Flight Planning Restrictions and Airspace Management System (FPRAMS) software to Berkeley researchers for performing academic research on AAM and legacy air transportation.

Frontier Development Lab

Frontier Development Lab (FDL), also FDL.AI, is a public/private partnership between NASA, Trillium Technologies, and commercial AI partners Google Cloud and Nvidia Corporation. FDL.AI applies synergies between physics, simulation and machine learning to clean energy, Earth science, and climate resilience challenges. Their focus is interdisciplinary Phd and Postdoc applied artificial intelligence research for space exploration, planetary stewardship and exploration medicine. FDL.AI’s primary purpose is to advance the application of machine learning technologies, data science and high performance computing to push the frontiers of high-risk / high reward applied research and develop new cutting edge ML/AI tools and data products on behalf of our Federal stakeholders.

Universities Space Research Association

The Universities Space Research Association (USRA) is an independent, nonprofit research corporation chartered to advance space- and aeronautics-related science, technology and engineering by combining the efforts of in-house talent and university-based expertise. It has a streamlined process to offer UC Berkeley students internships at Moffett Field, in particular with aviation and exploration researchers at NASA’s Ames Research Center (Codes A and T). USRA also works with UC Berkeley faculty to collaborate on research projects involving NASA Ames and to develop curriculum that leverages results from research projects at NASA Ames.