Graduate (Year-Round) Intern – Thermal Energy Storage Materials

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Mar 12, 2024

Applications are closed

Internship
Full-time
Summer Internship
Science
$42.7K - $68.3K
Golden

Requirements

Basic Qualifications:
Must be enrolled as a full-time student in a Bachelor's, Master's or PhD degree program, or graduated in the past 12 months from an accredited institution. Candidates who have earned a degree may work for a period not to exceed 12 months. Must have a minimum of a 3.0 cumulative grade point average.
Additional Required Qualifications:
The successful candidate will have recently completed a graduate degree (masters or PhD) or be a late-stage PhD in Chemistry, Materials Science, Chemical Engineering or similar upon internship start date.
They must demonstrate expertise in at least several of these topics:
Synthetic chemistry
Inorganic chemistry
Thermodynamics and kinetics
Thermal energy storage materials (ideally phase change or thermochemical systems) and/or high temperature processes
Degradation processes (corrosion, chemical changes, etc)
Analytical chemistry (ie SEM, TEM, EDS, TGA, DSC, NMR, XRD, and other)
Preferred Qualifications:
Experience collaborating with teams
Experience establishing new laboratory capabilities
Mentorship/teaching
In addition to strong teamwork, candidates must demonstrate a history of working independently and taking initiative. Candidates must demonstrate ability to design high-quality research projects and to interpret and communicate experimental results. The successful candidate will have excellent interpersonal, oral, and written communication skills. Teamwork, leadership, and collaboration will be essential.
A strong record of teamwork and mentorship is desired. The successful candidate will work closely with engineers, scientists, and students in many different fields, and will work to establish collaborations both within NREL and with partner organizations. As such, demonstration of an ability to participate in, to facilitate, and to lead collaborations is important. The candidate must demonstrate the ability to encourage and maximize the unique talents and innovative ideas of a diverse array of collaborators from a wide range of backgrounds.

Responsibilities

The research project will focus on characterizing and mitigating the impacts of structural and compositional heterogeneities on interfacial behavior and degradation mechanisms (corrosion, phase separation, thermal decomposition, and mechanical fractures) in thermal energy storage materials. The role of the successful candidate will be to support synthesis and treatment of materials and thermal properties characterization.
This position will provide access to state-of-the-art instrumentation available at NREL and networking and collaboration opportunities with a multi-institutional team including leading universities and national laboratories.
The candidate should be self-motivated in research planning and progression, with guidance and mentorship provided by NREL staff scientists and engineers. In addition to collaborating with internal and external partners, the researcher will present scientific findings at domestic and international conferences and publish peer-reviewed articles

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Science & Healthcare

Industry

1001-5000

Employees

1977

Founded Year

Mission & Purpose

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), a Department of Energy national lab, is #TransformingEnergy as the nation's primary laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. NREL's Mission: NREL develops renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies and practices, advances related science and engineering, and transfers knowledge and innovations to address the nation's energy and environmental goals. NREL's Strategy: NREL has forged a focused strategic direction to increase its impact on the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) and our nation's energy goals by accelerating the research path from scientific innovations to market-viable alternative energy solutions.