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Where do you want your STEM education to take you? The AEOP Undergraduate Apprenticeship program invites you to elevate your STEM knowledge and experience and take part in the research that is shaping the future of our nation. If you are interested in pursuing a career in STEM or want to take the next step in your STEM education, an AEOP Undergraduate Apprenticeship may be right for you. As an apprentice, you will gain first hand exposure to the cutting edge research that is happening in top university labs and U.S. Army Research Laboratories and Centers across the country. Working under the mentorship of a professional scientist or engineer, you will learn about the variety of paths in your STEM field of interest and develop the tools you need to get there. Let AEOP help you achieve your STEM education and career goals!
AEOP Apprenticeship Benefits
- Stand out from your peers by making the most of your summer or the academic year. The experience of an AEOP apprenticeship looks good to graduate school admissions officers and recruiters for STEM jobs.
- Be in the room where it happens. Apply classroom knowledge and feed your curiosity by immersing yourself in the research world. Not only will you be exposed to high-tech equipment and cutting edge techniques, but you will learn the sounds, smells, and the pace of the lab. Learn the culture of STEM.
- Mentorship is the special sauce. There is so much to learn from the people in the lab. As an AEOP Apprentice you will receive formal mentorship from a professional scientist or engineer. In addition to this, there will be multiple opportunities for you to learn from the STEM practitioners, of varying levels of experience, around you. Receive guidance and coaching and start building a network that will make all the difference in your STEM journey.
- Research that matters. U.S. Army-sponsored research addresses the Nation’s biggest challenges. An AEOP apprenticeship provides the opportunity to be part of the long history of discovery and innovation for the benefit of our country.
- Ongoing support. Connect with a community of like-minded peers, other AEOP apprentices from throughout the country. Take advantage of the AEOP’s ongoing webinar series that highlights hot STEM careers, research areas, and additional opportunities with the AEOP. Or, attend a workshop to build skills required for graduate school applications and/or your job search.
- Earn a stipend. Not only is participation in the AEOP free, all AEOP apprentices receive an educational stipend in recognition of their work.
Information for Applicants
- In collaboration with universities and U.S. Army Research Laboratories and Centers, the AEOP is proud to offer summer, semester, and year-round apprenticeships for undergraduate students throughout the country.
- Apprenticeships take place onsite unless otherwise noted. (In the case of location closures due to COVID-19 restrictions, apprenticeships may be offered remotely or cancelled depending on individual location circumstances.)
- AEOP Undergraduate Apprenticeships are designed for commuters. Transportation, meals, and housing are not provided. It is important to keep this in mind when selecting locations in the application.
- Please review the application FAQ for application tips and answers to frequently asked questions. We strongly recommend that you write the essay and gather materials (transcript, etc.) before starting the application.
- At least one letters of recommendation are required for all undergraduate locations.
- There is no application fee and participation in AEOP Apprenticeships is free.
- All apprentices earn an educational stipend in recognition of their participation. The stipend amount varies by apprenticeship location and program duration. If selected for the apprenticeship, information about the stipend will be provided in the award letter.
Most summer 2023 Undergraduate Apprenticeship applications are noew closed. A few sites are still open, listed in the map below. Apply here.
Stay up-to-date with our application and future opportunities by joining our mailing list here.
AEOP Undergraduate Info Sessions
There are no upcoming Undergraduate Apprenticeship info sessions.
Eligibility
All participants must be current undergraduate students who are U.S. citizens or permanent legal residents. Additional eligibility requirements vary by location.
Important Dates
January 12, 2023 - March 5, 2023
Summer 2023 Undergraduate Apprenticeships applications open
DEADLINE EXTENDED - Sites still open
Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD - DEVCOM Chemical Biological Center
Huntsville, AL - DEVCOM Aviation & Missile Center
Indiana University – Bloomington
Washington State University
White Sands, NM - DEVCOM Analysis Center
Summer 2023
Undergraduate Apprenticeships (specific dates determined by location)
Apply here
All 2023 Summer Undergraduate Apprenticeship applications are open. Apply here.
Interested in This Program?
If you are interested in this program email us or call 585-475-4529. We'd love to hear from you!
Undergraduate Apprenticeships ON THE BLOG
Into Unchartered Territory: An AEOP Apprentice’s Research Experience
August 8, 2022
Read The StoryWhite Sands, NM
Site: U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Data Analysis Center
Description: Student shall research and document known specific Cyber attacks and research vulnerabilities on the following technologies: Cybersecurity, Cyber-physical systems, programing, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Deep learning, neural networks, Industrial control systems, autonomous systems, cellular networks, wireless communications, communication protocols, network analysis. Students shall ensure this research and documentation involves reading public knowledge databases and community discussion groups related to these types of technologies. Students shall utilize the research and documentation to encode the information in a format for use to develop a demonstration. Students shall provide a final report describing the procedures to execute and mitigate these attacks in a cohesive way.
Eligibility: Currently in an Undergraduate Program (Associate of Bachelor) or within 60 months of completing undergraduate degree, not enrolled in graduate program. See application for more details.
Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD (Edgewood Area)
Site: U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Chemical Biological Center
Description: The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Chemical Biological Center (DEVCOM Chemical Biological Center) is the primary Department of Defense technical organization for non-medical chemical and biological defense. DEVCOM Chemical Biological Center (CBC) has a unique role in technology development that cannot be duplicated by private industry or research universities. It fosters research, development, testing, and application of technologies for protecting warfighters, first responders and the nation from chemical and biological warfare agents. DEVCOM Chemical Biological Center is currently developing better ways to remotely detect these chemical and biological materials – before the warfighter or first responder ever enters the threat zone. DEVCOM Chemical Biological Center is also developing a new generation of technologies to counter everything from homemade explosives to biological aerosols to traditional and non-traditional chemical hazards.
Eligibility: Currently in an Undergraduate Program (Associate of Bachelor) or within 60 months of completing undergraduate degree, not enrolled in graduate program. See application for more details.
Pullman, WA
Site: Washington State University
Areas of Interest: Computer Science
Description: Investigate integral parts of real-world software vulnerability mining and validation, including automatically identify vulnerability-fixing commits in open-source software repositories and retrieve the real-world vulnerabilities from the resulting programs.
Eligibility: Currently in an Undergraduate Program (Associate of Bachelor) or within 60 months of completing undergraduate degree, not enrolled in graduate program. See application for more details.
Bloomington, Indiana
Site: Indiana University – Bloomington
Description: Training in Emergent Properties of Virus-like Particles–Engineered virus-like particles have emergent properties. For instance, the mechanical strength and light emission characteristics of virus-like particles are the result of multiple virus structural components working together, coherently. Two two-months long projects relating to emergence in virus-like particles are proposed for the AEOP apprenticeship this summer. The first project is to illustrate the phase transition to a coherent state which spontaneously arises in an ensemble of weakly-coupled mechanical oscillators supported by a common scaffold. A high-school student will setup and perform an experiment using mechanical metronomes connected by a surface acoustic wave. Because the physical formalism may be similar to that of recently discovered super-radiance in virus-like particles, and because we hypothesize that phonons are central to the super-radiant phase transition, the work will provide excellent educational opportunities, worth disseminating broadly. The results will be published in an educational journal. For the second project, an undergraduate student will perform synthesis and fluorimetry experiments with multi-chromophore decorated virus like particles. Specifically, we will examine the photophysics of a dense array of cyanine chromophores bound to a brome mosaic virus particle scaffold. Such luminescent virus-based nanoparticles are interesting for near-infrared imaging applications. See application for more details.
Huntsville, AL
Site: DEVCOM Aviation & Missile Center
Description: AvMC is the Army’s focal point for providing research, development, and engineering technology and services for aviation and missile platforms across the life cycle. AvMC’s mission is to “deliver collaborative and innovative aviation and missile capabilities for responsive and cost-effective research, development, and life cycle engineering solutions” to equip the Warfighter with the best technology today and tomorrow. See application for more details.