UCAR

We have a wealth of opportunities available for undergraduate and graduate students as well as postdoctoral researchers.

These range from one-week workshops to summer-long internships to multi-year programs, and the opportunities span all our fields of study, from high-performance computing and data science to solar physics and climate science.

Scroll through our programs below to learn more, request a one-on-one meeting to discuss the opportunities that are right for you, or watch a video of a recent panel discussion about student opportunities with us.  

K-12 students + teachers click here!

A glimpse into our internships

For undergraduate students

  • Boulder Space Weather Summer School: Hosted by the High Altitude Observatory (HAO), the SWSS is a two-week program that gives students a comprehensive introduction to the science of space weather: what it is, what it does, and what can be done about it.
     
  • Earth Observing Laboratory's Technical Internship Program: TIP provides unique experiences to prepare science and engineering/technical support-focused students from two-year colleges and vocational/technical institutions for successful careers. 
     
  • NCAR Earth System Science Internship: Run by NCAR's office of Education & Outreach, this program offers undergraduate students an opportunity to work with scientists from across NCAR labs on projects in Earth system science and computation science. 
     
  • Okeanos Explorer-in-Training: Students participate in an expedition aboard NOAA's Okeanos Explorer, the Nation’s only federal vessel dedicated to ocean exploration. The ship is equipped with advanced tools that support systematic exploration of unknown ocean regions. 
     
  • Research Experience in Solar and Space Physics: This program gives highly motivated students interested in solar and space physics the opportunity to work with a number of Boulder institutions, including NCAR's High Altitude Observatory (HAO).
     
  • SOARS: The Significant Opportunities in Atmospheric Research and Science program is an undergraduate-to-graduate bridge program for students from communities underrepresented in the Earth system sciences.
     
  • Summer Internships in Parallel Computational Science: The SIParCS program, run by the Computational & Information Systems Laboratory (CISL), offers students the opportunity to gain significant hands-on experience in high-performance computing and related fields that use HPC for scientific discovery and modeling.
     
  • Summer Undergraduate Program for Engineering Research: SUPER, based in our Earth Observing Laboratory (EOL), provides unique experiences that help prepare engineering students for successful careers. Interns help develop new instrumentation and improve our existing suite of lower atmosphere observing facilities.
     
  • Undergraduate Leadership Workshop: This five-day immersion experience at NCAR in Boulder, Colorado, gives undergraduate students a chance to explore careers in the atmospheric sciences and develop their leadership potential.
     
  • Unidata Summer Internships: This program offers graduate students and upper-level undergrads an opportunity to work with our software engineers and scientists on projects drawn from a wide variety of areas that overlap geoscience and computational science.

 

SIParCS

For graduate students

  • Advanced Study Program Colloquia: ASP hosts a summer colloquium designed for graduate students on subjects that represent new or rapidly developing areas of research for which good course material may not yet be available.
     
  • Advanced Study Program Graduate Visitor Program: ASP offers graduate students an excellent way to spend time at NCAR and work on parts of their thesis, or final project equivalent, with guidance from NCAR scientists and engineers.
     
  • Boulder Space Weather Summer School: Hosted by the High Altitude Observatory (HAO), the SWSS is a two-week program that gives students a comprehensive introduction to the science of space weather: what it is, what it does, and what can be done about it.
     
  • Bridge to GVP: The Bridge to GVP Program will match your interests with NCAR scientists and engineers in a one-month internship at NCAR.
     
  • Heliophysics Summer School: This one-week training, which is part of NASA's Living With a Star program, focuses on the physics of space weather events that start at the Sun and influence atmospheres, ionospheres, and magnetospheres throughout the solar system. 
     
  • Najeeb E. Halaby Fellowship: Offered by NCAR's Research Applications Laboratory (RAL), this fellowship allows a student to spend three months in residence with RAL's Aviation Weather Research Program and is designed to help shape the next generation of researchers in this important field.
     
  • Newkirk Fellowship: This fellowships allows students to work with guidance from scientists and engineers at NCAR's High Altitude Observatory (HAO) on projects related to their thesis, qualifying exams, or other research projects.
     
  • Next Generation Fellowships: Intended for graduate students from underrepresented communities, these fellowships provide support for two years of graduate school and the opportunity to spend two summers interning with NCAR and UCAR in either Earth system science, diversity and inclusion, or public policy.
     
  • Okeanos Explorer-in-Training: Students participate in an expedition aboard NOAA's Okeanos Explorer, the Nation’s only federal vessel dedicated to ocean exploration. The ship is equipped with advanced tools that support systematic exploration of unknown ocean regions. 
     
  • Ralph Cicerone Fellowship in Earth System Science: This fellowship is intended for graduate students from underrepresented communities. These students will come for four months over two years to work with scientists in the Atmospheric Chemistry Observations and Modeling (ACOM) lab on a self-defined research project.
     
  • SOARS: The Significant Opportunities in Atmospheric Research and Science program is an undergraduate-to-graduate bridge program for students from communities underrepresented in the Earth system sciences.
     
  • Summer Internships in Parallel Computational Science: The SIParCS program offers students the opportunity to gain significant hands-on experience in high-performance computing and related fields that use HPC for scientific discovery and modeling.
     
  • Unidata Summer Internships: This program offers graduate students and upper-level undergrads an opportunity to work with our software engineers and scientists on projects drawn from a wide variety of areas that overlap geoscience and computational science.
     
  • Weather Program Office Innovation for Next Generation Scientists Ph.D. Dissertation Fellowship: WINGS is designed for Ph.D. candidates who have completed their required coursework and are in the beginning stages of writing a dissertation. Fellows will work with their academic advisor and a mentor to provide  guidance during the dissertation process.

Postdocs at NCAR

For postdoctoral researchers

  • Advanced Study Program Postdoctoral Fellowships: The Advanced Study Program provides an opportunity to conduct independent research at NCAR. ASP fellows are part of a collaborative cohort, are mentored by leading NCAR scientists and engineers, and benefit from the breadth of science and training happening at NCAR.
     
  • Heliophysics Summer School: This one-week training, which is part of NASA's Living With a Star program, focuses on the physics of space weather events that start at the Sun and influence atmospheres, ionospheres, and magnetospheres throughout the solar system. 
     
  • Jack Eddy Postdoctoral Fellowship: This two-year program matches early career PhDs with experienced scientists at U.S. research institutions with the goal of training the next generation of heliophysicists.
     
  • NOAA Climate & Global Change Postdoctoral Program: These fellowships support the next generation of researchers leading the climate science field. Fellows carry out their research projects and are mentored by hosting scientists at U.S. universities and national laboratories.
     
  • Project-specific postdoctoral employment: Openings for postdocs to work on specific projects at NCAR and UCAR are posted by UCAR Human Resources in our job listings as they become available.