The Russell B. Makidon Optics Laboratory at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is offering an internship position for this summer to work on optical design and optomechanical analysis for an optical testbed developing cutting-edge technologies for direct imaging of exoplanets. STScI, a leading institution for research in astronomy and astrophysics located in Baltimore, Maryland, is the home of the James Webb Space Telescope mission operations control and oversees Hubble Space Telescope operations on behalf of NASA. 

Webb commissioning will be complete at some point in the summer and will subsequently transition to its first science operations, making STScI a very exciting place to be at the time. STScI offers a flexible and welcoming workspace for all. Click here to learn more about our culture. This position can support a hybrid work schedule virtually and onsite with flexible hours. 

The intern work will be part of the HiCAT (High-contrast Imager for Complex Aperture Telescopes) testbed team, which is an experiment to demonstrate system-level coronagraph and wavefront control technologies for exoplanet imaging. This work is directly traceable to the future segmented aperture mission recently recommended by the 2020 National Academies Astrophysics Decadal Survey as the next NASA flagship space observatory. 

TO APPLY: Share your experience by uploading a resume and completing an online application. Applications received by June 30, 2022 will receive full consideration. Applications received after this date will be considered until the position is filled. 

Click here for more information.