Are you a college or graduate student interested in gaining work experience? We offer paid internships in a wide array of disciplines.
You'll learn from knowledgeable mentors in a variety of fields, from curatorial research to administration, all in the dynamic atmosphere of Washington, DC. You'll work with distinguished scholars, accomplished professionals, and iconic artifacts in an immersive experience as multifaceted as the Museum itself.
Our interns are required to be high school graduates and must be enrolled in, or recently graduated from, a degree-granting undergraduate or graduate program at an accredited college or university.
Our structured summer internship program provides firsthand experience working in a museum. It's a great introduction to museum work or an opportunity to expand on previous experience. Our 10-week program provides unique professional development opportunities and enrichment activities.
Application Deadline: January 31st
Intern will work in coordination with major gift officers and other staff to complete prospect research in advance of donor meetings and visits, using tools such as WealthEngine and Foundation Search. Assist with determining capacity, previous giving history, and philanthropic interests. Maintain updated information in pan-institutional database. Work with National Air and Space Society members and the Air & Space Quarterly magazine. Assist with correspondence needs.
This project looks at the composition of fan-shaped deposits (e.g., alluvial fans and deltas) on Mars. These features preserve evidence of episodic running water and potentially habitable environments into the early Amazonian Period. The intern will work with hyperspectral Visible to Near Infrared (VNIR) spectra collected by the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) to determine how the composition of sediments changes from the watershed to a fan deposits. They will map deposits in ArcGIS and ENVI geospatial software built in Interactive Data Language (IDL). The intern will prepare an abstract and presentation for a conference such as the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC).
Mars contains hundreds of glacier deposits inside impact craters. The internal structure of these ice deposits should hold critical information about their depositional history and, by extension, the climate variability of Mars over the last few hundred million years. However, the internal structure of these crater glacial deposits has never been systematically studied. This project will use radar sounder data from the SHARAD instrument onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to search for evidence of radar reflectors in concentric crater fill (CCF) glacier deposits.
Identify and map geologic structures that may have been modified by preexisting tectonic fabrics on Titan.
Identify a range of geologic structures across Jupiter’s moon Europa to compare with modeling outputs to determine their formation mechanisms.
The intern will work with the Museum’s Office of Communications on a variety of projects related to social media, press, marketing, and digital communications. The intern will work closely with the social media and digital content teams to develop compelling content to promote the museum and share the museum’s collection and expertise with an ever-expanding digital audience. Based on the intern’s individual interests or strengths, the intern will have the opportunity to craft long-form written content (blog posts), written social media content (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook), and social video (Instagram Reels, YouTube). The intern will also work with the larger Communications team on marketing museum programs, media and press relations, and filming projects.
This will be a hybrid internship, with the intern working at least two to three days in the office at the Museum in Washington, DC.
This internship will be within the Museum’s Communications unit and will focus on two areas within the unit. Working with the unit’s graphic designer, this internship will involve creating electronic versions (web, Digital Flipbook, and Apple News Plus) of Air & Space Quarterly, the Museum’s members’ magazine. Also, the intern will create social media graphics for Air & Space Quarterly on various platforms: Instagram Stories, X, and Facebook. The intern will also work with the Communication’s marketing staff to develop web and/or print advertising, brochures, and other materials.
Be a key player in the internal communications processes at one of the nation's most visited museums. As an integral part of the management of our newly redesigned Intranet site, Skynet, this intern will be in a unique situation to learn about internal communications at a large and diverse organization. They will learn about best practices for web management and content creation, gain insight into policies and procedures in all departments of a museum, and become familiar with user experience principles and basic user research.
This project undertakes the complete review of over 600 objects in the national collection of spacesuit gloves to assure accuracy and completion. This count includes actual complete gloves, parts and components that went into their construction and dip forms from astronauts’ hands. The goal of this project is to create as complete as possible a database of the existing collection. The completion of the project will support the publication of a manuscript on this history of the development of spacesuit gloves.
Under the supervision of the collection’s curator, the intern will review the existing records of the collection to verify the accuracy of the current records. The intern will also bring up to the point of resolution, pending glove records that have yet to receive a permanent catalogue number. The intern will also create draft requests for new photography of those objects that do not currently have photographs in the record. In consultation with the Registrar’s Office and other museum staff, the intern will determine which images, which are not linked to the master database require independent updating on the museum’s public-facing website. As time allows, the intern will also review the records of deaccessioned gloves with the mind to fill in as much information as possible from existing shipping records.
Conduct research at National Archives (College Park site), Library of Congress, and National Air and Space Museum archives to locate and digitize assets for presentation in printed graphics as well as digital and mechanical interactives to be deployed in the World War I, World War II, and Modern Military Aviation galleries scheduled to open in 2025-2026. The intern will have the opportunity to participate in weekly design meetings associated with the development of over 15,000 sq. ft. of exhibition space as part of one of the nation’s largest exhibition development projects.
Two or three days per week will be spent at archives and the other days onsite in museum offices.
The National Air and Space Museum’s Education department maintains a teaching collection of objects acquired as surplus from other government agencies such as NASA, received as donations from private entities, or deaccessioned from the Museum’s main collection. These objects are intended to be used in teaching settings but require a higher level of care than other teaching materials and often resemble “traditional” artifacts. In the summer of 2025, the Education department is seeking an intern to help update the existing teaching collection inventory and migrate it to a specialized database. Additionally, the intern will be asked to help develop lending policies to make tracking the use of teaching collection objects in the future more efficient and to help codify the acquisition and disposal process for items.
The intern will learn about astronomy education and communicating science to the public by helping to research, create, and facilitate programs for Museum visitors. As part of this project, the intern will:
The Bezos Learning Center (BLC) is a developing space for education at the heart of the National Mall. Both a physical and virtual center for immersive learning, this nexus for critical thinking will promote a student-centered approach. The space will activate various genres of participation that are intertwined with young people’s practices, learning, and identity formation- engaging them with hands-on, skill-focused team-building challenges.
A central part of our work is co-creating spaces that give youth the opportunity to learn & explore in an open environment that encourages learning through failure, building relationships, working collaboratively, and seeing diverse representation in varied professions.
The BLC internship provides an opportunity to assist with prototyping and testing content and methods of participation for BeST Design Challenges. These challenges engage the BLC’s target demographic, middle school students, in engineering responses and solutions to topics that are relevant to them and their community.
The center will connect to all Smithsonian museums, coordinating Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Mathematics -related collections and promoting inquiry-based learning in learners of all ages, with a focus on youth and educators in under-resourced communities. As such, an intern in this role can expect to engage with topics that cover a wide range of STEAM fields and connect to the content of many Smithsonian museums’ exhibits as we explore and experiment with the implementation and delivery of design challenges.
Our Educational Program Development Interns will support new education initiatives to reach early childhood and family audiences with live, drop-in activities in the National Mall Building’s new galleries. The intern will work with a cross-departmental team of educators to pilot new programs for early-childhood and family audiences; evaluate prototypes; research best practices in engaging these audiences; and support the implementation of a multi-year programming grant. Intern will be involved in a number of large-scale special events at the museum, including our Innovations in Flight event, Soar Together Family Days, and more as a means of exploring and testing informal STEM education programs.
Interns will support the research, development, prototyping, and evaluation of new drop-in education programs for the museum’s galleries. Intern projects may support activities designed for a variety of audiences, including families, school-aged, and early-childhood learners, on diverse STEM topics, including astronomy, aviation, human spaceflight, and engineering. Gallery Programs must be designed to be differentiated for audiences of varied ages, backgrounds, and levels and should employ best practices in informal pedagogy, including object-based close-looking; dialogic teaching; opportunities for intergenerational learning; and “hands-on, minds-on” interactions. Intern will work closely with the museum’s cohorts of on-the-floor facilitators, the Explainers and volunteers, and will participate in a variety of departmental programs throughout the summer including special events, reserved programs, and family days.
Research, develop, design and produce digital media for the education theme of “Women in Astronomy” and “The Roaring 20’s.” This will include an episode of STEM in 30, and stand alone segments that benefit additional programs in the education department such as family days, story time, etc. The intern will also provide technical support for any in situ programming, help in the archiving of video products and general organization during their internship.
Our goal is to match students' skills and objectives with Smithsonian programs that can mutually accommodate goals. Student efforts will directly impact the quality of media production, working side-by-side with employees to create and deliver programs, services and experiences for museum visitors in person and online. Typical assignments may include planning, scheduling, researching, video production, and graphic composition. Interns will feel empowered to recommend improvements in workflow, processes to improve operational efficiency and effectiveness in meeting goals and objectives.
Under the supervision and training of the Adult Learning and Digital Content Program Specialist, the Public Programs Intern will assist in the administration, coordination, development, and implementation of public programs at the National Air and Space Museum, including the Museum's mission-driven lectures (Exploring Space lecture, Glenn lecture, and Aviation Adventures lectures), Solstice Saturday, Innovations in Flight, Sally’s Night, among other digital and on-site educational programming.
Get ready to take flight with an Education internship at the National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, VA. Interns learn the basics of aviation, museum education, and even get to go on their own discovery flight in a Cessna 172 aircraft!
These four intern positions will help the Museum to educate and inspire students around aviation topics and deepen engagement through two sessions of the summer camp. Interns act as mentor, teacher, and camp counselor to inspire the next generation of STEM stars! Interns will assist Smithsonian staff with research, development, evaluation, and implementation of education activities for summer STEM camps and school-year programming taking place in the DC region. Topics include rocketry, aviation, game design, history, electronics, space, and art.
Under the supervision and training of the Family Learning Education Specialist, the Family Programs Intern will assist in the administration, coordination, development and implementation of the family program, Soar Together at Air and Space Family Days, for intergenerational groups. This family program is delivered both online and in the museum.
This position is to work within the Exhibits Design department, which is in the middle of creating 10 new exhibitions. The intern will assist members of the department, designers, and writers, with reviewing and organizing scripts, graphics, and proofs. This is a great opportunity to learn about how a large museum creates exhibitions through managing the different elements of designs, scripts, and graphics.
The intern will assist the Photography Team with photo assignments setups of lights and equipment, cataloguing backlog photos for the Museum's collection, and gathering releases for visitors during event photography. In addition, the intern will have the opportunity to lean from expert photographers on the skills required to document Museum's collections.
The National Air and Space Museum has a Welcome Desk at both locations, staffed by volunteers who fill a number of roles, welcoming visitors, orienting them, answering questions, and more. The purpose of this project is to develop a comprehensive evaluation program for the Welcome Desk volunteers at the National Air and Space Museum. They go through initial training, and serious issues are caught by staff, but there is no formal regular assessment of their further training needs or effectiveness. This program aims to assess volunteer performance, enhance engagement, and improve overall program effectiveness. To do this the intern will work with the Visitor Services team to research and gather information on best practices for volunteer evaluation in museums. They will develop evaluation criteria and design evaluation tools. They will also pilot the evaluation program with a small group of volunteers and then collect and analyze feedback from the pilot program. They will then make necessary adjustments and prepare a final report, and present findings and recommendations to museum VS Team.
The National Air and Space Museum will be opening a new Welcome Desk in a new space in summer 2025. This occasion has prompted the museum to rethink the Welcome Desks at both museums, how they are used, what is stored there, and how best we can optimize them. A welcome desk at a museum is a central touch point for the exhibit spaces, activities on the floor, theater programming and knowledge of collection. It also is a place where volunteers work constantly to improve the visitor experience.
The goal of this project will be a holistic look at the National Air and Space Museum’s new welcome desk at the National Mall Building and its current Welcome Desk at the Steen F. Udar-Hazy Center as well as a study of other institutes' welcome desks for comparison. This will help the summer intern understand multiple areas of museum operations and give them valuable experience in evaluating judgments of operating facets of a major museum.
By looking at other institutions welcome desks and Visitor Services current operations they will learn about organizational and team management rational. They will gain a better understanding of the integration of all departments of the museum to floor operations. In short, the intern will be able to see how everything is connected and be empowered to learn about every department.
Finally, they will be asked to make recommendations to adjust the inner workings of the Welcome Desk that will need to be integrated into currently operation program and to produce plans for both welcome desks, including signage and storage guides based on their approved recommendations.
All 2025 summer internships will be 100% on site at either our Museum in Washington, DC or Chantilly, VA.
We are not offering hybrid or remote internships in 2025.
The Summer Internship Program typically runs from early-June to early-August each year. In 2025, internships start June 2nd and run through August 8th.
Interns work full-time, 40 hours per week for 10 weeks.
We are happy to work with you to figure out a start and end date that work with your existing commitments and school schedule. However, a commitment of 10 weeks during the summer is required.
Yes, we provide a stipend to help interns defray expenses. This stipend is administered in intervals throughout the internship period.
To be considered for the Summer Internship Program, you must be a high school graduate and be currently enrolled in, or recently graduated from, a degree-granting undergraduate or graduate program at an accredited college or university. You are expected to have a strong academic record. Applicants from outside the US are welcome!
Internships are opportunities to learn and grow your skills. While you don't necessarily need work experience related to the internship you plan to apply for, you are expected to have a base knowledge of or familiarity with the subject (e.g. exhibits design interns will be expected to have familiarity with programs such as Illustrator and Photoshop).
Applicants must apply through the Smithsonian Online Academic Appointment System (SOLAA). Complete applications must include:
Applications for the National Air and Space Museum’s Summer Internship Program must be submitted on the Smithsonian Online Academic Appointment system (SOLAA). To apply:
On the Materials page of the application, please submit your essay, resume, transcript, and letters of recommendation (if you have a copy of the letter(s)).
If you have a copy of your Letters of Recommendation, you can upload them to your application using the Materials page. If you do not, you can use the References page of the application to send your letter-writer an email they can use to upload the letter of recommendation directly to your application. To do so:
If you are not using the Reference page to collect letters of recommendation, you do not need to add any references on the Reference page.
If you encounter technical difficulties as you complete your application, we recommend trying a new browser. If the problem persists, please email OCIOHelpDesk@si.edu.
The internship program is generously supported by:
Foster and Coco Stanback
DaRin Butz Foundation
Morton and Norma Lee Funger, in memory of William Scott Funger
James M. and Anita K. Guyette
The Brian and Jill Rowe Foundation
Joseph R. and JoAnne L. Zinecker
Mary F. Dominiak
Karen and William Dahut
