Undergraduate Internship Program

About the Internship

The Adler Planetarium hosts undergrads for this multi-week summer internship. Interns will earn a stipend while learning valuable science and engineering skills.

The internships will be located at the Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum in the Astronomy Department. Occasional field trips for the purpose of launching balloon missions will be conducted to Kankakee, IL and nearby recovery sites. Projects are designed, developed and tested under the mentorship of Adler astronomers.

Curriculum

The internships will be over the 6 week period.

Interns will participate in an 6-week program, including:

1) An introduction to elements of the science involved in ballooning, (atmospheric science, thermodynamics, electronics, and materials science)

2) An introduction to the engineering issues needed to make a successful near-space system.

The interns will build experience by assisting with the Adler's AstroScience Workshop, a balloon-based summer program for high-school students. They will also begin constructing and testing a "starter" project, assembling a complete but very simple near-space capsule using provided components. The culmination of this starter project will be the first flight and recovery. Using the results of this first flight along with their developed experience, they will then plan, design, document, and construct a more capable subsystem to be used in future flights of Far Horizons. Possible projects include: a more capable two-way telemetry system, a Basic Stamp based flight computer, a cut-down system, etc. These final projects will be flown in the second flight of the internship.

Analysis of the results and suggested design improvements will be presented in a final presentation to the AdlerSpace team. The ballooning systems that the interns work on will be used extensively in future Adler programs, including programs with grade, middle and high school kids, adult members. These flights will also be used as a testing ground for satellite components for the AdlerSat program.

Requirements

Students seeking internships must have a permanent residence in the Chicago metropolitan area and be a US citizen.

Participants should be undergraduates enrolled in a college program in physics, engineering, or a related field and have some laboratory or shop experience. We especially encourage applications by women, minorities, and economically disadvantaged students interested in science, technology, or engineering careers.

How to Apply

If you are interested in the program please email a current resume, a list of science and mathematics courses you have taken (with grades) or are currently taking, and a cover letter explaining why you are interested in an internship and describing any other relevant experience you might have (e.g. membership in a robotics league, shop skills, etcetera) to:

Geza Gyuk, Ph.D.
Director of Astronomy
Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum
1300 S. Lake Shore Drive
Chicago IL 60605
ggyuk@adlerplanetarium.org
(312) 322 0337

Mark Hammergren, Ph.D.
Astronomer & Director, AstroScience Workshop
Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum
1300 S. Lake Shore Drive
Chicago IL 60605
mhammergren@adlerplanetarium.org
(312) 322 0319
FAX: (312) 322 2257

Funded by NASA through the Illinois Space Grant Consortium.