R11875 Post Undergraduate/Graduate (Year Round) Intern - JISEA Technology and Societal Systems - Research Innovations and Partnerships Team

Working at NREL

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), located at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Golden, Colorado is the nation's primary laboratory for research and development of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies.

From day one at NREL, you’ll connect with coworkers driven by the same mission to save the planet. By joining an organization that values a supportive, inclusive, and flexible work environment, you’ll have the opportunity to engage through our ten employee resource groups, numerous employee-driven clubs, and learning and professional development classes.

NREL supports inclusive, diverse, and unbiased hiring practices that promote creativity and innovation. By collaborating with organizations that focus on diverse talent pools, reaching out to underrepresented demographics, and providing an inclusive application and interview process, our Talent Acquisition team aims to hear all voices equally. We strive to attract a highly diverse workforce and create a culture where every employee feels welcomed and respected and they can be their authentic selves.

Our planet needs us! Learn about NREL’s critical objectives, and see how NREL is focused on saving the planet.

Note: Research suggests that potential job seekers may self-select out of opportunities if they don't meet 100% of the job requirements. We encourage anyone who is interested in this opportunity to apply. We seek dedicated people who believe they have the skills and ambition to succeed at NREL to apply for this role.

Job Description

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), located at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Golden, Colorado is the nation's primary laboratory for research and development of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies. The Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis (JISEA) provides leading-edge, objective, high-impact research and analysis to guide global energy investment and policy decisions and to support education and human development. Focused on the nexus of energy, financial sector, and society, JISEA is guiding the transformation of the global energy economy. Working collaboratively to synthesize the perspectives and input of a broad range of stakeholders, JISEA identifies emerging showstopping challenges to clean energy technology RDD&D and develops multi-sector teams to develop and implement solutions.

JISEA is seeking approximately two to four dynamic student interns to support programs related to the intersection of climate change, clean energy, and society. The interns will be part of the inaugural cohort of JISEA interns working with world class researchers and practitioners from across NREL to drive the clean energy future.

The interns will work with multiple project teams in JISEA’s exploratory areas to:

• Bring the intern’s emerging disciplinary expertise to develop needs assessments for emerging challenges for clean energy transformation;
• Synthesize multi-stakeholder discussions into actionable outputs; build, refine, and analyze data sets, and;
• Provide results in multiple different outputs (e.g., white papers, technical papers, datasets, presentations, videos).

The interns will contribute their emerging expertise in their chosen field, take initiative to foresee and pursue complex challenges, and explain interest in clean energy. The intern gets to work on the cutting edge of framing multi-stakeholder complex challenges, including with a wide variety of NREL, university, industry, government, and non-government actors, experience on a number of different clean energy technology and societal integration topics.

Interns are invited to work full-time (40 hours/week) during academic breaks and part time (minimum 20 hours/week) during school to complement the academic schedule. Interns who have graduated are welcome to work 40 hours/week for the duration of the internship. Each intern will work with a cohort of fellow interns and an assigned mentor to support a cohesive experience while participating on a wide variety of projects.

Interns are strongly encouraged to begin the internship by March 2024 at the latest.

Basic Qualifications

Minimum of a 3.0 cumulative grade point average.

Undergraduate: Must be enrolled as a full-time student in a bachelor’s degree program from an accredited institution. 
Post Undergraduate: Earned a bachelor’s degree within the past 12 months. Eligible for an internship period of up to one year.

Graduate: Must be enrolled as a full-time student in a master’s degree program from an accredited institution. 
Post Graduate: Earned a master’s degree within the past 12 months. Eligible for an internship period of up to one year.
Graduate + PhD: Completed master’s degree and enrolled as PhD student from an accredited institution. 

Please Note:
• Applicants are responsible for uploading official or unofficial school transcripts, as part of the application process.
• If selected for position, a letter of recommendation will be required as part of the hiring process.
• Must meet educational requirements prior to employment start date.

* Must meet educational requirements prior to employment start date.

Additional Required Qualifications

• Degree program in technology and society interface, engineering, social science, business, finance, MBA, public policy, MPA, etc.
• Education based knowledge of at least one method of research impact: community engagement, qualitative research methods, quantitative research methods.
• Writing up syntheses of multiple inputs toward a collaborative output.

All applicants must provide a 1-3 page writing sample. The research team prefers a writing sample that was written for a previous purpose. If the writing sample comes from a group project, the applicant must be the point person for both the writing and the work described. The writing sample should showcase the candidate’s ability to summarize a complex topic in a format comprehensible to multiple audiences. In particular, the hiring team would like to see how the applicant…

• Synthesizes information (e.g. a lit review)
• Designs and articulates a research methodology
• Synthesizes results (e.g. evaluation of the existence of a market for a product or solution)
• Prepares a policy briefing, including articulating the need for a policy or program

Preferred Qualifications

• Undergraduate degree plus progress or admittance to a graduate degree in business or science management, social sciences, engineering.
• A track record of identification of challenges and action to make change in the target system.
• An understanding of complexity of making progress at the intersection of technology and society.
• An interest in working at a national laboratory supporting research in the public interest.

Job Application Submission Window

The anticipated closing window for application submission is up to 30 days and may be extended as needed.