Engineering Internships for High School Students in 2026
TL;DR
Fifty-two programs, and no two work the same way. A handful, like Microsoft's Discovery Program and Lockheed Martin Space, are run directly by a company rather than a lab or a university, and tend to pay the best hourly rates in exchange for a narrower geographic pool. The rest split between national labs, which mostly pay an hourly wage, and university placements, which are usually free but unpaid, with a completion stipend instead of a wage. Pay itself runs the full range, from $26 an hour at Microsoft down to unpaid at NIST, with a couple charging tuition instead. Filter on what you actually want to build first, aerospace, biomedical, software, or energy all have real depth here, then on what you can realistically get to. Ladder Internships is fully remote, so it is worth a look if the geography on this list rules you out everywhere else.
Getting real engineering experience in high school usually means living near the right lab. The programs below work around that in different ways: some restrict eligibility to their own region, some run entirely online, and a handful will take you from anywhere if you are strong enough. They are sorted by the kind of organization behind them, because that is what decides the pay, the paperwork, and the kind of work you will actually do.
National lab, university lab, or company internship: which one can you actually get?
| Factor | National lab | University lab | Company |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pay | Reliably paid hourly, $15.00 to $16.41 at Idaho National Laboratory, $500 a week at Berkeley Lab and Oak Ridge | Usually free with a completion stipend, occasionally tuition-based like Boston University RISE | Reliably paid, up to $26 an hour at Microsoft |
| Main gate | Citizenship, plus a named region or county | Residency, usually state or metro level | Commuting distance to one specific office |
| What you do | Join an existing technical team on live work | Support one faculty member's ongoing research, often mentored by a grad student | Sit on a real product or engineering team |
| What you leave with | Internal contribution, sometimes a final presentation | A paper, poster, or symposium talk you can point to | Workplace experience and a professional reference |
Pick on the output, not the prestige: If you want something to show, a university placement ending in a paper is the more useful summer. If you want to know what the job actually feels like, a company or national lab placement answers that better.
Which engineering field will you work in as an intern??
The program name does not always announce the discipline. A SEAP or AFRL Scholars placement can land you in aerospace, cybersecurity, or materials science depending on which mentor you are assigned, while a program like Max Planck Florida's mechanical engineering track or Johns Hopkins ISPEED tells you exactly what you will build before you even apply.
Biomedical engineering has the deepest bench on this list. Stanford SIMR, Johns Hopkins ISPEED, DukeREP, and Max Planck Florida all place students specifically at the intersection of engineering and medicine, from imaging systems to device design, rather than treating it as one project among many.
Aerospace and defense cluster around a handful of named employers. Lockheed Martin, Spirit AeroSystems, Textron Aviation, and NASA's own programs account for most of the aerospace-specific work here, rather than that work being spread evenly across every national lab. The Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks aerospace, biomedical, and mechanical engineering as separate occupations with different median pay and outlooks, which is worth a look if you are still deciding which of these fields to chase.
Which internships are run by a company, not a lab or a university?
A small group answers to a business rather than a research mission. Microsoft's Discovery Program, Meta Summer Academy, Lockheed Martin Space, Spirit AeroSystems, and Textron Aviation are all run by the company whose name is on the offer, not a university department or a federal lab.
These tend to pay the most, and restrict the most. Microsoft pays $26 an hour, the highest wage on this list, but only at two office locations and only to graduating seniors. Company-run programs are consistently tighter on geography than national lab or university placements.
The tradeoff is workplace exposure over research output. You are less likely to leave a company internship with a paper or presentation, and more likely to leave knowing what the job actually looks like day to day.
Do high school internships pay you, cost nothing, or charge tuition?
A genuine three-way split, and the wording hides it: "Free" and "paid" are not the same thing here, and programs use both loosely. Microsoft pays $26 an hour and Idaho National Laboratory pays $15.00 to $16.41. MIT RSI and Stanford SIMR cost nothing and cover housing, but pay no wage. NIST SHIP and ASPIRE are unpaid with no stipend at all, so the placement itself is the entire return.
A few bill you: Boston University RISE runs roughly $6,415 plus room and board. Ladder's own program costs $2,990 with financial aid for families earning around $50,000 or less. Neither is unusual for a structured program, but check which category you are in before you plan a summer around it.
Unpaid does not mean unserious: ASPIRE at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory admits roughly 15 to 20 percent of applicants and pays nothing. NIST SHIP places students with the scientists who maintain the country's measurement standards. Read the acceptance rate alongside the pay before deciding what a program is worth.
How we selected these internships
We checked every program on this list against four criteria before including it, so you know what you are applying to.
Currently running: Confirmed active for the 2026 cycle on the program's own page, not carried over from an older roundup.
Actually open to high schoolers: Verified age and grade eligibility directly, since several well-known programs have shifted to require college enrollment.
Real engineering content: The work has to be engineering rather than adjacent science, so biology and medicine research programs were left out.
A genuine internship, not a course: Excluded paid summer camps and tuition-based classes that call themselves internships without placing you on a working team.
| Section | Top programs | Cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Department of Energy national laboratories | Sandia, Idaho National Laboratory, Berkeley Lab EinR | Paid, $15.00 an hour to $500 a week | Students who want paid technical work in energy, nuclear, or cybersecurity and can meet citizenship rules |
| Government, defense and aerospace internships | NASA OSTEM, AFRL Scholars, Lockheed Martin Space | Free to paid, most with a stipend | Students drawn to space, defense, or aviation who live near a participating site |
| University research placements | MIT RSI, Anson L. Clark Scholars, NYU ARISE | Free to $6,415 (aid available on paid options) | Students who want a paper or symposium presentation to show for the summer |
| Biomedical engineering research | Stanford SIMR, Johns Hopkins ISPEED, Max Planck Florida | Free to paid, several with stipends above $2,400 | Students working where engineering meets medicine, from imaging to devices |
| Corporate and municipal internships | Meta Summer Academy, NYC School Construction Authority, ASE | Paid, hourly | Students who want workplace experience with a company or city agency rather than a lab |
| Software and tech internships | Microsoft Discovery Program, Spark SIP, Tech Flex Leaders | Free to paid, up to $26 an hour | Students focused on software, computing, or IT rather than hardware |
Department of Energy National Laboratories
The Department of Energy runs a network of national laboratories that open real research and engineering work to high schoolers each year, from nuclear energy to plasma physics to advanced manufacturing.
1. Sandia National Laboratories
Location: Albuquerque, NM and Livermore, CA
Cost/Stipend: Paid
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Competitive, not published
Dates: 10 to 12 weeks in summer; year round and co-op options also exist
Application deadline: Rolling, varies by posting
Eligibility: 16 or older, minimum 2.5 to 3.0 GPA depending on role, US citizenship required for clearance based roles
Sandia is one of the country's largest nuclear security laboratories, and its student program puts high schoolers on real engineering, cybersecurity, and energy research teams rather than a separate training track. Interns are assigned to an actual technical group and contribute to ongoing projects alongside staff engineers.
Who it's best for: Students who want engineering exposure with genuine national security stakes and are comfortable working inside a large, process heavy federal lab environment.
2. Idaho National Laboratory Internship
Location: Idaho Falls, ID
Cost/Stipend: Paid ($15.00 to $16.41 per hour)
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not published; roughly 1,900 applications across all levels
Dates: 6 to 8 weeks in summer
Application deadline: Late February
Eligibility: 16 or older, minimum 3.0 GPA, US citizen or authorized international student, rising junior, senior, or recent graduate
As the nation's lead nuclear energy research lab, INL places student interns directly on teams working on reactor design, cybersecurity, and clean energy systems. The hourly pay structure and clearly defined GPA bar make this a straightforward, merit based entry point into national lab work.
Who it's best for: Students specifically drawn to nuclear or energy systems engineering who want a paid, clearly structured application process.
3. Los Alamos National Laboratory
Location: Los Alamos, NM
Cost/Stipend: Paid
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Competitive; part of a broader 1,800 plus intern cohort across all levels annually
Dates: Academic year co-op or summer track, varies by position
Application deadline: Varies
Eligibility: High school seniors, Northern New Mexico residents only, 16 or older, minimum 2.75 GPA
Born from the Manhattan Project, Los Alamos still restricts its high school track to seniors from Northern New Mexico, giving local students a direct path into one of the world's premier physics and engineering research institutions.
Who it's best for: Northern New Mexico seniors specifically, since the geographic restriction rules out students from anywhere else.
4. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
Location: Richland, WA
Cost/Stipend: Paid
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Competitive, not published
Dates: Academic year track (up to 4 hours a day) or full time summer track
Application deadline: Opens early February
Eligibility: High school students interested in STEM or business; 18 or older required for lab spaces, 16 for some non lab roles; Washington residents preferred
PNNL's internship spans both technical lab placements and business-side roles, which makes it one of the more flexible national lab entry points for students who aren't sure yet whether they want a hands on engineering track or a research support role.
Who it's best for: Students near the Tri-Cities area of Washington who want a year round option rather than a summer only commitment.
5. Oak Ridge National Laboratory NGSI
Location: Oak Ridge, TN
Cost/Stipend: Paid ($500 per week stipend)
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Competitive
Dates: Summer (full time) or fall and spring (16 to 17 weeks, part time)
Application deadline: Varies by session
Eligibility: Juniors, seniors, or recent graduates from specific East Tennessee counties (Anderson, Blount, Campbell, Knox, Loudon, McMinn, Monroe, Morgan, Roane, Sevier); US citizen or lawful permanent resident
ORNL's Next Generation STEM Internship is tightly scoped to a specific set of East Tennessee counties, so it functions as a genuine community pipeline rather than a nationally competitive program, with real research placements across the lab's many science and engineering divisions.
Who it's best for: Students who live in ORNL's home counties and want a program with both summer and school year options.
6. Savannah River Site Youth Apprenticeship
Location: Aiken, SC
Cost/Stipend: Paid (rate varies by role)
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Very limited; six apprentices in the 2025 cohort
Dates: 24 month program, year round rather than summer only
Application deadline: Varies
Eligibility: High school juniors or seniors from Aiken, Columbia, and Richmond counties, South Carolina
This is a genuine multi-year apprenticeship rather than a single summer placement, giving a small number of local students two full years of on the job training in roles like project controls and IT before they even finish high school.
Who it's best for: Students who want a long-term, credential building apprenticeship rather than a single summer experience, and who live in the specific eligible counties.
7. Berkeley Lab Experiences in Research (EinR)
Location: Berkeley, CA (hybrid or virtual for 2026)
Cost/Stipend: Paid ($500 per week)
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Competitive; prioritizes Northern California and Bay Area residents
Dates: 6 weeks, mid-June to late July
Application deadline: Varies by year
Eligibility: Grades 10 through 12, 16 or older by June, Northern California residents prioritized
Berkeley Lab pairs students with scientists and engineers across its many research divisions, from materials science to computing, and pays a flat weekly stipend regardless of which division a student lands in.
Who it's best for: Bay Area students who want broad exposure across a major DOE lab's many research divisions rather than one narrow specialty.
8. Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL)
Location: Plainsboro, NJ (Princeton University campus)
Cost/Stipend: Paid (rate varies)
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Very limited spots, part of a broader 30 plus intern cohort
Dates: Summer session, typically for the summer after high school graduation
Application deadline: Varies
Eligibility: High school seniors (post graduation), 16 or older, US citizen or permanent resident
PPPL is the country's leading fusion energy laboratory, and its small internship track puts newly graduated seniors directly onto plasma physics and fusion engineering research teams before they start college.
Who it's best for: Recent graduates specifically interested in fusion energy or plasma physics who want lab experience before starting their undergraduate degree.
9. Fermilab QuarkNet Summer Research Program
Location: Fermilab, Batavia, IL
Cost/Stipend: Paid (rate varies)
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Competitive, Illinois focused
Dates: 6 to 7 weeks in summer
Application deadline: Varies
Eligibility: High school students with strong interest or aptitude in science and math
QuarkNet places students on active particle physics research teams at Fermilab, working alongside the same scientists who run the lab's accelerator based experiments.
Who it's best for: Students with a strong physics and math background who want to work on genuine particle physics research rather than a general STEM survey.
10. Fermilab TARGET Program
Location: Fermilab, Batavia, IL
Cost/Stipend: Paid; no cost to attend
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Roughly 15 to 25 selected per year, competitive
Dates: 6 weeks, late June to early August
Application deadline: Due the preceding winter
Eligibility: Illinois high school sophomores or juniors only, not seniors, minimum 3.0 GPA, US work authorization
TARGET is deliberately aimed at underrepresented sophomores and juniors, which makes it one of the only major national lab programs that explicitly excludes seniors, since the goal is building a multi-year pipeline rather than a one-time placement.
Who it's best for: Illinois sophomores and juniors specifically, since seniors are not eligible no matter how strong their application.
Government, Defense and Aerospace internships
Beyond the DOE labs, NASA, the military research branches, and major defense and aerospace employers all run their own dedicated high school internship pipelines, each with its own eligibility rules and application calendar.
11. NASA SEES High School Summer Intern Program (UT Austin)
Location: University of Texas at Austin, with a virtual component
Cost/Stipend: Unpaid; certificate of completion, some travel support for select students
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly competitive; about 100 on-site spots from more than 2,000 applicants
Dates: 10th graders attend about one week on-site; 11th graders attend about two weeks on-site, both preceded by virtual pre-work
Application deadline: Late February
Eligibility: Rising juniors or seniors (or sophomores for the shorter track), 16 by July 1, US citizen
Through a partnership between NASA and UT Austin, SEES has students work directly with real NASA satellite and Earth science data rather than a simulated dataset, under the guidance of NASA scientists.
Who it's best for: Students most interested in Earth and space science data analysis rather than hardware engineering.
12. NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS)
Location: New York, NY (Upper West Side or Morningside Heights)
Cost/Stipend: Paid
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Limited spots, roughly a dozen per session
Dates: Varies by project; spring, summer, and fall sessions available
Application deadline: Varies, apply through NASA STEM Gateway
Eligibility: US citizen, generally must reside within 50 miles of GISS, though some remote projects are allowed
GISS is NASA's climate research institute embedded inside Columbia University, so its interns get access to real climate modeling and Earth science work in the middle of Manhattan rather than at a typical NASA field center.
Who it's best for: New York area students specifically interested in climate science who want NASA affiliated research without leaving the city.
13. AFRL Scholars Program
Location: AFRL sites nationwide, including Kirtland AFB NM, Eglin AFB FL, and AMOS Maui HI
Cost/Stipend: Paid stipend
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not published
Dates: 10 to 12 weeks, sometimes as short as 8
Application deadline: Opens late October, closes mid-January
Eligibility: Upper level high school students with demonstrated STEM interest
The Air Force Research Laboratory Scholars program embeds students directly with AFRL scientists and engineers working on active defense technology research, at whichever of the program's many sites best matches a student's interests.
Who it's best for: Students interested in defense-oriented aerospace or technology research who have flexibility on which part of the country they intern in.
14. Science and Engineering Apprenticeship Program (SEAP)
Location: 25 to 38 or more Navy and Department of Defense labs nationwide
Cost/Stipend: Paid stipend
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Roughly 300 placements per year from a large applicant pool, highly competitive
Dates: 8 weeks in summer
Application deadline: Opens around August 1
Eligibility: High school sophomores, juniors, or seniors, 16 or older, US citizen
SEAP is one of the longest running military research internships for high schoolers, placing academically strong students directly into Navy and DoD labs across the country for eight weeks of real research under a scientist or engineer mentor.
Who it's best for: Students who want naval or defense research experience and are willing to relocate to whichever lab accepts them, since sites are spread across the country.
15. Army Educational Outreach Program (AEOP)
Location: Army research labs and partner universities nationwide
Cost/Stipend: Paid, roughly $20 per hour for about 300 hours in summer
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly competitive
Dates: Roughly 8 to 10 weeks in summer, varies by host site
Application deadline: Varies by host site
Eligibility: High school students who graduated within the last 60 months and have not started college; US citizen or permanent resident
AEOP is an umbrella of Army sponsored internships rather than a single program, so the exact research area, location, and mentor a student gets depends heavily on which host site they are matched with.
Who it's best for: Students who want Army-sponsored research exposure but are flexible on exactly which host lab or university they end up at.
16. ASPIRE (Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory)
Location: Laurel, MD, with hybrid or virtual options available
Cost/Stipend: Unpaid
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Roughly 15 to 20 percent acceptance rate
Dates: Summer session, 30 to 40 hours a week, with an optional academic year continuation
Application deadline: One application cycle per year
Eligibility: High school juniors or seniors, 15 or older by June 1, US citizen, minimum 2.8 GPA, must live in the defined Maryland, Virginia, or DC region
APL is one of the country's premier defense research labs, and ASPIRE gives regional students an unpaid but substantive internship, pairing each student with an APL staff mentor on a real technical project.
Who it's best for: DMV area students who want real defense research experience and are comfortable with an unpaid internship in exchange for the caliber of the lab.
17. Lockheed Martin Space High School Internship
Location: Denver CO, Sunnyvale CA, Cape Canaveral FL, King of Prussia and Valley Forge PA, Huntsville AL, Herndon VA
Cost/Stipend: Paid
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not published, highly competitive
Dates: 9 or more weeks in summer
Application deadline: Opens early November, closes mid-December for the following summer
Eligibility: 16 or older, currently enrolled (not graduating seniors), must live within commutable distance of a participating facility
This is a genuine corporate engineering internship rather than an educational program, placing students on real Lockheed Martin space and defense engineering teams at one of several major facility locations.
Who it's best for: Students who live near one of Lockheed's specific facility cities, since the program does not relocate or house interns.
18. Spirit AeroSystems High School Internship
Location: Wichita, KS
Cost/Stipend: Paid ($14 per hour)
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not published
Dates: 5 to 6 weeks, June through July
Application deadline: Around April
Eligibility: Ages 16 to 18, US citizen due to ITAR restrictions
Spirit AeroSystems, now under Boeing ownership as of December 2025, still runs its own high school internship under the Spirit name, giving Wichita area students real exposure to aerospace manufacturing, maintenance, and supply chain engineering work.
Who it's best for: Wichita area students specifically interested in aerospace manufacturing rather than aerospace design or research.
19. Textron Aviation High School Internship
Location: Wichita, KS
Cost/Stipend: Paid
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not published; the program has grown from 5 interns in 2017 to more than 150 in 2023
Dates: 6 weeks, June through July, varies by year
Application deadline: Priority deadline around mid-March
Eligibility: Ages 16 to 19, various departments including engineering
Textron's program has expanded rapidly and now spans multiple departments, giving Wichita area students a choice of engineering, maintenance, or avionics focused placements within the same aviation manufacturer.
Who it's best for: Wichita area students who want some choice of department, since Textron places interns across several distinct engineering and manufacturing tracks.
20. NIST Summer High School Intern Program (SHIP)
Location: NIST campuses in Gaithersburg, MD or Boulder, CO
Cost/Stipend: Unpaid, educational volunteer internship
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Competitive
Dates: 8 weeks, mid or late June through early August
Application deadline: Opens around November 1, closes late January
Eligibility: US citizens, high school juniors or seniors, minimum 3.0 GPA, must live near NIST Boulder or Gaithersburg
SHIP is unpaid, but it puts students directly onto NIST measurement science research teams, working with the same scientists responsible for the country's physical measurement standards.
Who it's best for: Students near Gaithersburg or Boulder specifically, since NIST does not offer housing or relocation support for this unpaid program.
University Research Placements
Several universities run their own highly selective research programs for high schoolers, placing students directly in faculty labs rather than a classroom setting.
21. MIT Research Science Institute (RSI)
Location: MIT, Cambridge, MA
Cost/Stipend: Free, fully funded including tuition, housing, and meals
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Roughly 2.5 to 5 percent; 80 selected from 1,600 to 3,100 or more applicants
Dates: 6 weeks, late June to early August
Application deadline: Varies, typically fall of junior year
Eligibility: Rising high school seniors (current juniors) only; international students apply through partner country programs
RSI is widely regarded as the single most selective research program of its kind, combining a week of intensive STEM coursework with five weeks of original, mentored research at MIT.
Who it's best for: The strongest possible applicants in a given year, since RSI's acceptance rate is lower than almost any other program on this list.
22. Anson L. Clark Scholars Program
Location: Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX
Cost/Stipend: Free, with a $750 stipend upon completion
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Roughly 3 to 5 percent; 12 selected from about 700 applicants
Dates: 7 weeks
Application deadline: Varies
Eligibility: High school juniors or seniors, 17 or older by start, US citizen or permanent resident
Clark Scholars is a small, fully funded program that pairs just a dozen students each year with Texas Tech faculty across science, engineering, and humanities disciplines, giving each student unusually close faculty attention.
Who it's best for: Students who want a very small, high-touch cohort rather than a large program, and who are open to disciplines beyond pure engineering.
23. Stony Brook University's Simons Summer Research Program
Location: Stony Brook University, NY
Cost/Stipend: Free, with a stipend awarded at the closing symposium
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Under 5 percent; 30 to 40 selected
Dates: 7 weeks
Application deadline: Early February
Eligibility: High school juniors, 16 or older, US citizen or permanent resident
The Simons program matches students with Stony Brook faculty mentors across science, math, and engineering, culminating in a closing symposium where every student presents their own research findings.
Who it's best for: Juniors specifically, since the program's timing and structure are built around students who still have a full year of high school left to apply what they learn.
24. Princeton Laboratory Learning Program (LLP)
Location: Princeton, NJ, for local New Jersey students only
Cost/Stipend: Free, unpaid, no fee
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective, more than 3,000 applications a year
Dates: 5 to 6 weeks
Application deadline: February 15 through March 15
Eligibility: 16 or older by June 15, local New Jersey high school students only, US citizen or permanent resident
Princeton's Science Outreach department runs LLP specifically for local New Jersey students, placing them directly into ongoing engineering and natural science research labs at one of the country's top research universities. If you're interested in learning more, check out our deep-dive here!
Who it's best for: New Jersey students specifically, since the program is not open to applicants from outside the local area regardless of qualifications.
25. Northeastern Young Scholars Program (YSP)
Location: Northeastern University, Boston, MA
Cost/Stipend: Free, historically a stipend plus transit pass though not guaranteed every year
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Competitive; roughly 27 selected in recent cohorts, more than 600 over 30 years
Dates: 6 weeks, late June to end of July
Application deadline: December 15 through March 2
Eligibility: Massachusetts residents within commuting distance, completed junior year, US citizen or permanent resident
Now in its fourth decade, YSP places rising seniors directly in Northeastern labs across engineering, science, and health sciences, with a long enough track record that its alumni network spans hundreds of former interns.
Who it's best for: Massachusetts residents who want a program with three decades of track record and alumni to draw on.
26. UChicago Data Science Institute (DSI) Summer Lab
Location: University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Cost/Stipend: Paid
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective; 9 high school students plus 13 undergraduates in a recent cohort
Dates: 8 weeks
Application deadline: Varies
Eligibility: Chicago area high school students only, residency required, current freshman through senior
DSI Summer Lab pairs Chicago area students with data science mentors on projects that span computer science, materials science, and biomedical research, making it one of the few paid university research programs open to underclassmen as well as upperclassmen.
Who it's best for: Chicago area students, including underclassmen, since this is one of the few programs on this list open to freshmen and sophomores.
27. Boston University RISE Internship
Location: Boston University, Boston, MA
Cost/Stipend: Tuition based, roughly $6,415 plus room and board, financial aid available; families pay to attend rather than receiving a stipend
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Roughly 15 to 20 percent
Dates: 6 weeks, June 28 to August 7, 2026
Application deadline: February 4, 2026
Eligibility: US citizens or permanent residents, entering senior year
Unlike most programs on this list, BU RISE is a paid tuition program rather than a paid or unpaid internship, placing students with faculty, postdocs, and graduate students across science and engineering labs in exchange for a program fee.
Who it's best for: Families comfortable paying for the experience who want the structure and mentorship of a formal university program with guaranteed admission for qualifying applicants.
28. University of Nebraska Omaha IS&T High School Internship
Location: Omaha, NE
Cost/Stipend: Unpaid, no program fee
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Roughly 12 selected per year
Dates: 8 weeks, June to July
Application deadline: Around April
Eligibility: 16 or older by May, high school students interested in math, science, or computer science
UNO's College of Information Science and Technology places a small cohort of local students directly in its labs, covering areas from robotics to bioinformatics to cybersecurity to game development.
Who it's best for: Nebraska area students interested specifically in IT and computer science research rather than traditional engineering disciplines.
29. Syracuse University Engineering and Computer Science Research Internship
Location: Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
Cost/Stipend: Stipend provided upon completion
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not published
Dates: 6 weeks, non-residential, commuter based
Application deadline: Roughly 2 months before the program starts
Eligibility: Rising seniors in the greater Syracuse area, good academic standing
This commuter program places local rising seniors directly in Syracuse's College of Engineering and Computer Science labs, giving them university-level research experience without needing to relocate.
Who it's best for: Syracuse area seniors who want a paid research placement close to home without the residential commitment of some other university programs.
30. NYU Applied Research Innovations in Science and Engineering (ARISE)
Location: NYU Tandon School of Engineering, Brooklyn, NY
Cost/Stipend: Free, with a stipend of at least $750 upon completion
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Competitive
Dates: 10 weeks total, four weeks of remote workshops followed by six weeks of in-person lab work, starting around June
Application deadline: Varies
Eligibility: New York City high school students, 10th or 11th grade, strong academic record
ARISE combines a remote coursework phase with genuine in-person lab research at NYU Tandon, spanning biomedical, chemical, civil, computer, electrical, and mechanical engineering, which gives students both foundational training and real research experience in one program.
Who it's best for: NYC students who want a structured on-ramp into research, since the coursework phase builds skills before the lab placement begins.
Biomedical Engineering Research
These programs sit at the intersection of biology and engineering, placing students in labs that design medical devices, imaging tools, and other hardware for healthcare and life sciences.
32. Johns Hopkins ISPEED
Location: Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
Cost/Stipend: Free, with a $2,400 stipend
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Competitive, not published
Dates: 4 weeks, residential, late June into July
Application deadline: Around March
Eligibility: High school sophomores or juniors (10th or 11th grade), ages 15 to 17, US citizen or permanent resident
ISPEED is a residential biomedical engineering program where students take on real design challenges, such as developing new imaging contrast agents, rather than working through a fixed curriculum.
Who it's best for: Sophomores and juniors specifically, since ISPEED is one of the few biomedical engineering programs that targets underclassmen rather than rising seniors.
33. Duke Research in Engineering Program (DukeREP)
Location: Duke University, Durham, NC
Cost/Stipend: Paid stipend
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Competitive, priority given to Durham Public Schools students
Dates: 7 weeks
Application deadline: Mid-February, varies by year
Eligibility: Rising juniors or seniors in North Carolina, priority to Durham residents, 16 or older
DukeREP pairs local students with PhD student mentors in Duke's biomedical engineering labs, giving Durham area students in particular a direct pipeline into university level research.
Who it's best for: Durham area students specifically, since the program gives explicit priority to Durham Public Schools applicants over other North Carolina residents.
34. Tufts University Biomedical Engineering Research Scholars (TUBERS)
Location: Tufts University, Medford, MA
Cost/Stipend: Free, commuter program
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not published
Dates: 6 weeks, 35 hours a week, July 6 to August 14, 2026
Application deadline: Varies; now processed through the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center application portal as of 2026
Eligibility: 16 or older; new MLSC eligibility rules apply starting in 2026
TUBERS places students in Tufts biomedical engineering labs for a full-time summer research experience, and as of 2026 it is newly sponsored by the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, which has changed how students apply.
Who it's best for: Massachusetts students comfortable navigating a newly changed application process, since the 2026 switch to the MLSC portal means the usual application steps have shifted.
35. Research Immersion in Biomedical Science and Engineering at Rowan (RISER)
Location: Rowan University, Glassboro, Camden, or Stratford, NJ
Cost/Stipend: Free, unpaid volunteer program
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not published, limited spots
Dates: 6 weeks, non-residential
Application deadline: Varies
Eligibility: High school rising seniors, primarily South Jersey residents, others must live within 30 minutes of the host lab
RISER gives South Jersey students guided, independent research experience in Rowan's biomedical engineering and science labs, with a structure that emphasizes independent project ownership over a fixed curriculum.
Who it's best for: South Jersey rising seniors who want independent research ownership rather than a more structured, curriculum-driven program.
36. Northwestern Research Experience and Mentoring (REM)
Location: Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
Cost/Stipend: Likely unpaid (estimate); official sourcing describes it as a research assistantship without stating a stipend figure
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Very limited, roughly 6 students a year
Dates: 8 weeks in summer
Application deadline: Varies
Eligibility: High school students, the program also serves some college students in the same cohort
REM is a small regenerative engineering program, covering areas like 3D printing and advanced materials, that gives a handful of students each year direct lab experience alongside Northwestern researchers.
Who it's best for: Students specifically interested in regenerative engineering and advanced materials work, a narrower niche than general biomedical engineering.
37. BIO5 Institute KEYS Research Internship
Location: University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
Cost/Stipend: Free, with a stipend mentioned in some program materials
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Competitive; roughly 49 to 59 selected from a larger applicant pool
Dates: 7 weeks
Application deadline: Varies
Eligibility: Arizona high school students
Now in its 20th year, KEYS places Arizona students with faculty mentors across bioscience, engineering, and data science, drawing on two decades of program refinement and alumni outcomes.
Who it's best for: Arizona students who want a long-established program with a substantial track record rather than a newer or smaller offering.
38. Max Planck Florida Institute (MPFI) Summer Research Internship
Location: Jupiter, FL
Cost/Stipend: Paid, $12.50 to $13 per hour
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly competitive; 7 to 10 selected from 80 to 167 applicants
Dates: 6 weeks
Application deadline: January 10 through March 1
Eligibility: Palm Beach or Martin County high school juniors or seniors
MPFI's internship includes a genuine mechanical engineering track, where students learn to design custom parts in SolidWorks and fabricate them for use in the institute's neuroscience labs, alongside the more expected neuroscience and programming tracks.
Who it's best for: Palm Beach or Martin County students who want a mechanical design and fabrication track, not just the neuroscience research the institute is best known for.
39. Stanford Institutes of Medicine Summer Research Program (SIMR)
Location: Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA
Cost/Stipend: Free, with a $50 application fee that can be waived; stipend included
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Roughly 3 percent, 60 selected
Dates: 8 weeks, June 8 to July 30, 2026
Application deadline: February 21, 2026
Eligibility: High school juniors or seniors (graduating class of 2026 or 2027), 16 or older, US citizen or permanent resident, Bay Area residency preferred
SIMR includes a dedicated bioengineering track alongside its immunology, neurobiology, and cancer biology institutes, giving students a genuine engineering option inside one of the most selective medical research programs for high schoolers. If you're interested in learning more, check out our deep-dive here!
Who it's best for: Students who want Stanford Medicine's research caliber but specifically want the bioengineering track rather than a pure biology or medicine placement.
40. Biomedical Engineering Summer Internships (OHSU, Gibbs Lab)
Location: Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR
Cost/Stipend: Unpaid
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Very limited, 6 to 8 spots
Dates: 10 weeks minimum, flexible start date
Application deadline: March 15, 2026
Eligibility: High school students 16 or older, undergraduates
This OHSU lab internship focuses specifically on developing novel imaging contrast agents, giving a small number of Portland area students genuine biomedical engineering research experience rather than a broader survey program.
Who it's best for: Portland area students interested specifically in medical imaging technology, a narrow but genuine engineering research niche.
41. Biorocket Research Internship Program (Genspace)
Location: Brooklyn, NY (Genspace community lab)
Cost/Stipend: Paid, $2,000 to $2,500 stipend
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Competitive, cohort of about 12
Dates: 6 month program: spring after-school sessions from February to May, then full-time in summer
Application deadline: Varies
Eligibility: NYC public or charter high school students, 16 or older, within about 45 minutes of Genspace
Biorocket runs out of Genspace, a community biology lab rather than a university, and combines a spring coursework phase with a full-time summer genetic engineering research project.
Who it's best for: NYC students interested specifically in genetic engineering and biotech who want a community lab setting rather than a traditional university lab.
Corporate & Municipal Internships
A handful of companies and city agencies run their own paid internship pipelines for high schoolers, offering a different kind of workplace experience than a university or national lab placement.
42. Meta Summer Academy
Location: Menlo Park, CA (Meta headquarters)
Cost/Stipend: Paid stipend
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly competitive, geographically restricted
Dates: 6 weeks, June 15 to July 24, 2026
Application deadline: Varies
Eligibility: Current high school sophomores only, must live in East Palo Alto, Belle Haven, North Fair Oaks, or Redwood City, minimum 2.0 GPA
Meta Summer Academy is aimed specifically at local sophomores from a handful of named communities near its headquarters, giving them early exposure to a major tech company's operations rather than a focused engineering placement.
Who it's best for: Sophomores from the specific eligible communities near Meta's headquarters, since the geographic restriction is unusually narrow.
43. NYC School Construction Authority (SCA) Summer Internship
Location: New York, NY
Cost/Stipend: Paid, roughly $15 an hour historically
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Competitive, minimum 80 on the NYC numeric GPA scale
Dates: 6 weeks
Application deadline: Recommendation due around March
Eligibility: NYC public high school students, work authorization required
The SCA places students with its own departments and business partners, giving NYC students real exposure to architecture, construction, and civil engineering work on the agency responsible for the city's school buildings.
Who it's best for: NYC public school students interested in construction or civil engineering specifically, since the agency's work is entirely building-focused.
44. SFUSD Work-Based Summer Internships
Location: San Francisco, CA (various industry partners)
Cost/Stipend: Paid
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Varies by program and sector
Dates: Summer, varies
Application deadline: Summer Interest Form opens around February
Eligibility: Current SFUSD high school sophomores or juniors, priority to rising seniors
SFUSD's internship program spans many career sectors, and includes a Construction Management and Engineering dual enrollment track alongside its many non-engineering placements.
Who it's best for: SFUSD students specifically interested in the Construction Management and Engineering track, since the broader program covers many unrelated career sectors too.
45. Port of Portland Engineering Internship
Location: Portland, OR
Cost/Stipend: Paid, hourly wage commensurate with school year
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not published
Dates: 12 months typical, full time in summer and part time during the school year
Application deadline: Rolling, open positions only
Eligibility: Enrolled in an accredited high school, college, or university, minimum 2.5 GPA
The Port of Portland's engineering track gives students real work with CAD software, site visits, and construction documents, alongside the port authority's separate business, legal, and IT internship tracks.
Who it's best for: Portland area students who want a genuine, ongoing engineering placement rather than a fixed summer-only commitment.
46. ASE (Saturday Academy) Apprenticeships in Science & Engineering
Location: Portland and Corvallis, OR area, also Eugene, Bend, Vancouver, and Klamath Falls
Cost/Stipend: Paid
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Competitive, 400 to 600 or more applicants for 70 to 130 positions depending on the year
Dates: 4 to 8 weeks in summer
Application deadline: March 6, 2026
Eligibility: High school grades 9 through 11, generally within 50 miles of the position location
Unlike a fixed curriculum camp, ASE matches each accepted student with a mentor at a university, hospital, or private company who designs the actual position, so no two ASE placements look quite the same.
Who it's best for: Pacific Northwest students who want a mentor-designed internship rather than a standardized program, and who are comfortable with placement varying student to student.
47. EnergyMag Research Internships
Location: Virtual and remote
Cost/Stipend: Unpaid, letter of accomplishment, no stipend
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not published, described as a limited number of spots
Dates: Flexible: half-time (2 to 8 weeks, 20 hours a week) or quarter-time (1 to 9 months, 8 hours a week)
Application deadline: Rolling, no fixed deadline
Eligibility: High school sophomores, juniors, or seniors, honors English or science coursework preferred, roughly 3.25 GPA or higher
EnergyMag is a fully virtual internship where students research and write reports on renewable energy technology and markets under a mentor's guidance, making it one of the most flexible options on this list for students who cannot commit to a fixed summer schedule.
Who it's best for: Students who need a flexible, low-commitment schedule and are more interested in the writing and research side of energy engineering than lab or shop work.
Software and tech internships
These programs focus specifically on software, computer science, and IT work rather than traditional hardware engineering.
48. Microsoft High School Discovery Program
Location: Redmond, WA and Atlanta, GA
Cost/Stipend: Paid, $26 an hour
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Very low, exact rate not published
Dates: 4 weeks
Application deadline: Varies
Eligibility: Graduating high school seniors only (rising college freshmen), specific geographic or school district restrictions, must have completed pre-calculus
This is a genuine corporate software internship rather than an educational program, placing graduating seniors on real Microsoft product teams working across software engineering, product management, and UX design.
Who it's best for: Graduating seniors specifically, since current juniors and sophomores are not eligible no matter how strong their technical background.
49. High Tech Bound (UNH-IOL)
Location: Durham, NH (University of New Hampshire campus)
Cost/Stipend: Paid, roughly $11.50 an hour historically
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Competitive
Dates: 4 to 6 weeks
Application deadline: Varies
Eligibility: Rising high school seniors, $10 registration fee, background check required
High Tech Bound runs out of the UNH InterOperability Lab, giving students real networking and software development work with the same global tech companies that sponsor the lab's testing programs.
Who it's best for: New Hampshire area rising seniors interested specifically in networking and infrastructure software rather than general coding.
50. Tech Flex Leaders
Location: New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami
Cost/Stipend: Free, with a $1,000 stipend upon completion
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not published; 594 students across all three cities in the 2024 to 2025 cohort
Dates: 9 month program: school year training culminating in a summer internship placement
Application deadline: Priority deadline around July 19, final deadline around August 15
Eligibility: Rising juniors or seniors, residents of specific metro areas, no prior experience required
Tech Flex Leaders is a full nine-month pathway rather than a single summer program, starting with technical training during the school year before placing students in paid summer internships with employer partners. If you're interested in learning more, check out our deep-dive here!
Who it's best for: Students who want a longer runway to build skills before their internship placement, rather than jumping straight into a summer-only program with no prior training.
51. Yale ITS High School Internship
Location: Yale University, New Haven, CT
Cost/Stipend: Paid
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Nomination-only, not a direct application
Dates: 6 weeks in summer
Application deadline: Not applicable; school nomination based
Eligibility: Residents of New Haven, West Haven, or Orange, CT, nominated by a participating high school
Unlike every other program on this list, Yale ITS is nomination-only rather than a direct application, so eligible students need their high school to put them forward rather than applying on their own.
Who it's best for: Students at a participating New Haven area high school whose school actively nominates students, since there is no self-application path.
52. Spark Summer Internship Program (Spark SIP)
Location: Greater Seattle area primarily, with some remote placements
Cost/Stipend: Mix of paid and unpaid depending on the host project, roughly $25 application fee historically
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Competitive, roughly 5 percent by some estimates
Dates: 6 to 10 weeks, June through August
Application deadline: Typically April
Eligibility: High school grades 9 through 12, US citizen or permanent resident for some tracks
Spark SIP is a volunteer-run, mentor-matching nonprofit rather than a single institution, connecting Seattle area students with real engineering, computer science, and STEM mentors across dozens of different host organizations. If you're interested in learning more, check out our deep-dive here!
Who it's best for: Seattle area students who want variety in host organization type, since Spark matches students individually rather than running one standardized placement.
53. Ladder Internships
Location: Fully virtual and global
Cost/Stipend: $2,990 for the Startup Internship track, payable in two installments; full and partial financial aid available for families earning around $50,000 or less a year
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not published
Dates: 8 weeks, with spring, summer, fall, and winter cohorts
Application deadline: Varies by cohort; rolling admissions across four seasonal cycles
Eligibility: Open application, financial aid available based on need
Ladder Internships is a fully virtual internship program connecting students with startups and mission-driven organizations for real project work, including coding prototypes, data analysis, and market strategy. Students choose from a Startup Internship, CEO Internship, or Combination Program that pairs company work with mentored research, with weekly meetings and mentorship from managers and founders.
Who it's best for: Students who want flexible, remote project work they can do from anywhere, on their own schedule, rather than a fixed on-site placement.
Commonly Asked Questions about these Engineering internships for high school students
Can a high schooler really get an engineering internship?
Yes, and most programs here were built for high schoolers rather than adapted from college internships. The harder question is which ones you are eligible for: citizenship, state residency, and age rule out more applicants than academic record does. A few programs, including Berkeley Lab's Experiences in Research and the University of Nebraska Omaha internship, run high school and college students in the same cohort.
How old do I have to be in order to be eligible for these internships?
Most programs set 16 as the floor, but a handful take younger students, including Johns Hopkins ISPEED, which accepts sophomores aged 15 to 17, and Meta Summer Academy, which is built for current sophomores. The reason 16 recurs is federal: the Department of Labor's hazardous occupation rules keep under-18s away from certain lab and shop equipment, and 16 is where the broader hours restrictions lift. If you are 15, read the exact wording, since "16 by June 1" and "16 by the application deadline" rule out different people.
Does an engineering internship actually help with college applications?
It helps most when you can describe the work specifically. Ladder Internships reports that among 85 alumni who applied in the 2024 to 2025 cycle, 14.29 percent were admitted to an Ivy League or top 20 university, which it calculates as 1.66 times the general rate, and that 66 percent used the experience in the activities section of their application. That is Ladder's own alumni survey rather than an independent study, so read it as one program's outcomes. More broadly, UT San Antonio's admissions office describes holistic review as weighing extracurricular interests and unique skills alongside grades.
What if none of these are open to you?
If every program you qualify for is closed, geographically out of reach, or already full, a remote program removes the residency problem entirely. Ladder Internships has no residency or citizenship requirement and runs spring, summer, fall, and winter cohorts, so a missed deadline costs you a few months rather than a year. Many students also use a less selective first summer as the experience that makes them competitive for a top program the year after.