TIMESTEP is currently accepting applications for Space Sciences Software Engineering Projects for the 2026-2027 TIMESTEP Astrophysics Software Engineering Internship.
The TIMESTEP Astrophysics Software Engineering Internship focuses on teams of STEM students (juniors and seniors) working together to solve software challenges in the space sciences. Student Software Engineering (SE) teams will consist of 3-4 committed interns working to develop software to solve your problem. The students will be paid for 10 hours of work time each week that school is in session, with possible opportunity to continue working over the summer.
TIMESTEP's commitment:
TIMESTEP's commitment:
TIMESTEP will:
- Provide SE teams with general software engineering workshops and version control training
- Provide interns with peer mentorship, from a graduate student assigned to your team to ensure student progress
- TIMESTEP will fund and hire the students
Your commitment:
You would serve as the PI and support the students' progress by:
- Clearly outlining and setting up the specific project
- Offering project specific workshops as needed
- Leading weekly stand-up meetings with the students
- Answering team questions regularly (slack, github, email, etc.)
- Attending occasional meetings with the TIMESTEP leadership team to ensure the project is progressing
As part of the application process you will be asked to submit a 1-2 page document outlining the project. Here are the specific prompts:
1. What is the space sciences problem and/or science question that your software project will address?
2. What skills will the interns gain through working on this project?
Answer the following for each software deliverable (1-3 deliverables):
3. What software would the interns build that would help answer your astronomical problem or space science question? Is the developed software intended to be independently released, or will it be a contribution to an existing open-source software?
4. Please list the engineering requirements for the software the interns will develop, if you have them at this time? (i.e., language, scalability, integration, compatibility, dependencies, etc.)
5. What is the software that exists to solve this problem currently? Why do you want to change or improve the software? (Please answer NA if there is currently no software.)
6. At the end of the academic year, what would be the ideal outcomes of the project for the students. For example, do you foresee the scope of this project being a JOSS or other software/methods journal submission, presentation/demo to a team, and/or open-source software that they can link in their resumes, etc.?
A few notes about answering the questions:
- Note: If you have multiple deliverables the interns will complete, please answer questions 3-6 for each deliverable. Students will be working 10 hours a week on this project (including meetings), alongside a very demanding schedule. Please manage your expectations of software deliverables accordingly. With this, it is acceptable/understandable (but not necessary) to have one deliverable.
If you're interested in applying to be an employer, please complete this application, by Sunday, March 22nd at midnight: https://uarizona.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cUeNAuC25xKQBU
If you have any questions about the application or program, please reach out to Jen Kinser-Traut, TIMESTEP Astro SE Program Coordinator, at jkinser@arizona.edu