About

The Next Generation STEM Internship Program (NGSI) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory places high school juniors, seniors, and recent graduates directly inside one of the most significant scientific institutions in the United States. ORNL — the Department of Energy's largest science and energy laboratory, located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee — is home to research in materials science, nuclear science, computing, energy systems, biology, and national security. NGSI students join researcher and professional staff teams for full-time summer appointments, working on genuine STEM or STEM-related projects alongside the scientists running them.

The summer appointment runs seven weeks, with students expected to work full-time, 40 hours per week, from early June through late July. The program is paid — participants receive a $500 weekly stipend — and includes optional professional development activities: workshops, lab tours, lectures, poster sessions, seminars, and networking opportunities with ORNL staff. NGSI also runs part-time spring and fall tracks for students who want to continue their work during the academic year on a virtual, part-time basis.

Eligibility for the summer track is restricted to rising high school juniors and seniors — or recent graduates not yet enrolled in college — who reside in Anderson, Blount, Campbell, Knox, Loudon, Morgan, Roane, or Sevier county in Tennessee. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents, at least 16 by the start of the appointment, maintain a minimum 3.0 GPA, and provide proof of health insurance. The application requires a transcript, resume, and one recommendation from a STEM teacher or principal submitted through the Zintellect system. Because NGSI uses a mentor pool-based selection model, the program explicitly encourages applicants to proactively reach out to potential ORNL mentors before applying — a step the program identifies as often decisive in the selection process.

For a student in the counties surrounding Oak Ridge, NGSI is one of the most extraordinary local opportunities in the country: paid, full-time research inside a national laboratory that has shaped American science for eight decades.