Applied Machine Learning Summer Research Fellowship

Q: Are non-U.S. citizens eligible?

A: In general, Research Fellows are not required to be U.S. citizens; if a particular project has such a requirement (which is rare), it will be noted clearly in the project description. However, it is necessary for all employees to have work authorization. Regardless of citizenship, LANL will not sponsor a work visa for this summer program. Generally, this means that applicants should already have a U.S. visa that allows them to work as an intern (such as a student visa with CPT).

Q: Are Postdoctoral Researchers eligible?

A: Unfortunately, our Summer Research Fellowship is only for students. LANL does not generally hire non-students for short-term research positions. LANL does sponsor some workshops and conferences which might be of interest to postdocs both for the technical content and for networking with LANL and other national lab scientists. You can see a list here.

Q: I will graduate in May or June 2024. Am I eligible?

A: If you are planning to continue your studies, then you are eligible. If you will no longer be a student after May 2024, then you might not be eligible for this fellowship, and it might not be in your best interest because the student fellowship does not provide longer-term employment at LANL. However, if you apply and it turns out that you are a strong candidate for one of the research projects but cannot do the student fellowship, then at least we have your application package on file and you might be contacted by a LANL researcher outside of the fellowship program.

Q: I am interested in year-round research at LANL, is that something that the Applied Machine Learning program supports?

A: Unfortunately, at this time AML does not have any year-round positions. You may feel free to write to us about your interest and research areas, and if possible we will try to forward your information to potential mentors at LANL.

Q: Is AML a summer school?

A: AML is an educational research internship program. It is not a summer school in the sense of being focused on classes and lectures with unified progression being delivered to a group of students. Rather, each student will go through their own research project, and the group as a whole attends seminars and tutorials covering a diverse set of topics. Student input can help to drive the topics of discussion for activities such as lectures, tutorials, and journal clubs. Still, if you are relatively new to machine learning, don’t let that stop you from applying - AML is a great place to learn about ML in a hands-on fashion if you have some scientific background relevant to a project.

Q: Are projects collaborative or individual?

A: Almost all projects have a single student supported by between two and four mentors. Still, students are co-located and we create a community together through regular interactions, both spontaneous and planned.