Overview

The Computational Design (CD) group of the Artificial Intelligence Center (AIC) at SRI International is seeking a strong and enthusiastic Master’s or Ph.D. student in engineering, physical sciences, or computational sciences to join our team as a full time Research Intern for Summer 2026 with the potential to stay on after the summer (full or part time).

 

Founded in 1966, AIC has played a key role in AI research since the development of Shakey the Robot in the early days of the field. The lab continues to push the boundaries in AI as it develops innovative technologies and explores their application across a range of domains. The lab has an outstanding track record of moving its research into the real world with successes such as Siri (developed originally on DARPA funding, subsequently acquired by Apple) and the BioCyc family of bioinformatics knowledge bases and tools which have been licensed by over 11,000 users. The CD group was founded in 2020 in the iconic Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) that merged with SRI in 2023. CD has been at the forefront of applying computational and AI methods to democratize design for heterogeneous constraints such as physics-based performance, manufacturing readiness, and supply chain resilience.

 

The intern will work on an exciting ongoing project on design and digital manufacturing, particularly on re-design of engineering system components and systems for applications in military equipment. The ideal candidate will have significant experience with one of the following: generative design, machine learning (ML), approximation theory, applied geometry.

 

This intern position will be able to work fully remotely.

Responsibilities

Responsibilities will include contributing to existing research projects through developing solutions and algorithms, implementing software code and databases, evaluating results, and contributing to conference presentations, journal publications, and invention disclosures.

 

The Intern will contribute to the following technical areas:

• Generative design and optimization workflows for engineering design applications
• AI/ML, and other, methods to characterize, represent, modify and optimize representations of geometric objects

Qualifications

• Current Master’s or Ph.D. student in Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Applied Math, Computer Science, or related discipline
• At least two years of academic research experience as an undergraduate or graduate student
• Strong mathematical and computational foundations, especially geometric and physical modeling
• Familiarity with optimization techniques, numerical analysis, and statistical learning (e.g., AI/ML)
• Demonstrated experience in at least one programming language (e.g., Python or C++) and one ML model development framework (e.g., PyTorch, JAX, or TensorFlow)
• Familiarity open-source libraries or commercial software APIs for physics-based numerical analysis, optimization, and AI/ML
• Demonstrated experience with research-grade publications as a first author in high-quality peer-reviewed journals or conferences

Desired skills:

• A working knowledge of programming styles (e.g., object-oriented programming) and best practices to enable code readability and maintainability, version control and collaboration, testing and debugging, etc
• Related industrial or entrepreneurial experience (including internships)
• Experience with manufacturing and testing techniques
• Independence in problem formulation and creativity in problem solving
• Attention to detail and ability to manage multiple tasks simultaneously
• Eagerness to learn new technologies and apply fundamental research to solve real-world pain-points
• Strong organizational and interpersonal skills
• Strong oral and written communication skills

The salary range is: $30-$45/hr. Salary ranges will vary and are based on several factors, including geographic location, market competitiveness and equity amongst internal employees in similar roles. Positions may also qualify for SRI's Pay for Outstanding Performance program or the annual Performance Based Compensation program. SRI also has a competitive benefits package, to view details please go to https://www.sri.com/resources/benefits/. SRI will accept applications until the position is filled.

 

SRI is an independent nonprofit research institute headquartered in Menlo Park, Calif., with a rich history of supporting government and industry. We create and deliver world-changing solutions for a safer, healthier, and more sustainable future. For more than 75 years, we have collaborated across technical and scientific disciplines to discover and develop groundbreaking products and technologies and bring innovations and ideas to the marketplace.