The National Energy Technology Laboratory's (NETL's) record of success has been built on understanding the future of energy and the technologies required to make that future possible. We’ve long touted our success in developing the technologies that took on acid rain in the 1970s and mercury in the early 2000s. More recently, NETL has a leading role in President Biden’s ambitious climate goals, including a carbon emission-free power sector by 2035 and a net-zero economy by 2050.

Program Goals

The Professional Internship Program is designed to introduce undergraduate students and recent Bachelor's graduates to the challenges of conducting energy research, and enable graduate students to further build off their studies an experience as they join the scientific community. Participants interact daily with assigned mentors who guide research and project activities during the internship, while they become integral members of project teams.

The program goals include providing the opportunity to participants to:

• Develop skills and knowledge in their field of study
• Engage with new areas of basic and applied research
• Transition classroom theory into hands-on experience
• Network with world-class scientists
• Exchange ideas and skills with the Laboratory community
• Use state-of-the-art equipment
• Contribute to answers for today's pressing scientific questions
• Collaborate with the broader scientific and technical communities

Project Details

Through the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE), this posting seeks a recent Bachelor's graduate or student researcher to engage in projects with the Research Innovation Center (RIC) at the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) in the area of application portfolio management implementation, under the mentorship of Brent Albert. This project will be hosted at the NETL Pittsburgh, PA campus.

The Application Portfolio Management (APM) Implementation Project includes all phases of a standard, solution development life-cycle (SDLC) process, to include requirements gathering, design, development, testing, and implementation of a newly procured APM module within the ServiceNow Platform.

The project will include collaborating on a flexible data model for providing dashboards, reporting, data migration processes, and business intelligence capabilities to effectively respond to ad-hoc data calls using APM inventory data.

The participant will apply computer engineering/science degree concepts on a typical industry project using the DOE IT Project Execution Model (PEM), thereby gaining hands-on experience eliciting requirements while collaborating on the following: (1) the creation of VISIO architecture diagram(s), (2) the development of a leading industry procured commercial off-the-shelf system (ServiceNow), (3) testing, and (4) implementation. By participating in daily scrums and collaborating on the product backlog and critical milestones, the participant will gain experience with federal and contractor personnel and in the agile development methodology. Optional learning objectives and goals will be determined based on the participant's interest in custom software development/programming, data architecture, or business analysis.

Stipend: Participants receive a biweekly stipendbased on their educational level. Stipend payments are taxable as an educational benefit. Stipends for full-time participation start at:

• $450 per week - $620 per week for undergraduate students
• $690 per week - $770 per week for recent Bachelor's graduates
• $690 per week - $1,050 per week for graduate students

Deliverables: To document the effectiveness of the program, participants are required to submit a pre-appointment and post-appointment survey, as well as a reflection on their appointment experience when they renew or end their appointment. The reflection should summarize their project(s), additional activities, and overall experience. Details are provided as the appointment end date approaches.
Participants may also have the opportunity to contribute to manuscripts, journal articles, book chapters, conference presentations, posters, patents, and other publications as a part of their appointment. Such achievements should also be reported to ORISE; additional details are provided after an offer has been accepted.

The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), part of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratory system, is owned and operated by the DOE. NETL supports the DOE mission to advance the energy security of the United States. This is an educational opportunity offered by NETL and administered by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education. Participants in the program are not considered employees of NETL, DOE, the program administrator, or any other office or agency.