The 2025 Unidata Summer Internship will offer graduate students and upper-level undergraduates the opportunity to work closely with Unidata’s professional staff on projects that interest them and benefit the wider Unidata community. Interns interact with software developers, instructional designers, technical writers, and other mentors within the program, building skill with modern software development processes, learning about data-enabled Earth Systems Science, and generally getting to know what it’s like to work in a community-focused organization supporting Earth Science research and education. Participants contribute to Unidata’s innovative data access, analysis, and visualization tools by writing code, creating learning materials, or participating in other aspects of the software development lifecycle.
As an intern, you will choose a summer focus from a wide range of areas where Unidata has active projects. Some examples:
While we encourage you to think about focus areas you might be interested in, and to take a look at some of the things previous interns have worked on, you'll work together with Unidata staff mentors to choose projects once the internship begins.
The 2025 program is an 11-week summer position (40 hours / week) running 19 May to 1 August, 2025 . (Projects and other assignments are expected to consume the full internship period; internship candidates should plan accordingly.) Interns receive an hourly stipend; interns will be provided with housing (shared with other UCAR interns) and transportation costs to and from Boulder. Additionally, Unidata will arrange for 2025 interns to attend either the 2025 AGU Fall Meeting or the 2026 AMS Annual Meeting to present their work.
In addition to your summer focus, as a Unidata intern you will participate in the following activities:
You'll gain professional writing experience by documenting your work, at both the code and user documentation level. You'll be encouraged to participate in the Unidata Developers Blog throughout the summer.
In addition to working closely with individual developers, you will attend technical staff meetings to report on the status of your project. You'll also have opportunities to update the UPC staff on the progress of your project through informal “brown bag” talks. And you'll also be encouraged to share your progress and experiences at UCAR and Unidata with a larger community by posting to the Unidata developer's blog.
In the last week of your internship, you will have the opportunity to give a Unidata Community Seminar describing your experience and the outcomes of your summer work.
Unidata will also arrange for your attendance at the AMS Annual Meeting's Student Conference, allowing you to present your internship work to a wide audience of working scientists and other students. We'll help you get starting on your presentation and abstract submission during the summer.
As a Unidata intern, you will be part of a larger community of UCAR and NCAR summer interns. Interns are expected to contribute positively to the UCAR/NCAR community and to conduct themselves in a manner appropriate to a professional environment. Interns are expected to fully participate during normal office hours.
Applications for the Unidata Summer Internship will be accepted starting in December 2024. Applications are due by 24 January 2025 and must be submitted through the UCAR Career Portal.
As part of the application process, we'll be asking you to provide us with a few things: