2027 Summer Intern, Research and Development

About the Role

This is a Summer Intern position in Research and Development focusing on Computational Materials Science at General Motors Research and Development. The intern will advance computational materials science at continuum length scales to accelerate the discovery, design, and deployment of materials for next-generation vehicle and manufacturing applications.

Key Responsibilities

• Build continuum-scale simulations and data-driven workflows to discover and down-select materials.
• Propose new research directions, establish technical research plans, and lead collaborative studies.
• Develop and apply continuum-scale models, simulation workflows, and data-driven methods.
• Guide experimental research, enable efficient materials down-selection, and help translate computational discoveries.
• Document and communicate results through technical reports, external publications, presentations, software/workflow documentation, and records of invention.
• Plan and execute collaborative research in computational materials science.
• Develop physics-based models for composition–process–structure–property relationships.
• Build and apply continuum and mesoscale simulation methods such as finite-element, phase-field, crystal-plasticity, computational fluid dynamics, reaction–diffusion, cellular automata, or related approaches.
• Integrate thermodynamics, kinetics, mechanics, processing science, and materials data into predictive computational workflows.
• Use simulation, high-throughput computation, optimization, and data-driven methods to screen candidate materials, compositions, processing conditions, and architectures.
• Partner closely with experimental researchers to define informative experiments, interpret results, quantify uncertainty, and accelerate materials down-selection.
• Establish model verification, validation, calibration, uncertainty quantification, and sensitivity-analysis practices.
• Connect computational materials insights to manufacturing processes and vehicle-relevant performance requirements.
• Drive internal and external collaborations with GM engineering teams, universities, national laboratories, software developers, and research partners.
• Maintain awareness of the state of the art in continuum mechanics, computational materials science, materials informatics, scientific machine learning, and related disciplines.
• Prepare timely, high-quality technical reports, presentations, publications, software documentation, and invention disclosures.
• Generate intellectual property to protect new inventions, computational methods, and research results.
• Assist and mentor other employees in accomplishing project and research goals.

Requirements & Tech Stack

• Python, C/C++, Fortran, MATLAB, Julia, or similar languages.
• Finite-element analysis
• Phase-field modeling
• Crystal plasticity
• Constitutive modeling
• Damage and fracture
• Multiphysics simulation
• Reaction–diffusion
• Process simulation
• Numerical algorithms
• High-performance computing
• Version-controlled software
• Reproducible computational workflows
• Scientific programming and data analysis
• Work Arrangement: Hybrid (expected to report to Warren, MI three times per week, at minimum)

Qualifications

• Pursuit of an Advanced degree (M.S. or Ph.D.) in:
• Materials Science and Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering
• Computational Science
• Applied Mathematics
• Physics
• Chemistry
• or a closely related field.
• Must be a current student.
• Strong foundation in materials thermodynamics, kinetics, mechanics, transport, numerical methods, and structure–property relationships.
• Experience developing or applying continuum-scale models to materials, manufacturing processes, or engineering systems.
• Experience connecting material chemistry, microstructure, processing history, and performance through computational models.
• Ability to formulate research questions, translate physical assumptions into models, and communicate model limitations clearly.
• Experience working in multidisciplinary research teams.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Able to work fulltime, 40 hours per week during the summer months.
• US Person status required (no visa sponsorship).

Preferred Qualifications:

• Ph.D. strongly preferred.
• Experience with one or more of the following:
• Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME)
• Materials discovery, high-throughput screening, combinatorial design, optimization, Bayesian methods, or active learning.
• Phase-field, crystal-plasticity, mesoscale, finite-element, multiphysics, or reduced-order modeling.
• Computational thermodynamics, CALPHAD, kinetics, phase transformation, precipitation, solidification, or microstructure evolution.
• Scientific machine learning, surrogate modeling, uncertainty quantification, sensitivity analysis, or inverse problems.
• Digital twins, process–structure–performance linkages, or integration of simulation with manufacturing data.
• Parallel computing, GPU acceleration, cloud or cluster computing, and scalable simulation workflows.
• Scientific software development, open-source contributions, workflow automation, or user-defined solver development.
• Experience coupling continuum-scale predictions with experimental validation and characterization data.
• Demonstrated publication record and/or intellectual property generation.
• Experience transitioning computational materials insights into applied engineering or manufacturing solutions.
• Experience communicating technical results to both specialist research audiences and product-development or manufacturing teams.