2027 Internship

Data Science & Autonomous Systems Internship - Critical Infrastructure Protection

Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory

About the Role

The Critical Infrastructure Protection Group is dedicated to protecting the United States’ infrastructure from persistent threats. Our team of computer, system, and cybersecurity engineers develops innovative capabilities to enhance infrastructure resilience against complex and persistent threats. We design, build, hack, destroy, and invent to advance the state of the art, continuously deploying our work in operational facilities. Our contributions protect U.S. citizens, the national airspace, and ensure continuous and safe delivery of resources like water and power. As an intern, you will have access to and influence premier research facilities like our CYPRESS Laboratory. We foster creativity and boldness, empowering staff to pursue their ideas. We operate in a high-performing hybrid environment, allowing for flexible work arrangements.

Key Responsibilities

• Collaborate with sponsors to understand their missions and define success criteria.
• Interact with legacy and cutting-edge monitoring, prediction, estimation, and control technologies.
• Contribute to the development, analysis, and integration of trusted autonomous systems into the national airspace system.
• Lead data analysis by developing and utilizing simulations and field-collected data.
• Recommend potential system improvements and upgrades.
• Develop techniques to build justification and confidence in AI/ML systems.
• Identify opportunities and develop research proposals for future airspace integration solutions.

Requirements & Tech Stack

• Pursuing a Bachelors, Masters, or PhD in Computer Science, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Applied Mathematics, Computer or Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 3.0 GPA or above on a 4.0 scale.
• Experience with scripting languages (Python, shell, etc.) and Linux (command line).
• Experience with Matlab, C/C++.
• Experience or interest in Data Science/AI/Machine Learning.
• Some experience with version control systems (preferably Git, including branching, pull requests, and basic conflict resolution).
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills (verbal and written).
• U.S. citizenship status is required to access APL’s facilities and networks.

Qualifications (Going Above and Beyond)

• Experience with Agentic frameworks (e.g., Langchain/LangGraph, PydanticAI, OpenAI Agents).
• Experience with SIEMs (ELK, Splunk, etc.).
• Familiarity with containerization and orchestration tools (Docker, Kubernetes, OpenShift).
• Interests in modeling and simulation, decision making under uncertainty, sequential decision making, data mining, and aviation.