Summer Internship Program

Our Summer Internship Program is a great opportunity for students (typically rising seniors) interested in STEM. Started over a decade ago, this program has allowed over 80 students from schools in the extended Roaring Fork Valley to work at the Aspen Center for Physics during the summer. During this time, they meet, talk with, and interview some of the world’s leading physicists. Interns perform various tasks around our campus, including making coffee, delivering packages, and watering plants — but the best part of the job is that we arrange one-on-one meetings with physicists. These meetings have led to several students choosing a physics major in college and all of the students say they learned to be more comfortable seeking out their professors when they get to college. Students also interview a physicist for KDNK’s Radio Physics program, which looks great on a resume. While this program has typically been for rising seniors, we will consider dedicated rising juniors as well.

Applications are available now for summer 2024.

Radio Physics

One perk of our internship is being able to interview physicists on our KDNK program, Radio Physics! Radio Physics is a collaboration with high school students from Aspen to Rifle, the Aspen Center for Physics, and KDNK Community Radio. Student Interns research one of the many visiting physicists here during the summer program, and we record the interview on site. The interviews are then aired on KDNK periodically.

[HS]2 Program

The Aspen Center for Physics has partnered with many schools, including the Aspen Community School, and Aspen High School. Recently, we partnered with a program out of CRMS in Carbondale, CO, called [HS]2, which stands for “High School High Scholar”. [HS]2 prepares a group of first-generation and/or low-income students of color to succeed in college by empowering them with STEM-based skills, a family of driven peers, and a space to see the light and power in their own voices. For example, the [HS]2 students visited the ACP campus during the summer of 2023 for a panel of scientists talking about their own careers, including host Clare Yu, Keith Hawkins, Cecilia Chirenti, and Harold Hwang. They stayed for a public lecture by Suchitra Sebastian, titled “Quantum Alchemy”.