National Visualization and Analytics Center

NVAC Call for Internships & Fellowships

icon Applications are closed
Selections for the 2009 NVAC internships have been made. If you are still interested in an internship at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, please visit the Science and Engineering Education page.

The National Visualization and Analytics Center (NVAC) is looking for university undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate students, as well as faculty to take part in its year-round internship and fellowship program. The internship program is a key part of NVAC’s core education activities to help develop the next generation of scientists and engineers. Internships and fellowships will last a minimum of 10 weeks and will take place at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) facilities in Richland, Washington. All participants are required to submit an application form (instructions are at the bottom of this page).

What is NVAC?

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NVAC, established in 2004 by the Department of Homeland Security, plays a pivotal role in countering future terrorist attacks in the U.S. and around the globe. NVAC, led by PNNL, is developing a national agenda to define the directions and priorities for future research and development programs focused on visual analytics tools.

Visual analytics tools, which are capable of creating images from complex multidimensional data, will enable analysts to effectively fuse and analyze the enormous, dynamic and complex information streams containing structured and unstructured text documents, measurements, images, and video data. Analysts can use these high-impact, practical tools to more effectively identify signs of terrorist attacks in their earliest stages and ultimately thwart terrorist plots before they can be carried out.

PNNL is nationally and internationally recognized for scientific leadership and has a long history of high-impact contributions in information visualization and analysis for homeland security, intelligence, and defense. NVAC will capitalize on research conducted over the past several years by PNNL that has focused on providing innovative visual analytics tools to the intelligence community.

What are NVAC Research Areas?

NVAC conducts research in a broad range of topics in the discovery, development, and implementation of visual information analysis tools. A partial list of ongoing research topics include

Applicants with experience in any of these areas or related topics are encouraged to apply.

Benefits of an NVAC Fellowship:

Education is critical to preparing individuals to serve national needs in multiple agencies, roles, and functions. NVAC’s focus is on developing meaningful educational activities by providing hands-on experiences to students through internships. Students will have the opportunity to work directly with NVAC scientists helping to address the real problems faced by information analysis today.

Interns will gain invaluable experience applying leading edge technology and developing state-of-the-art approaches to dealing with the national security problems they see and read about in the news and popular press. We expect our interns to come away with a better understanding of how real-world research is applied to address difficult problems. Interns are also expected to explore and learn about the many areas of research being conducted at PNNL. This experience will provide the opportunity to better define what direction they want to take their academic and professional careers. An internship with NVAC will help students both in their classes and as researchers after graduation.

Applicant Eligibility:

Applicants for NVAC internships/fellowships must be enrolled/matriculated at an accredited college and can include

icon Applications are closed
Selections for the 2009 NVAC internships have been made. If you are still interested in an internship at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, please visit the Science and Engineering Education page.

For more information on the NVAC internship program please contact:

Carrie Almquist
Phone: 509-375-2599
Email: carrie.almquist@pnl.gov

PNNL also offers internships across many diverse scientific fields through its Office of Science and Engineering Education.