College Recruiting
Summer Research Program
MIT Lincoln Laboratory applies advanced technology to problems critical to national security. Behind the Laboratory's solutions are researchers with excellent technical abilities and imagination working in cross-disciplinary collaborations to develop systems from the initial concept stage, through simulation and analysis, to design and prototyping, and finally to real-world demonstrations.
Since 1975, Lincoln Laboratory has offered undergraduate and graduate students the unique opportunity to gain hands-on experience in a leading-edge research environment.
Program participants will contribute to projects and gain experience that complements their courses of study. Opportunities exist in fields such as communications systems, sensor and radar data analysis, digital signal processing, laser and electro-optical systems, solid-state electronics, software engineering, and scientific programming.
Projects may be available for students with backgrounds in electrical engineering, computer science, physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering, aeronautics/astronautics, materials science, molecular biology, biochemistry, and related fields.
Lincoln Laboratory is located in historic Lexington, Massachusetts, and is only 14 miles northwest of Boston. As part of the MIT community, program participants have enjoyed sports events, trips to the island off Cape Cod, sailing, and hiking. In addition, MIT and Lincoln Laboratory are close to most major routes to New England's shores and mountains.
About the Program
To be eligible for the Summer Research Program, students must have completed their junior year of college or be enrolled in a master's or doctoral program. In addition, students must have maintained an excellent academic record and be a U.S. citizen.
Students will be supervised by Laboratory technical staff on a day-to-day basis. The program runs from early June through mid-August and provides the following:
- Competitive weekly pay
- Round-trip travel expenses for students relocating from a campus 50 miles outside the Boston area
- Subsidized housing on the MIT campus for students relocating from a campus 50 miles outside the Boston area (meal plans are not available)
- Daily free shuttle service from the MIT campus to Lincoln Laboratory (Monday through Friday only)
- Access to the world-class libraries of MIT and Lincoln Laboratory
- Access to professional and technical training
- Access to MIT Medical/Lexington. Other employees and affiliates of Lincoln Laboratory may use MIT Medical on a fee-for-service basis. Those with outside coverage should present their insurance at the time of visit. Fees not paid by the insurer will be the responsibility of the individual.
- For a nominal fee, program participants can join the onsite fitness center run by the MIT Athletic Department
Students will have opportunities to
- Attend technical briefings
- Interface with national experts in numerous fields of research
- Work with state-of-the-art equipment on real-world
technical applications - Present the results of their research conclusions at the end of the summer
Examples of Past Summer Projects
- Designed, simulated, and built a wideband active antenna cancellation board
- Researched micromotion technologies
- Modified existing automatic speech-recognition systems
to improve performance for tonal languages - Designed and implemented neuron-like learning and classification algorithms
- Fabricated transistors that have graphene conduction channels
- Developed an automated algorithm that identifies and characterizes traffic flows in terminal areas
- Tracked landscape features for simultaneous mapping and sensor localization
- Predicted link availability using the Satellite Toolkit analysis software in combination with the emulation environment
- Debugged and tested electronics for a new high-frame-rate charge-coupled device
- Implemented and improved upon the Incident Object Description Exchange Format standard
- Investigated orthogonal noise waveforms for multiple-input multiple-output radar processing applications
MIT Lincoln Laboratory’s fundamental mission is to apply science and advanced technology to critical problems of national security. To assure excellence in the fulfillment of this mission, the Laboratory is committed to fostering an environment that embraces and leverages diversity of thought, culture, and experience.
MIT Lincoln Laboratory is an Equal Opportunity Employer, M/F/D/V.
Because of the unique nature of our work, U.S. citizenship is required.