Category: Opportunities

The regular application period for Academic Year 2023-2024 scholarships has closed. Students may still apply from: Morgan State University, Hagerstown Community College, University of Maryland Baltimore County, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, and University of Maryland College Park (Engineering). For information about the program and to apply, visit the MDSGC Scholarships page.

Each year, student interns are placed at participating MDSGC universities for a paid 10-week internship experience. Visit the 2023 Summer Exchange page to view information about requirements and this summer’s projects. The application deadline was Friday, March 10, 2023.

The MDSGC Summer Exchange program supports qualified students from participating universities to partake in hands-on summer internships at any of the other participating institutions. Interested students should contact the faculty coordinator (see below) at their home institution. Currently, the participating institutions and faculty coordinators are:

Capitol Technology University
Prof. Marcel Mabson

Hagerstown Community College
Prof. Ed Sigler

Morgan State University
Prof. Guangming Chen

University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Prof. Carlos Romero-Talamás

University of Maryland, College Park
Prof. Mary Bowden

University of Maryland, Eastern Shore
Prof. Abhijit Nagchaudhuri

Any questions may be addressed to the faculty coordinator at your institution or Matt Collinge at MDSGC.

RockOn, a workshop at Wallops Flight Facility for sounding rocket payload design, is an exciting chance for faculty and students to kickstart payload projects at their home institutions. Participants in the workshop will build a working scientific payload and then see it launch on a real sounding rocket!

MDSGC intends to sponsor one or more teams for each year’s workshop and encourages Maryland students and/or faculty to submit applications for team sponsorship! For 2023, the RockOn registration period ran from late January through the end of February. If you are interested for next year, please contact MDSGC and complete the application below before mid-January.

MDSGC invites proposals to support summer internships and student research projects at Maryland institutions. Prospective mentors (typically, faculty at educational institutions) who have not previously applied for MDSGC funds are especially encouraged to apply.

Projects may be in any STEM area with relevance to NASA’s missions or future workforce needs. Preference will be given to proposals with strong NASA connections, including collaboration with NASA scientists or engineers, research associated with past, present or future NASA missions, and general aerospace or space science relevance. A typical proposal will request support for 1-2 students. This opportunity is primarily intended for undergraduate level students, but proposals to support high-school or graduate interns, or a larger cohort of students, may be considered on a case-by-case basis.

For priority consideration for the upcoming summer, proposals must be submitted to mdsgc@jhu.edu no later than mid-January; the first awards are issued in early February. Late proposals will be considered on a rolling basis subject to availability of funding.

Rules and restrictions:

• Students receiving direct funding through this program must be U.S. citizens.
• Students supported through this program will be required to:
  • Present their work at the MDSGC symposium in late July/early August in Baltimore;
  • Complete an exit survey at the end of the project;
  • Agree to participate in MDSGC longitudinal tracking.
• Depending on oversubscription rate and funding constraints, MDSGC may limit awards to no more than 2 students per institution.

Required proposal elements:

1. Mentor qualifications — Brief description of professional qualifications and past mentorship experience.
2. Project description — No more than one page about each project and its relevance to NASA.
3. Student recruitment plan — Briefly describe how students will be recruited; if specific students have already been identified, briefly describe how they were recruited and their qualifications. We especially encourage proposals with recruitment targeted at women and members of underrepresented minorities.
4. Student learning goals and timeline — Examples: programming languages, analysis techniques, specialized topical knowledge, intermediate milestones in project completion.
5. Mentoring plan/evaluation — How often student and primary mentor will meet; peer mentoring/group participation; what feedback will be provided to the student. Criteria for overall project and student success.
6. Deliverables/expected results — Include plan for presenting results and/or incorporating into publications.
7. Budget — Preference will be given to proposals that incorporate significant non-federal match (university, state, corporate, or private funds), including in-kind contributions (e.g., mentor’s contributed time), and for which MDSGC funds are used primarily to support student stipends. Up to $500 may be budgeted, per intern, for materials (if needed; please describe). Please see NASA internship stipend guidelines in the table below. Students supported through this program will also be eligible to apply to MDSGC for travel support to present their work at a meeting within the following calendar year. Funds for such travel may but need not be built into the proposal budget. 

Current NASA Internship Stipend Levels
Fall and Spring (16 weeks)
Full-time graduate: $14,400
Full-time undergrad: $11,680
Summer (10 weeks)
Full-time graduate: $9,000
Full-time undergrad: $7,300

Please contact MDSGC Deputy Director Matt Collinge with any questions.