Program Overview

The Research Apprenticeship (RA) program is designed to allow experienced and qualified students to participate in research areas activities at JPL. Because JPL missions involve major engineering design and produce a huge amount of scientific data, a pool of high-quality student research apprentices can be of considerable help in carrying out the engineering and scientific work on these projects.

Students can benefit immensely from the experience, and they can also contribute to the sense of exploration and inquisitiveness at the Lab. Students who have previous research experience working at JPL as student interns, and who have proven to be both interested in the work and effective contributors, are the best candidates for these research apprenticeships.

The Research Assistantship program supports NASA's Strategic Objective 6.2: "support higher education research capability and opportunities that attract and prepare increasing numbers of students and faculty for NASA-related careers."