Math Major Internships: What Does the Job Entail?

[modnarandom]

A lot of places like national labs list that they're interested in hiring math majors as interns, but I'm having some trouble finding what sort of things they would do. I can think of really vague ideas like modelling things using computers, but otherwise I'm pretty confused. Does anyone know what kind of work this could entail?

 

[kinkmode]

Not sure, but many of the physicists I know at national labs 'model things using computers' full time.

 

[ZapperZ]

A lot of places like national labs list that they're interested in hiring math majors as interns, but I'm having some trouble finding what sort of things they would do. I can think of really vague ideas like modelling things using computers, but otherwise I'm pretty confused. Does anyone know what kind of work this could entail?

If they are hiring, don't they list the exact nature of the job?

Each of the National Labs has different things that they do. Some have huge mathematics/computing emphasis, etc. You need to go to each of their websites and find out what they focus in. There isn't a generic, one-answer-fits-all description on what these labs do.

Zz.

 

[analogdesign]

A lot of places like national labs list that they're interested in hiring math majors as interns, but I'm having some trouble finding what sort of things they would do. I can think of really vague ideas like modelling things using computers, but otherwise I'm pretty confused. Does anyone know what kind of work this could entail?

I work at a national lab. We hire lots of students. Often the work involves modeling things using computers. In fact that is pretty much the definition of what many mathematicians do in practice. We have entire groups here dedicated to computational methods which are staffed by mathematicians.

If you want an internship at a national lab you should go through the DOE SULI program. Very few internships are available directly through research groups. We like to get our interns in our group through SULI because the interns get additional support (like scientific writing mentoring, a poster session, etc) so they have a better experience. Here's the website. Check it out.

http://science.energy.gov/wdts/suli/

EDIT: SULI is a clearinghouse for national lab internships. If you apply for one, you select ranked choices of National Labs you're interested in, and areas of work you're interested in. It's a good system.