Opto-Electrical Co-op-EOSL- Fall 2025

Overview:

The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) is the nonprofit, applied research division of the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). Founded in 1934 as the Engineering Experiment Station, GTRI has grown to more than 2,900 employees, supporting eight laboratories in over 20 locations around the country and performing more than $940 million of problem-solving research annually for government and industry. GTRI's renowned researchers combine science, engineering, economics, policy, and technical expertise to solve complex problems for the U.S. federal government, state, and industry.

Georgia Tech's Mission and Values:

Georgia Tech's mission is to develop leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition. The Institute has nine key values that are foundational to everything we do:

1. Students are our top priority.
2. We strive for excellence.
3. We thrive on diversity.
4. We celebrate collaboration.
5. We champion innovation.
6. We safeguard freedom of inquiry and expression.
7. We nurture the wellbeing of our community.
8. We act ethically.
9. We are responsible stewards.

Over the next decade, Georgia Tech will become an example of inclusive innovation, a leading technological research university of unmatched scale, relentlessly committed to serving the public good; breaking new ground in addressing the biggest local, national, and global challenges and opportunities of our time; making technology broadly accessible; and developing exceptional, principled leaders from all backgrounds ready to produce novel ideas and create solutions with real human impact.

Job Description

 GTRI’s Cooperative Education (“co-op”) program offers you extensive opportunities to participate in diverse scientific and technological endeavors, use state-of-the-art equipment and rapidly improve your technical and leadership skills. The program allows you to alternate three semesters of full-time work at GTRI with semesters of full-time school.

This job is for a Cooperative (Co-Op) position to work in the Electro-Optical and Infrared Systems Division (EISD) within the Electro-Optical Systems Laboratory (EOSL) at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) for the Fall 2025 semester.

The candidate will work with teams on projects which identify novel Electro-Optical/Infrared (EO/IR) sensing modalities, analyze and develop prototype optical systems and associated electronics and algorithms, and identify electro-optical hardware/software components (lenses, telescopes, modulators, detectors, amplifiers, computing architectures, etc.) required to implement the aforementioned systems.

EISD specializes in the complete optical imaging and remote sensing chain, from the analysis, design, development, integration, test and evaluation of imaging and sensing systems, to the processing, exploitation, and visualization of data and imagery. Upon completion of the initial design, EISD researchers integrate various optical sensors (UV/Vis/IR) to include cameras, lidar systems, ultrasonics, environmental imagers and instruments, and RF antennas on a multitude of manned and unmanned platforms such as UAVs, high altitude balloons, airplanes, helicopters, robotic applications, and numerous ground station applications. EISD makes critical contributions to national defense in the domains of Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, and Reconnaissance (ISTAR), Directed Energy (DE), Free-space Optical Communications (FSOC), and Under Sea Warfare (USW).

Required Minimum Qualifications

Co-op

• Pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Software Engineering, Imaging Science, Optical Engineering, Applied Mathematics, Physics, Astronomy, Astrophysics, Computer Science or a related discipline.
• 3.0 or higher cumulative GPA
• Must be eligible to be approved by your college/university to participate in a co-op program and register for co-op credit with your university during work terms
• Must be able to complete at least three full-time co-op terms (alternating three terms of full-time work at GTRI with semesters of full-time school) prior to graduation

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in one or more programming languages (C, C++, Python, MATLAB, Java, ROS, etc.)
• Experience with design, development, and integration of optical systems
• Experience developing image processing and/or computer vision algorithms
• Experience with lidar and/or remote sensing instrumentation
• Experience with optical detectors and testing equipment
• Experience implementing algorithms using one or more of the following: C/C++, Python, and/or MATLAB
• Task / team leadership experience