Posting Title

Graduate PhD (Summer/Year-Round) Internship – Buildings and Thermal Energy Systems

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Location

CO - Golden

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Position Type

Intern (Fixed Term)

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Hours Per Week

40

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Working at NREL

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), located at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Golden, Colorado is the nation's primary laboratory for research and development of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies.

Join a team of world-class scientists, engineers, and visionaries dedicated to shaping the world’s energy future through cutting-edge research and innovation. From our vision to our NREL community, we are unique in the research community. We are focused on impact. From our work in basic sciences to systems engineering, analysis, demonstration, and deployment, we are focused on solving market-relevant problems that result in advanced, secure, reliable, and affordable energy systems. We are trusted clean energy leaders, developing cost-saving solutions that make U.S. industries more competitive, and support job creation and economic growth across rural and urban communities.

At NREL, we offer a unique, mission-driven work environment with cutting-edge facilities and multidisciplinary research teams. NREL's environment offers strong partnerships with industry, academia, and other national laboratories, as well as professional development opportunities and a competitive benefits package for employees.

Learn about NREL’s critical objectives: NREL's Mission and Vision.

Job Description

The Building Thermal Energy Science Group of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is seeking a graduate intern. NREL is the nation's primary laboratory for research, development, and deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies. This position will support research and development conducted at NREL. The candidate will join team members on cutting-edge research to model and analyze heat and mass transfer for thermal energy storage, HVAC systems, and buildings. The candidate should have a strong background and understanding of heat and mass transfer, including theory, numerical modeling, and experiments.

General Duties and Responsibilities:

The successful candidate should have a strong background in thermodynamics and heat transfer, be able to independently work on experiments and modeling of thermal energy systems and have experience in thermal system design and characterization using experimental as well as modeling tools. The candidate will contribute to the ongoing research in the area of thermal energy storage technologies for buildings. The candidate is expected to demonstrate good communication skills and the ability to document the research in the form of journal articles and presentations.

Specific Duties and Responsibilities:

• Improve, develop, and use first-principles numerical modeling tools of thermal components and systems
• Develop, design, and analyze new thermal components for buildings and HVAC
• Perform laboratory experiments on materials and fluid/thermal components at NREL’s laboratories
• Assist in project management, including writing reports, journal articles, and presentations for program review or conferences

Desired Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

The candidate will get the opportunity to be involved in detailed thermal modeling and experimental research, along with system integration.  A successful candidate will have:

• Strong background in thermal sciences (i.e. thermodynamics, heat and mass transfer, psychrometrics, fluid mechanics) theory, heat-transfer experiments, and numerical modeling.
• Knowledge of thermal energy storage materials and/or components and systems.
• Knowledge of programming for heat transfer modeling and data analysis (Fluency in MATLAB and Engineering Equation Solver (EES)).
• Demonstrated research capability and creativity to solve challenging problems, as well as the ability to work well in a team.
• We do not require candidates to hold all the skills listed above but applicants should illustrate an eagerness to learn and grow professionally.

The hiring team prefers an internship that occurs over summer and fall 2025. However, a summer 2025 position is also acceptable for an outstanding candidate.

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Basic Qualifications

Minimum of a 3.0 cumulative grade point average.

Undergraduate: Must be enrolled