Job Description

What Your Job Will Be Like:

We are seeking a summer graduate student intern to join our dynamic team! You will perform experiments studying the electro-thermal instability (ETI) on Sandia’s 1-mega-ampere Mykonos pulsed power machine. The electro-thermal instability is thought to be the key seed for instability growth on the Magnetized Liner Inertial Fusion (MagLIF) scheme. We will directly measure ETI growth under prescribed initial target conditions. This richly challenging project will offer publication opportunity. You will be trained in high-energy-density (HED) plasma physics, emphasizing inertial confinement fusion (ICF) capabilities, along with a highly collaborative team of scientists, engineers, and technicians.

On any given day, you may be called on to:

• Design, develop, and perform pulsed-power-driven HED experiments
• Conceptualize and characterize novel physics targets
• Commission new plasma diagnostics, including x-pinch-driven radiography
• Perform data collection, reduction and analysis
• Work individually and as part of a team

Salary Range:

At Sandia, we value the important work done by our interns and its contribution to National Security. Because of this, our interns earn competitive pay rates. Our pay structure is based on earned credit hours, classification, and degree level. Your pay rate will be determined during the hire process and included in your offer package. You can view the Intern Pay Rate chart here (https://www.sandia.gov/app/uploads/sites/51/2024/10/Student-Rate-Sheet-Sept-2024.pdf) .

Qualifications We Require:

You bring the confidence and skills to be eligible for the job by meeting these minimum requirements:

• Earned bachelor's degree
• Currently attending and enrolled full time in the spring term immediately preceding the internship (or scheduled to graduate in the spring) in an accredited science, engineering, or math graduate program
• Minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0/4.0
• Ability to work up to 40 hours per week during the summer
• Ability to secure and maintain a U.S. security clearance which requires U.S. citizenship

Note: If you have not yet started your graduate program, please apply to an undergraduate intern position.

Qualifications We Desire:

• Candidates should be pursuing a graduate degree in Physics, Nuclear Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related fields of study.
• Experience designing and fielding experiments using pulsed power generators
• Experience studying high-energy-density plasmas
• Self-motivated, hard-working, detail-oriented and thorough
• Ability to work well in a team environment
• Ability to regularly work onsite at Sandia NM
• Experience with the following
• Optical design and fielding optical diagnostics
• Gated framing cameras, fast photodiodes, and photomultipliers
• Laser imaging and laser safety
• Surface metrology (microscopy, interferometry, etc)
• MATLAB, PYTHON, or similar
• X-pinch source development

Posting Duration:

This posting will be open for application submissions for a minimum of seven (7) calendar days, including the ‘posting date’. Sandia reserves the right to extend the posting date at any time.

About Our Team:

The Pulsed Power Accelerator Science & Technology Group develops the world’s most advanced pulsed power accelerator technology. We apply science and technology to develop superpower accelerators that deliver multi-terawatt electromagnetic pulses to physics experiments. Various types of loads are fielded by the scientific community in several research areas including inertial confinement fusion, materials science, weapons physics, nuclear survivability, and laboratory astrophysics. We conduct accelerator physics experiments at Sandia’s Z Pulsed Power Facility, the world’s largest pulsed power accelerator. The principal goals of these activities are to improve the understanding of accelerator physics; apply the understanding to the development of advanced accelerator technology; use the capabilities and understanding to upgrade Z and other pulsed power machines; and establish the technical foundation upon which we will build the next generation of pulsed power accelerators in support of the U.S. Department of Energy’s national security mission.

About Sandia:

Sandia National Laboratories is the nation’s premier science and engineering lab for national security and technology innovation, with teams of specialists focused on cutting-edge work in a broad array of areas. Some of the main reasons we love our jobs:

• Challenging work with amazing impact that contributes to security, peace, and freedom worldwide
• Extraordinary co-workers
• Some of the best tools, equipment, and research facilities in the world
• Career advancement and enrichment opportunities
• Flexible work arrangements for many positions include 9/80 (work 80 hours every two weeks, with every other Friday off) and 4/10 (work 4 ten-hour days each week) compressed workweeks, part-time work, and telecommuting (a mix of onsite work and working from home)
• Generous vacations, strong medical and other benefits, competitive 401k, learning opportunities, relocation assistance and amenities aimed at creating a solid work/life balance*

World-changing technologies. Life-changing careers. Learn more about Sandia at: http://www.sandia.gov*These benefits vary by job classification.

Security Clearance:

Sandia is required by DOE to conduct a pre-employment drug test and background review that includes checks of personal references, credit, law enforcement records, and employment/education verifications. Applicants for employment need to be able to obtain and maintain a DOE L-level security clearance, which requires U.S. citizenship. If you hold more than one citizenship (i.e., of the U.S. and another country), your ability to obtain a security clearance may be impacted.

Applicants offered employment with Sandia are subject to a federal background investigation to meet the requirements for access to classified information or matter if the duties of the position require a DOE security clearance. Substance abuse or illegal drug use, falsification of information, criminal activity, serious misconduct or other indicators of untrustworthiness can cause a clearance to be denied or terminated by the DOE, resulting in the inability to perform the duties assigned and subsequent termination of employment.

EEO:

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, or veteran status and any other protected class under state or federal law.

NNSA Requirements for MedPEDs:

If you have a Medical Portable Electronic Device (MedPED), such as a pacemaker, defibrillator, drug-releasing pump, hearing aids, or diagnostic equipment and other equipment for measuring, monitoring, and recording body functions such as heartbeat and brain waves, if employed by Sandia National Laboratories you may be required to comply with NNSA security requirements for MedPEDs.

If you have a MedPED and you are selected for an on-site interview at Sandia National Laboratories, there may be additional steps necessary to ensure compliance with NNSA security requirements prior to the interview date.

Job ID: 694599

Job Family: 91

Regular/Temporary Position: T

Full/Part-Time Status: P

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status.