Center for Autonomy and AEOP Summer 2026 Internship

The Center for Autonomy at UT Austin is partnering with the Army Educational Outreach Program (AEOP) to offer a paid summer internship titled "Verifiable Integration of Multi-Modal Pre-Trained Generative Models in Sequential Decision-Making for Autonomous Systems." Two undergraduate positions are available, working alongside faculty, mentors, and research staff from the Center for Autonomy. The application deadline is March 28, 2026, and the internship runs June 1–August 10, 2026, requiring a commitment of 296 hours. There is no application fee.

Each intern receives a $6,000 stipend paid directly to them. On-campus housing in a UT Austin dorm is available if needed; if selected, interns who use on-campus housing and meal plans will have that cost deducted from their stipend.

The project focuses on advancing autonomous navigation within an existing software stack and verifying behaviors using large language models, integrating autonomous robotics, formal methods, and language-based reasoning. Work will be implemented and demonstrated on in-house robotic platforms — including two Clearpath Jackals, one Husky, and two Unitree Go2 quadrupeds — equipped with the ARL software stack and representative sensor suites. Research mentor Dr. Christian Ellis and current graduate students will guide interns through discrete tasks spanning software and hardware engineering.

Student deliverables include two 15-minute research presentations (Week 2 and Week 10), a research poster for presentation at the Oden Institute, and a brief abstract for an AEOP program booklet.

Eligibility: Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents with a GPA of 3.0 or higher, and should have a background in controls and/or robotics with proficiency in Linux, Python3, and ROS, as well as hardware skills such as prototyping and sensor integration.

How to Apply: Create an account on AEOP's website to access the application (registration opens in February 2026). Required materials include an unofficial transcript, a personal statement (2,000 words max), a list of STEM courses, and at least one letter of recommendation; a resume is optional. To note interest or learn more, contact autonomyinterns@austin.utexas.edu or reach out to Meredith before registration opens.