Launch Your Career: Mechanical Engineering Internships in Aerospace and Beyond

An internship in mechanical engineering offers invaluable practical experience, building your resume and strengthening your career readiness. Many organizations, from NASA to Boeing and Lockheed Martin, offer internships designed to immerse students in real-world projects and provide hands-on experience.

The Value of Internships

Internships provide an opportunity to apply what you’ve learned in the classroom within a professional environment. As an Intern, you have the opportunity to apply what you’ve learned in the classroom within a professional environment. Internships can be part-time or full-time positions where you work at least 120 hours over the course of the semester (8-10 hours per week). They allow you to gain practical experience, build your network, and explore growth opportunities. Your college experience does not have to be confined to campus or your courses.

Mechanical Engineering at Boeing: A World of Possibilities

Boeing is more than airplanes; it's more than satellites and cutting-edge cyber solutions. As we transform aerospace, your skills will take center stage. At the center of aviation since 1916, many of our most innovative products are designed and built here. The most exciting advances in aerospace are being developed today in India. Across 30 key locations in the UK, we employ more than 3,000 highly skilled teammates. And, after 80 years of success, we keep growing.

Mechanical and structural engineers at Boeing develop and apply innovative technologies that shape the future. Boeing is a company of inquisitive, talented people. See what it means to be part of #TeamBoeing. Our global presence includes employees and operations in more than 65 countries. We’re proud of our 75-year partnership with South Korea.

Boeing offers a wide array of opportunities for mechanical engineering students. From designing experimental hardware for propulsion applications to supporting the efficiency and reliability of 777X wing structures through innovative design solutions, the possibilities are vast.

Read also: Boeing Internship Requirements

Diverse Roles: Mechanical engineers at Boeing can work as material and process engineers, production engineers, test and evaluation engineers, and more.
Tuition Assistance: Boeing offers a tuition assistance program that pays your institution directly.
Employee Support: Boeing HR professionals support our employees as they manage their career path, develop their teams and chart the course for career development. Faced with caring for two sick family members, Sandra Lankford leaned on Boeing's caregiver benefits for support.
Global Opportunities: Boeing has a global presence, offering opportunities to work in various locations around the world.

Lockheed Martin: Pushing Aerospace Boundaries

At Lockheed Martin, engineering internships provide a unique opportunity to immerse yourself in the world of innovation and technology. Interns engage in real-world projects that push the boundaries of aerospace, defense, and security. By collaborating with leading experts and working with advanced technologies, you'll gain invaluable hands-on experience. Our internships are designed to challenge and inspire, setting the foundation for a successful engineering career while contributing to solutions that make a global impact.

NASA: Exploring the Extraordinary

At NASA, we explore the extraordinary every day and our work is more than just a profession-it’s a lifelong pursuit and a passion. NASA offers internships for non-STEM majors. Even if you are not a science or engineering student, you can get an internship at NASA! NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement provides, annually, more than 2,000 students the opportunity to impact the agency’s mission through a hands-on internship.

OSTEM internships offer students an opportunity to gain practical work experience while working side-by-side with mentors who are research scientists, engineers, and individuals from many other professions. Internships may be full time or part time on a NASA center or facility. Join our NASA team and gain valuable on-the-job experience, build your resume, and strengthen your career readiness. A NASA internship provides a stellar opportunity to launch your future as part of America’s aerospace workforce. space program Communicate proficiently in English.

Busting the Myths

A common misconception is that NASA only offers engineering internships. Please know that we have opportunities for students who are not majoring in engineering. NASA needs employees with a variety of knowledge and skills.

At NASA, our engineers, mathematicians, scientists, accountants, writers, IT specialists, project managers, program analysts, and many other professionals work together to break barriers to achieve the seemingly impossible. Interns are responsible for making their own housing arrangements. This includes locating their own housing options and paying for their housing. Your center location and housing options will determine if you need a car. At most centers, unless you find housing within walking distance, you will most likely need a car.

Read also: Funding Your Engineering Education

Diverse Opportunities at NASA

I'm not a science or engineering student. Yes! Interns may support a variety of business and program management work, including human resources, administration and program analysis, accounting and budget, communication and public relations, procurement and contracts, information technology, security, and education.

How to Get Started

You’ve got a lot of choices ahead of you. Practical experience. Building your network. Growth opportunities. When you become an intern at Northrop Grumman, you’ll contribute from your first day on a wide range of projects - some with high visibility, others with a low profile. From science, technology and engineering, there are so many career possibilities here that we challenge you to find a field we don’t have. Stay up to date on job openings, events and our amazing people by joining our talent community. We’ll also let you know when our 2023 internship positions are posted, which occurs throughout the fall and spring. Join our team of innovators and dreamers, engineers and designers, cybersecurity experts and technologists.

Research Opportunities

Research opportunities are available both on and off campus. These experiences offer a unique way to better understand your academic interests while possibly discerning how graduate school may play a role in your future. Click here to find out more about undergraduate research. W. R. How do I get started?

Success Stories

Aaron Yazzie: A former intern at JPL, inspires a new generation of Diné scientists and engineers, proving their voices have an essential place in the story of the cosmos.Read More
Clare Luckey: Former intern Clare Luckey was selected as one of Forbes’ 30 under 30. Her hard work and determination has landed her at the forefront of space exploration as she helps plan how the first astronauts will land on Mars.Read More
Vivian Li: Remotely operating NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover from millions of miles away is no easy task. The Artemis Generation begins now, with us.
Suellen: Suellen achieved her dream to become a Boeing engineer.
Emily: Since interning, Emily completed rotations in four business units and worked on the cargo air vehicle program.
Angelie: Angelie has been with Boeing for 12 years and was diagnosed with autism in April 2019.
Anna Guthrie: Product security engineer Anna Guthrie builds resilient technologies to protect against cyberattacks.
Tresha Lacaux: Vice president Tresha Lacaux landed her dream internship at Boeing.
Teresa: Meet Teresa, a product engineer and inventor with multiple patents.
Nelson: As a material and process engineer at Boeing South Carolina, Nelson earned his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in engineering.
Rayni: As project manager for Ground-based Midcourse Defense, Rayni isn't bothered by roadblocks.
Ronak: Meet Ronak, a Boeing India teammate who’s used our tuition assistance to grow his career, studying online and abroad.
Doan: From Vietnam to the United States, Doan learned about our company from engineers around the world.
Tori: Tori started her career digging up ancient bones as a budding archeologist.

These stories highlight the diverse paths and opportunities available to mechanical engineering interns in the aerospace industry.

Navigating Your Internship

Housing: Interns are generally responsible for making their own housing arrangements, including locating and paying for it.
Transportation: Depending on the location of your center and housing, you may need a car.

Read also: Paid Aerospace Internships

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