For the eleventh year, the NCESR offered a summer internship opportunity to undergraduate students in energy sciences research. To be eligible to apply, the student must pursue any major at UNL, be in academic good standing, and either be entering their junior or senior year in the 2024 fall semester, which is determined by the total semester hours successfully completed (Seniors in the 2023-2024 academic year are not eligible, unless they are starting graduate school at UNL in the fall of 2024); and have a cumulative Grade Point Average of 3.0 or above.
As part of the application process, the undergraduate student is required to contact and secure a firm commitment from a UNL faculty member to sponsor the application and supervise the energy sciences research work the student proposed to conduct if selected.
The 2024 summer interns will meet with NCESR staff and NPPD liaisons in a meet-and-greet session on June 7. They will have the opportunity to tour Cooper Nuclear Station this summer and each intern will present a poster at the UNL Summer Research Symposium on August 6. At the end of the paid internship, each student will prepare a summary report that describes their accomplishments and/or results of their work experience in energy sciences research.
Each award recipient will receive up to $6,000 for their research work during the summer of 2024. The faculty sponsor can request an additional $1,000 travel fund to assist the intern in covering travel expenses to present the research conducted during the summer internship at a relevant conference.
The 2024 interns and their faculty sponsors are:
Julia Baron
Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Mona Bavarian, Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
Truman Koehler
Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Joseph Turner, Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering
Samuel Peterson
Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Siamak Nejati, Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
Joiner Pfister
Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Ravi Saraf, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Jagger Spiering
Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Limei Zhang, Department of Biochemistry
Truman Stoller
Faculty Sponsors: Dr. George Gogos, Department of Mechanical & Materials Engineering, and Dr. Craig Zuhlke, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Grace Van Cott
Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Nicole Buan, Department of Biochemistry
The NCESR summer internship program is named after Mr. Darrell J. Nelson, who served 41 years on the Custer County Public Power District and NPPD Boards from 1970-2011 and advocated lifelong learning. In 2005, Mr. Nelson proposed a partnership between NPPD and UNL to engage in energy sciences research. The following year, NCESR was created with NPPD’s support.