Materials Science / Chemical Engineering Intern

Advanced Ceramic Fibers LLC • Idaho Falls, ID

1d • $20 - $25 • Onsite

About The Position

Advanced Ceramic Fibers, LLC (ACF) is an award-winning advanced materials company in Idaho Falls developing high-performance ceramic fibers and composites for extreme environments. Our patented Direct Conversion Process™ (DCP) transforms commercial carbon fiber into Fi-Bar™, a metal carbide/carbon core fiber, with silicon carbide as our principal system along with tantalum carbide and hafnium carbide. Fi-Bar™ is built for hypersonics, space, defense, nuclear, and power generation applications where conventional fibers and metals fail, and our development work is supported by U.S. Navy and DARPA programs.

We are looking for an Intern who wants to own a real experimental program from start to finish. You will build a benchtop induction furnace system that replicates how carbon fiber is processed in our larger DCP furnaces, and then use it to answer one of the most important questions in our process: what controls depth of conversion, and how do we hold it consistent at production scale? Your findings will go directly to our engineering team and help shape how we make Fi-Bar™ at volume.

ACF is a small, fast-moving company, so you will work side by side with our engineering and materials team, including ACF’s founder and Chief Technology Officer, and you will be trusted with equipment, experiments, and decisions from the start rather than watching from the sidelines.

Requirements

• Ideally a current graduate student (Master’s or Ph.D.) in Materials Science & Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a closely related field; strong juniors and seniors with hands-on experience in many of the areas below will also be considered
• Hands-on mechanical ability: you have taken equipment apart, diagnosed problems, and fixed, built, or rebuilt it, and you are comfortable in a shop and lab with tools, fixtures, wiring, and instrumentation
• Strong command of experimental data: knowing what to measure and how, turning experimental or process runs into clean, time-aligned datasets, and using statistical or machine-learning models to test cause and effect, with AI coding tools and LLMs as accelerators
• Curious, detail-oriented, and passionate about science and experimental work
• High personal integrity, since accurate and honest data handling is essential to our work and to operating in a regulated environment
• Demonstrated respect for lab and shop safety
• U.S. persons only (ITAR/CUI position)
• Successful completion of a background check and drug test is required before employment.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with furnaces, induction heating, inert or vacuum atmosphere systems, thermocouples, pyrometry, or similar instrumentation
• Coursework or lab work in high-temperature processing, heat transfer, thermodynamics, ceramics or carbon materials, or process control
• Materials characterization experience using SEM, Instron or other mechanical testing, or similar analytical instruments
• Python, MATLAB, or equivalent for data analysis and model development
• Clear, concise technical writing

Responsibilities

• Specify, assemble, instrument, debug, and commission a small induction furnace as a benchtop test system that replicates how carbon fiber is processed in ACF’s larger DCP furnaces
• Design, run, and own test campaigns to understand and control depth of conversion at the nanoscale, including the test matrix, run plan, and next-test recommendations
• Identify every variable that can be measured and controlled, decide how to measure each one, and collect large, time-aligned, real-time datasets complete enough to show its effect on the Direct Conversion Process and depth of conversion
• Apply statistical and machine-learning models to test cause and effect and recommend process changes and next tests, using AI coding tools and LLMs to speed up the work while keeping conclusions grounded in the data and the physics
• Turn benchtop findings into practical recommendations for scaling consistent depth-of-conversion control, including how an induction-based DCP system could support faster thermal cycles and higher-volume production
• Keep datasets and documentation clean and complete, so every run can be reconstructed and results transfer cleanly to the engineering team
• Follow safe lab and shop practices with high-temperature equipment, electrical and induction systems, and process gases

Benefits

• A complete project to show for your time: a working induction test system, a clean dataset, and recommendations you present to our team
• Hands-on experience with ultra-high-temperature processing, induction heating, controlled-atmosphere systems, and process instrumentation that few internships offer
• Experience working on defense and aerospace technology under ITAR and CUI controls, a strong foundation for a career in defense, space, or national laboratory work

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Intern