Radiation Physics – AMA Summer Internship

Analytical Mechanics Associates•Hampton, VA

3d•$23 - $34•Onsite

About The Position

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is sending astronauts back to the Moon with the Artemis missions and is preparing for future exploration to deep space and Mars. As NASA embarks on missions beyond low-Earth orbit (LEO) and the protection of the Earth’s atmosphere and the geomagnetic field, astronauts are at greater risk because of the larger anticipated radiation exposures as compared to missions in LEO. The deep-space radiation environment is composed of a complex mixture of protons and heavier nuclei from the Sun (solar energetic particles - SEPs) and supernova explosions (galactic cosmic rays - GCRs). As particles in the space radiation environment collide with nuclei in spacecraft shielding materials and astronauts’ bodies, nuclear interactions occur, which may result in fragmentation of nuclei leading to a cascade of particles that irradiates the crew. Nuclear cross section models describe these nuclear interactions, and NASA’s deterministic radiation transport code, HZETRN, describes the propagation of the deep-space radiation environment, and any particles produced from nuclear collisions, through the shielding materials and into crew. Accurate nuclear cross sections are required to evaluate the health risks of radiation exposure to crew members. AMA is seeking to add an energetic and dynamic physics student to our RSES technical support team who brings nuclear physics experience and knowledge to the Space Radiation Group, in the Durability, Damage Tolerance, Reliability Branch at NASA Langley Research Center. The internship role requires the ability to evaluate nuclear cross-section experimental data literature, code in Python, and develop optimized nuclear cross-section models. The selected candidate will use the previously developed GSI (heavy-ion research center in Germany) – ESA (European space agency) – NASA nuclear cross-section database to extract isotope production cross-section data and systematically compare them with the nuclear isotope production models used in HZETRN. The selected candidate will also extract insights from those results to substantiate independent assessments. Ideally, the candidate will also evaluate the inclusion of nuclear reaction model optimizations into one of the nuclear isotope production models used in HZETRN. As documentation of the research findings will in some cases take the form of technical publications, the candidate’s writing skills must allow for capable editorial review and authorship. Other deliverables will require creating professional and refined slide packages for presentation to NASA audiences who lead the international field of health risk modelling due to space radiation exposure and, therefore, enables safe human space exploration. An ideal candidate will have a strong background in nuclear physics, modelling, coding, and data mining. The ideal candidate will have excellent communication and technical writing skills. This internship is for Summer 2026, for a 10-week period, starting on Monday, June 1, 2026. On-site work at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA is requested of candidates that meet the facility requirement of U.S. Citizenship or Permanent Residency. Pay for this position is $23.10 - $33.50, depending on education and location.

Requirements

Enrollment as a physics student at the graduate level
Excellent written and oral technical communication skills.
Demonstrated experience technical writing
Experience in nuclear physics cross-sections that imparts a level of expertise sufficient for comparing cross-section models and data, quantifying the goodness of the models, and help optimizing them
Proficient use of programming tools such as Python , Fortran
Must work locally , onsite at LaRC with the Space Radiation team

Nice To Haves

Space radiation physics and space radiation protection experience is a plus .
Statistical knowledge is also a plus.

Responsibilities

Benchmarking nuclear isotope production cross-section data with model predictions from the NASA space radiation transport code HZETRN
Working with NASA-developed isotopic cross-section models
Extracting data from a database
Data evaluation starting from literature
Coding with Python and potentially Fortran
Data analysis, statistical evaluation of a data-model comparison
Technical writing of a report
Preparation of presentations for audiences with various levels of expertise