Research Intern - Extended Perception Interaction Cognition (EPIC)

Microsoft • Redmond, WA

7d • Onsite

About The Position

This is a research internship with the Extended Perception, Interaction & Cognition (EPIC) research group in Microsoft Research’s Redmond Lab. The internship focuses on creating interactive experiences that blend artificial and human intelligence. Research topics include combining generative AI with interaction design to reinvent work with content and developing multimodal interfaces that adapt in real time to users’ tasks and contexts. The EPIC group conducts fundamental research at the intersection of hardware, software, and human potential, studying Human-Computer Interaction through prototyping, system building, design sketching, and observational study of human behavior.

The 12-week internship pairs interns with mentors and provides opportunities to collaborate with doctoral candidates, other interns, and researchers; present findings; contribute to research and development; and participate in the research community. Interns are expected to be physically located at their manager’s Microsoft worksite for the duration of the internship. Research internships are offered year-round, though they typically begin in the summer. Multiple positions are available.

Requirements

• Currently enrolled in a Doctorate Degree program in Computer Science or a related STEM field.
• Physically located at the manager’s Microsoft worksite for the duration of the internship.
• Submit contact information for references, who may be contacted if needed.
• Key skills sought include generative AI technologies such as LLMs, VLMs, Stable Diffusion, video/world/action models, real-time models, and multi-agent development.
• Experience building interactive prototypes with TypeScript, Node.js, and React, using coding agents and agentic workflows.
• Demonstrated programming and software architecture fundamentals to guide agents, review generated code, and validate system behavior.

Nice To Haves

• At least 1 year of experience conducting original research in Human-Computer Interaction or a closely related area.
• Ability to document research contributions with publicly available resources such as papers, pre-prints, videos, demonstrations, repositories, articles, press coverage, or research proposals included in the submitted CV.
• Depending on the project: experience devising multimodal interactions involving touch, pen, or speech; context sensing; and responsive and adaptive user interfaces.
• Depending on the project: experience with storyboarding and envisioning video techniques.
• Depending on the project: experience conducting qualitative and quantitative user studies.

Responsibilities

• Conduct research and contribute to research and development in interactive experiences that blend artificial and human intelligence.
• Collaborate with mentors, fellow doctoral candidates, other Research Interns, and researchers during the 12-week internship.
• Present research findings and contribute to the research community.
• Depending on the project, build interactive prototypes and systems, develop multimodal interactions and adaptive user interfaces, create experience-design materials, or conduct qualitative and quantitative user studies.

Benefits

• Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation; details are provided through Microsoft’s additional benefits and pay information page.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Intern
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree