NIJ and NSF Offering Criminal Justice Research Internships

The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) announce a new effort to strengthen the STEM workforce and support research relevant to criminal justice. We are inviting proposals under the NSF-NIJ INTERN program (INTERN), which allows graduate students to explore non-academic research internships in forensic science and other criminal justice fields. INTERN offers students experiential training in professional environments broader than would be typical in an academic program. At the same time, it gives potential employers access to future STEM workforce talent.

This represents the latest collaboration between NIJ and NSF since renewing a Memorandum of Understanding in 2020. Students must already be associated with an NSF grant, as INTERN awards are supplemental funding to existing NSF grants. We encourage interested students and their principal investigators to communicate with a potential host institution and discuss submitting a supplemental proposal with their NSF program officer.

Internship host sites can be industry, government, or non-profit institutions with forensic science or other criminal justice missions. Review a list of institutions already expressing an interest in hosting an NSF-NIJ INTERN.

If your organization is interested in hosting an NSF-NIJ INTERN, send an email to forensic.research@usdoj.gov to be added to this list.