Trainee Development
Practical experience and mentorship are central to the development of our trainees.
The Program
We offer a Mentored Summer Research Internship program that pairs graduate students with one of our core research teams. This 8-10 week internship targets graduate students from quantitative backgrounds interested in multi-scale modeling.
Core Research Projects
Interns engage in core research focusing on antibody-to-repertoire modeling (RP1), cell-to-organism dynamics (RP2), or individual-to-population transmission (RP3).
Mentorship
Interns are mentored by the faculty leading the project they’re matched to, and a dedicated staff program advisor provides structured training and professional mentorship.
We are now accepting internship applications for Summer 2026!
Important dates:
- Applications are due January 11, 2026
- References are due January 16, 2026
- Internship dates: Friday, May 15, 2026 through Sunday, July 26, 2026
The Summer Internship program is open to applicants nationwide.
Note to Trainees: Please ensure your MISM Membership trainee status is recorded on the MISM Membership Survey for targeted communication regarding other educational opportunities.
Mentored Summer Research Internships are paid, in-person internships for graduate students in quantitative disciplines to conduct research in multiscale immune systems modeling. Areas of research may include analysis of spatial-omics and imaging data, developing a framework for simulations, simulating epidemics on social networks, building generative models to improve computation time for simulations, and other multiscale immune systems research areas.
Interns will work as a member of the research team, participate in existing seminars and workshops, and receive structured training and professional mentorship. Interns will increase their knowledge in multiscale immune systems modeling research and gain hands-on research experience in a collaborative, interdisciplinary setting focused on data analysis and mathematical modeling. Interns will also improve professional and scientific communication skills, and have access to unique networking opportunities.
Interns will present their research at one of the Multiscale Immune Systems Modeling seminars.
- Up to 6 summer internships are available (2 per research project)
- Internship dates: Friday, May 15, 2026 through Sunday, July 26, 2026
- Interns will be provided a stipend of $21 per hour (up to a maximum of 40 hours per week) and optional housing accommodations for their participation (unless forbidden by NIH – e.g., T32 recipients)
- Interns will present their research at a MISM seminar
- All interns are required to attend weekly in-person meetings and seminars for the duration of the internship
Applicants will submit the following materials:
- Personal statement and goals
- Describe your background and previous research experience, if any
- Describe your research interests
- What do you hope to learn and accomplish by participating in this program?
- What are your career goals?
- CV/Resume
- Graduate school transcript
- Unofficial copies are acceptable
- Two professional/academic references, due by January 16, 2026 (feedback survey will be sent to listed references)
- Interns must have a quantitative background (e.g., statistics, biostatistics, mathematics, computer science, engineering, data science, computational biology)
- Interns must be enrolled in a graduate program at the time of the internship
- All graduate student employees must work in North Carolina
- No MISM intern is allowed to conduct work outside of the U.S., regardless of U.S. citizenship or visa status.
- Foreign nationals who are physically located in the U.S. can participate, but their visa status must allow for this work.