Internship Application

The Clean Cities and Communities Accelerate program provides internships for students while helping coalitions benefit from the additional support and innovation that interns bring. Learn more about the application process for students and coalitions.

Student Internship Application

How to Apply

All positions are currently filled. Please check back periodically for open positions, or contact CleanCitiesIntern@anl.gov to be added to the mailing list.

Clean Cities and Communities Accelerate gives students studying a range of subjects the opportunity to grow public awareness and expand the markets of clean transportation fuels, technologies, and practices.

Who Should Apply

Given the grassroots, localized nature of the coalitions, Clean Cities and Communities interns are involved in a range of activities. Coalitions are encouraged to leverage interns’ skills and interests, and interns gain a wide range of tangible experiences, from cultivating professional development skills in writing or public speaking to honing technical skills such as data analysis and research. Interns also frequently engage in event planning, communications work, and content creation. Additionally, the program facilitates peer exchange and hosts webinars on professional development and technical areas of interest.

Application Details

These competitively selected internships are available at multiple Clean Cities and Communities coalition locations across the United States. All majors are accepted, but there is a particular emphasis on:

  • Communications
  • Public relations
  • Journalism
  • Marketing
  • Business and public administration
  • Engineering
  • Environmental science

Positions range in hours per week, and program length depends on the semester.

  • In fall and spring, interns work 15 or 20 hours/week for 14 weeks.
  • During summer, interns work 30 or 40 hours/week for 10 weeks.

Interns are paid via a stipend that is distributed in four increments over the course of the program. The undergraduate rate is $15/hour, and the graduate rate is $18/hour. If the coalition is in a location with a GS pay scale locality payment increase of 20% or more, the intern’s stipend will be raised to an undergraduate rate of $18/hr and graduate rate of $21.60/hr.

Dates for the upcoming semester:

The Spring 2025 semester of Accelerate will take place from approximately Jan. 13, 2025, to April 25, 2025.

FAQs for Interns

No! You’re eligible to participate for up to one year after graduation. Students from any academic institution (university, community college, trade school, etc.) are welcome to apply.

This would be at the discretion of all parties involved, but yes, many of our interns participate with the same coalition for multiple semesters. We see this as a great sign that both the student and coalition are having a positive experience.

Accelerate does not sponsor or request visas, but if a student is already eligible to work in the United States, they’re eligible to participate in the internship.

Coalition Application

How to Apply

Coalition applications are now closed. Please check back in early June.

Clean Cities and Communities Accelerate provides coalitions with the opportunity to benefit from the additional support and innovation that interns bring, while training the next generation of clean transportation leaders.

Interns can help with a wide range of projects, including but not limited to event planning, content creation, marketing, community engagement, stakeholder engagement, data analysis, and writing.

This year-long workforce development initiative is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. Coalitions apply once, typically around the start of June each year. If approved, they are approved for the upcoming fall, spring, and summer semesters. Students can be paid directly, or the funds can go directly to the coalition.

Application announcements will be posted on the Clean Cities and Communities forum and shared through regional managers. Apprentice coalitions are welcome to apply, with explicit approval from their regional manager. Priority is given to fully designated coalitions.

FAQs for Coalitions

No, you are welcome to move forward with candidates whom you source on your own, even if they didn’t apply through our official application portal.

Argonne National Laboratory will share this job opportunity on far-reaching platforms, such as Idealist, and via email to an internal list of professors, advisors, and students who have directly expressed interest in the program. Argonne National Laboratory can also post it on any national/regional platforms that you recommend, but we ask that more localized postings be made by coalition staff.

This changes upon Argonne National Laboratory’s discretion and funding. Whether we’re allowing coalitions to apply for one or two interns will be detailed in the application.

No, you’ll model your application based on the requirements in the application, but you have flexibility with the specific format. See examples of the “task plan” section.

Argonne National Laboratory encourages you to have your intern work on stand-alone projects that otherwise would not get done. If they are assisting with DOE funded projects or initiatives (i.e., the quarterly Alternative Fuel Price Report), they must play an extremely side-lined role. Feel free to reach out directly if you have specific questions about this.

Accelerate does not sponsor or request visas, but if a student is already eligible to work in the United States, they’re eligible to participate in the internship. Note, if an intern does not have a social security number, direct payment through ASEE is not possible. In that case, the payment would be distributed to the coalition. Additionally, there might be supporting documentation needed for the student to extend their visa over the summer. You’ll need to ask the student for more details on whether that is required.