2027 Technology-to-Market Summer Scholars Program

Background

The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) is an agency within the U.S. Department of Energy. ARPA-E cultivates transformative technologies that break through technical barriers to strengthen American energy dominance. ARPA-E programs provide top energy researchers with funding, technical assistance, and tech-to-market guidance to innovate how Americans access affordable, reliable, and secure energy. The driving question behind all ARPA-E programs is, “Is there a better way to create, use, store, and deliver energy?” ARPA-E recruits Summer Scholars who have a unique combination of technical and business skills to help commercialize technologies developed by ARPA-E’s programs. 

Opportunity

ARPA-E’s Summer Scholars Program gives students the chance to help prepare ARPA-E’s technologies for market adoption and receive mentorship from ARPA-E’s Technology-to-Market team, the ARPA-E Program Directors, and ARPA-E Fellows. ARPA-E seeks graduate students interested in:

o   Researching market trends, cross-industry collaboration opportunities, and go-to-market strategies

o   Assisting in developing techno-economic analysis

o   Performing stakeholder analysis to identify technology adopters and laggards

o   Mapping key sectors within ARPA-E’s mission

o   Identifying, designing, and quantifying metrics to support program development and performers success

Planned Projects:

·       Analysis of how breakthrough DARPA technologies moved from early development to broad civilian impact, comparing with ARPA-E timelines

·       Cross-sector analysis of why some technologies get cheaper faster than others using Wright's Law and learning curves

·       Assessment of what drives successful commercialization - and what holds projects back - across ARPA-E-funded technologies

·       Analysis of how much real-world demonstration is needed to show that emerging technologies can scale

·       Assessment of what ARPA-E can learn from project challenges, failures, and strategic pivots

·       Analysis of how reliability modeling and testing can accelerate adoption of new technologies in risk-averse sectors such as the electricity grid

·       Assessment of the path from ARPA-E research to commercial markets for supercritical CO2 technologies

·       Mapping how advanced energy technologies can navigate defense acquisition alongside commercial transition

·       Market analysis of ultra-low-temperature cryocoolers for quantum computing, medical systems, and cryogenic electronics

·       Market analysis of plasma-heating and driver technologies across fusion and potential non-fusion applications

Applicants should be prepared for deep immersion into the project’s subject matter and must thrive when working independently. Job requirements include strong analytical, written, and oral communication abilities. Ideal candidate(s) for the program will have a BS degree in a relevant field (e.g., business, economics, data analytics, electrical engineering, physics, material science, computer science) and be in the process of completing a graduate level degree (e.g. MS, MBA, PhD). ARPA-E compensates Summer Scholars with a weekly stipend and travel costs. A Scholar’s typical length of stay ranges from 10-12 weeks. The position is based at ARPA-E’s headquarters in Washington, DC. This opportunity is available only to U.S. citizens. Note, this is not a job announcement for federal appointment. Applications will be reviewed, and if selected, candidates will receive an offer of temporary appointment from ORISE.

How to Apply

Highly motivated candidates should submit a CV, a cover letter, and contact information for two references at https://arpa-e.energy.gov/careers/open-opportunities Please note: If applicants are interested in more than one proposed project, please indicate in the body of your cover letter the specific projects you are interested in pursuing. Questions can be directed via email to ARPA-E-jobs@hq.doe.gov with the words “Summer Scholars” in the subject heading.

The United States Government does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, retaliation, parental status, military service, or other non-merit factor.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and are due no later than Monday, January 18th, 2027. Interested parties are encouraged to apply early.

Hosted Webinar:

ARPA-E is hosting a webinar on Thursday, October 22^nd, 2026 at 4 pm ET to describe the Summer Scholars program and answer questions. Here is a link to the live webinar https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/273061718746768?p=SKilWovzI2h5091UjF.

A recording of the webinar post event will be available at https://arpa-e.energy.gov/careers/internships

Project Descriptions:

DARPA technologies: from early development to broad impact

DARPA is widely recognized for technologies that ultimately found broad civilian relevance. Understanding how long that journey took - and when those technologies began to gain wider visibility - can provide a useful benchmark for ARPA-E. The Summer Scholar will trace when and how DARPA dual-use technologies reached widespread civilian relevance and recognition, documenting the timeline of DARPA’s visibility and impact and comparing that trajectory with ARPA-E’s own long-term path. Outcomes:

-               Timeline of DARPA technologies’ progression to widespread civilian relevance and recognition

-               Analysis to help clarify when ARPA-E might reasonably expect similar recognition

Wright’s Law and learning curves across technology areas

As technologies scale, their costs can fall in surprisingly predictable ways. Wright’s Law captures this relationship, but the pace of cost reduction can look very different across technologies such as microelectronics and photovoltaics. The Summer Scholar will analyze data across technology sectors, compare learning-curve slopes, and investigate which classes of technologies show faster or slower cost reductions - and why. Outcomes:

-               Cross-sector comparison of learning curves and cost-reduction patterns

-               Findings on technology characteristics associated with faster or slower learning behavior

Commercialization pathways and outcomes for ARPA-E technologies

ARPA-E-funded technologies can reach meaningful commercial milestones through many different paths, while others encounter barriers along the way. Comparing those experiences can reveal the factors that shape commercial progress. The Summer Scholar will examine both successful and unsuccessful commercialization outcomes, including SCALEUP alumni and projects that followed alternative pathways, to identify recurring technical, financial, customer, partnership, manufacturing, and market-adoption factors. Outcomes:

-               Analysis of commercialization pathways and outcomes across ARPA-E projects

-               Identification of common factors that support or constrain commercial advancement

“Laws” for demonstrating technology innovations’ scalability​

For chemical processes, rules of thumb can help indicate when a successful demonstration has meaningfully reduced scale-up risk. Could similar benchmarks help evaluate scalability across a broader range of materials and technologies? The Summer Scholar will validate the proposed 1:100:10,000 order-of-magnitude relationship for chemical processes and explore how this approach may apply across other classes of materials and technologies. Outcomes:

-               Validation of demonstration-scale rules of thumb for chemical processes

-               Assessment of how scalability benchmarks may apply across other materials and technology classes

Learning from project failures and strategic pivots in ARPA-E projects

Not every ambitious technology project follows its original plan. Technical, market, business-model, or organizational challenges can force teams to pivot - and those pivots can sometimes help projects recover, reposition, or create value in new ways. The Summer Scholar will examine SCALEUP and focused/OPEN projects that experienced significant challenges, course corrections, or downstream outcomes; identify recurring failure modes; and assess when, why, and how strategic pivots influenced results. Outcomes:

-               Agency-wide framework for learning from project challenges, failures, and strategic pivots

-               Findings to inform project management, T2M support, milestone design, and program development

Can better reliability analysis unlock adoption of new technologies?

Promising technologies can face slow adoption when customers are uncertain about reliability and technical lifetime - especially in the grid and other risk-averse, harsh-environment sectors. Better modeling and testing could help clarify those risks. The Summer Scholar will investigate how reliability is assessed, where lifetime modeling breaks down, and how testing bottlenecks affect commercial uptake, developing case studies relevant to grid technologies and other risk-averse sectors. Outcomes:

-               Case studies of reliability modeling, lifetime assessment, and testing bottlenecks

-               Analysis of opportunities for ARPA-E to help de-risk adoption in risk-averse sectors

Supercritical CO2: tracing the path from ARPA-E research to commercialization

Supercritical CO2 technologies are moving toward applications in power generation, industrial heat recovery, and aerospace. Looking across ARPA-E’s past investments and today’s market can show where the technology is advancing and where barriers remain. The Summer Scholar will synthesize ARPA-E’s historical contributions, analyze current market growth and commercial drivers, map emerging applications, and assess remaining technical and system-level barriers to commercialization and deployment. Outcomes:

-               Landscape of ARPA-E contributions, market growth, applications, and commercialization barriers

-               Identification of future investment opportunities and high-impact research areas for sCO2  technologies

From innovation to defense use: mapping the acquisition pathway for ARPA-E technologies

Dual-use energy technologies may need to navigate two complex journeys at once: commercial transition and the military’s validation, testing, and scale-up process. Understanding where those pathways align can help make the process clearer for ARPA-E teams. The Summer Scholar will assess the Warfighting Acquisition System across the military services, map key acquisition milestones to comparable commercialization activities, and identify where dual-use technologies must meet parallel requirements. Outcomes:

-               Illustrated roadmap of defense and commercial transition processes for ARPA-E performers

-               Links to relevant funding pathways and key validation, testing, and scale-up steps

Cryocoolers below 4.5 K: sizing an emerging market for ultra-low-temperature cooling

Cryocoolers operating below 4.5 K are increasingly important for quantum computing, superconducting medical systems, proton-therapy magnets, and emerging cryogenic electronics. Yet key questions about market size, cost targets, helium use, and efficiency remain poorly defined. The Summer Scholar will map the <1 K and 1-4.5 K market segments and assess performance, cost of ownership, integration constraints, and major market and technical uncertainties through stakeholder interviews and literature analysis. Outcomes:

-               Market and technology landscape for cryocoolers operating below 4.5 K

-               Assessment of performance, cost, integration, and market uncertainties across key applications

Exploring markets for plasma-heating and driver technologies in and beyond fusion

Plasma-heating and driver systems - including gyrotrons, neutral beam injectors, RF heaters, and laser-driver systems - are expected to play a role in ARPA-E’s upcoming fusion program. Some of these technologies may also have opportunities beyond fusion. The Summer Scholar will map fusion and non-fusion demand, identify the technical, cost, and reliability thresholds that could make these systems viable in adjacent markets, and compare civilian applications with defense-oriented needs. Outcomes:

-               Market landscape for plasma-heating and driver technologies across fusion and adjacent applications

-               Assessment of performance and cost thresholds relevant to civilian and defense-oriented markets