How to Sign Up to be an ASE Mentor

Thank you for your interest in mentoring a bright, motivated high school student!

Signing up to take an ASE intern involves three steps:

Step 1: Position Description

Identify a project that a student can complete in eight weeks during the summer.

This activity could be part of a larger effort within your group or organization or it could be a discrete project that can be finished in eight weeks.

It is important to neither over- nor under-estimate what your intern will be able to accomplish. Long-time mentors report that they often have two or three significant projects lined up in case their interns finish early, based on previous experiences with high achieving students. If they themselves don’t have several projects available, they’ll often ask colleagues if they have potential projects on-hand.

Examples of the types of projects students work on each summer can be viewed on the Position Descriptions page.

Step 2: Submit Online Forms

Complete a Position Description and Sponsorship Form.  

ASE uses the answers on this form to create online internship position descriptions for students to view.

ASE is 60% funded by mentoring organizations and 40% by foundations and individual donors. In limited cases, ASE is able to use grant funds or donations to support positions, depending on the discipline and geographic location of the internship. For more information on Program Costs, click here.

For scientists and engineers with NSF or NIH grants, it may be possible to request supplemental funds in order to support an ASE intern. Please contact your granting officer and ASE for more information about this opportunity.

Please contact ASE if you have any questions about this process, or if you would like help identifying a suitable project.

Step 3: Select Interns

In late January, ASE advertises available positions to interested high school students. Students write essays for up to three positions that interest them and submit the essays, school transcripts and two adult recommendations to ASE.

In mid-March, ASE sends these application materials to mentors and mentors have a month to look them over and interview students.

In mid-April, mentors provide ASE with their ranked selections and ASE contacts all students, accepted and not accepted.

In May, ASE sends out confirmation packets, holds orientations for students/parents and mentors and assigns high school teachers to be liaisons for mentor/intern pairs.

In mid to late June, most internships begin. Please see the mentor calendar page for further information.