Student Research Opportunity Listings
The University of Florida, through a grant with the US Department of Agriculture, is seeking UF doctoral graduate students for summer 2026 research internships using artificial intelligence techniques, broadly defined. Recipients will work remotely with scientists at USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) labs. The research at ARS labs is incredibly broad, so applicants across UF are welcome to apply!
The 10-week internships are designed to allow doctoral students to travel to the ARS lab (travel funds included), expand their research network, work on real-world data, and gain valuable experience. The amount of time spent at the ARS lab is variable and project dependent but will not exceed 2 weeks (with the remainder of the internship done remotely; however, you must remain within the U.S. during the 10-week internship). There are over 46 different research experiences to choose from. Locations and research projects vary greatly and include crop improvement, remote sensing, water conservation, insect and plant disease management, pollinators, plant and animal physiology, livestock management, biological invasions, and food safety. You will have a chance to increase your expertise in many areas such as machine learning, bioinformatics, remote sensing, neural networks, unsupervised learning, image analysis, modeling, and computer vision. It is expected that you already have skill in some of these areas (especially Python, R, and applied statistics).
Interns on these awards will need assistantship funding for 3 weeks during Summer 2026. The rest of the time they will be on 1.0 FTE OPS funding.
AWARD INFORMATION
Number of Awards: 5 Awards
Amount of Awards: $12,800 each (10 weeks @ 40 hours per week, @ $32 per hour)
Travel Compensation: up to $3,774 per student
Submission Deadline: January 30, 2026, at 6:00 pm.
APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS
Graduate students from any department, interdisciplinary program, or College/School with an approved doctoral program at UF are invited to apply.
A complete application for the Summer Internship consists of the following:
- A cover sheet completed by the student (see below, attached to this announcement).
- A 1-page proposal that: (1) describes the student’s current doctoral research; (2) summarizes their current skillset in computational and statistical methods, and (3) describes how the student will benefit from this experience.
- A current curriculum vitae (CV).
- A brief endorsement form (attached) that includes:
- Brief endorsement by the applicant’s advisor, limited to 250 words and focusing on (i) why the applicant is particularly suited to this fellowship program and (ii) how the applicant will benefit from the proposed activity.
SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
Applications, composed of a single merged pdf that includes the cover sheet, 1-page proposal, and CV, must be submitted to Heather McAuslane at hjmca@ufl.edu. The subject line of the email should note the name of the applicant and use the format UF AI SUMMER APPLICATION LASTNAME FIRSTNAME
The endorsement form, completed by the advisor, should also be submitted as a pdf to Heather McAuslane at hjmca@ufl.edu. The subject line of the email should note the name of the applicant and use the format UF AI SUMMER ENDORSEMENT LASTNAME FIRSTNAME.
The submission deadline is January 30, 2026, at 6:00 pm.
Questions
If you have questions or need assistance, please contact:
Dr. Heather McAuslane hjmca@ufl.edu
Annual Student Research Opportunity Listings
Description: The AI Scholars Program includes a $1,750 stipend paid over two semesters to support your research work with a faculty member. You learn how to conduct fundamental research and scholarly activities in your chosen field. Your project may solve an important problem or contribute to a better solution. You write up your findings in a research paper, and you have several options to publish. It’s a great capstone to your undergraduate career.
Application Deadline: February Annually
Application Instructions: First, identify a UF faculty mentor to write a letter of support for your application. If you need help with this step, the Center for Undergraduate Research offers peer advising services.
- Summary of your research proposal (one page maximum) to describe the project that you will be working on. It should answer questions like: What is the central research question? How does the project use AI? Why is your research question important and what are your intended outcomes?
- Letter of support from your faculty mentor.
- Include your faculty mentor’s department fiscal information when completing your application. The application requires you to provide the fiscal contact and the department ID. Obtain this information from your mentor before you begin filling out the application to ensure a smooth submission process.