Summer 2027
Engineer/SW Developer/Analyst Intern
Maritime Force Engagement Control
Posted on 9/1/2026
Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
5,001-10,000 employees
Not-for-profit UARC delivering national security research
Compensation Overview
$22.60 - $47.95/hr
No H1B Sponsorship
Laurel, MD, USA
In Person
US Citizenship, US Top Secret Clearance Required
Bachelor's
 Software Engineering |
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- Be pursuing a degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, or a related technical field, with a minimum 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale.
- Have detailed knowledge and practical experience in either Python or C++.
- Have a strong interest in modeling and simulation design, signal processing related to radar or communications systems, decision processes, resource optimization and allocation schemas, or Model Based Systems Engineering.
- Be able to obtain an Interim Secret level security clearance by the start date and ultimately obtain a Secret level clearance; eligibility includes U.S. citizenship.
- Develop dynamic, interacting physics-based models and simulations to understand how physical laws affect the performance of sensor, command and control, and weapon systems.
- Develop tools that apply data analytic and statistical methodologies to analyze current systems, identify root cause performance issues, and develop operational solutions.
- Mature concepts or technologies that improve situational awareness, identify hostile actions, and dynamically allocate limited resources in a changing battlefield.
- Have detailed knowledge and practical experience in two of Python, C++, or MATLAB.
- Have experience modeling or analyzing a complex system, preferably a military system.
- Have experience processing, organizing, and assessing large data sets.
- Have experience developing in a modern software development environment.
Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) is a not-for-profit university-affiliated research center that provides solutions to complex national security and scientific challenges through technical expertise, prototyping, research and development, and analysis. It uses engineering, simulations, and studies to design prototypes and deliver analyses that support government and partner organizations. Unlike many commercial firms, APL operates as a non-profit affiliated with Johns Hopkins and focuses on mission-oriented research rather than selling finished products. Its goal is to provide practical, thoroughly tested solutions to public-sector customers by performing research, developing prototypes, and offering expert analysis.
Company Size
5,001-10,000
Company Stage
N/A
Total Funding
N/A
Headquarters
null
Founded
1942
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- September 3, 2026 carbon-carbon composite breakthrough cuts production from months to days.
- September 1, 2026 SPEAR heatsinks reduce size and weight over 50%.
- August 7, 2026 Donya Douglas-Bradshaw strengthens APL's civil-space execution after NASA's Lucy.
What critics are saying
- APL depends on federal sponsors; June 2026 Johns Hopkins layoffs show funding strain.
- Sentinel and NASA contracts hinge on appropriations, schedule slips, and program cancellations.
- A prolonged federal research cut would collapse APL's sponsor base and force major reductions.
What makes Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory unique
- APL builds mission hardware, autonomy, and materials under one roof in Laurel, Maryland.
- Its 2026 programs span NASA Dragonfly, Navy UXO clearance, and Air Force Sentinel.
- More than 15 years of PEMT proves durable defense software embedded across platforms.
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↑ 0%Johns Hopkins APL researchers developing new heatsink using additive manufacturing. Sep 1, 2026 Alexandra wilson. Engineers at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, are developing a new thermal-management capability to help manage heat in systems where space and weight are limited. SPEAR, derived from Smart Phase-change Enhanced Re-entry, combines phase-change materials (PCMs) with additive manufacturing to create compact, high-capacity heatsinks. PCMs absorb and store heat as they change from one physical state to another, allowing them to hold more heat without rising in temperature as quickly as traditional materials. The approach is designed for systems where electronics generate heat but have limited ways to release it, while still needing to meet strict size, weight, and power (SWaP) constraints. "PCM heatsinks can be useful anywhere you have electronics that generate a lot of heat over a short period of time," said Yoni Ferneau, a mechanical engineer at APL. "That could include hypersonics, space systems, radio-frequency electronics, transmitters, interceptors, and other transient or low-duty-cycle systems." A phase-change heatsink uses the melting of a material to store heat, similar to how ice melting in a drink keeps it cool, said Greg Merboth, a senior mechanical engineer at APL. As the material changes from solid to liquid, it can absorb and store heat more efficiently than a traditional metallic heatsink, enabling a more than 50% reduction in size and weight while maintaining thermal capacity. Built and tested in-house. Traditionally, phase-change heatsinks are built through complex assemblies of machined parts, but recent breakthroughs in additive manufacturing offered the team a different approach. "Because of advances in additive manufacturing, we thought it would be feasible to fabricate our own single-piece phase-change heatsinks," Merboth said. The SPEAR team has built initial heatsinks and a test unit to evaluate the concept. The team started with a baseline aluminum heatsink and manufactured two SPEAR heatsinks for side-by-side testing. One SPEAR heatsink was the same volume as the aluminum version, showing how much more thermal storage capacity the phase-change design could provide in the same amount of space. The other was designed to match the traditional aluminum heatsink's thermal capacity, showing how much size and weight could be reduced while storing the same amount of heat. The PCM heatsinks were filled, sealed, and successfully tested with no leaks. The team then tested the SPEAR heatsinks against the traditional metallic design, demonstrating the expected performance and SWaP benefits. To demonstrate the comparison more easily, the team built an integrated test unit, which applies heat to multiple heatsinks at once and records and displays the resulting real-time temperature changes to show how each design responds under similar conditions. The testing also highlights the value of APL's design, fabrication, and evaluation team: The SPEAR heatsinks were designed and 3D-printed, and the demonstration unit's hardware, software, and packaging were also developed in-house, allowing the team to quickly test, compare, and refine the concept. "SPEAR shows how our engineers can take a shared technical challenge and develop a capability that can be adapted for different mission needs," said Danielle Hilliard, who oversees design, engineering, and fabrication at APL. Areas of impact. Mission area. The Applied Physics Laboratory, a not-for-profit division of The Johns Hopkins University, meets critical national challenges through the innovative application of science and technology. For more information, visit www.jhuapl.edu. Media contact. Amanda mantiply.
Douglas-Bradshaw named Civil Space Flight mission area executive at Johns Hopkins APL. Audio generated using AI voice technology. Aug 7, 2026 Donya Douglas-Bradshaw has been named mission area executive for Civil Space Flight at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland. In this role, she will lead APL programs to deliver critical spaceflight hardware to NASA, U.S. government civilian agencies, and other partners. Douglas-Bradshaw joins APL from NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., where she most recently served as program manager for the Lunar Commercial Transportation System. "Donya brings decades of distinguished service at NASA in the execution of first-of-a-kind spaceflight systems to the Laboratory and our sponsors," said APL Director Dave Van Wie. "Innovations in space technology are critical for our nation, and we are excited to welcome an experienced leader with a proven track record of delivering complex programs while always balancing technical, schedule, and cost objectives." Douglas-Bradshaw began her career at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, where she worked on flight-critical thermal systems for the Hubble Space Telescope and the Terra and Aqua Earth Observing Systems. She later managed development of the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System instrument for Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite-2. From 2019 to 2022, Douglas-Bradshaw led a multi-institution team in executing NASA's Lucy mission, ushering the first science mission to explore the Trojan asteroids to launch and through early spaceflight operations on schedule and under budget. She was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in 2021 and served as deputy director for the Engineering and Technology Directorate at NASA Goddard, a 1,200-person organization that delivers flight mission capabilities across NASA's civil space portfolio. Since 2024, she has held executive leadership roles at NASA Headquarters within the Science Mission Directorate and the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate. Her achievements and leadership have been recognized through numerous awards, including NASA's Distinguished Service Medal, the agency's highest honor. Douglas-Bradshaw earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Maryland and has authored or co-authored more than 20 publications in research and development on capillary pumped loops, loop heat pipes, and variable emittance coatings. Areas of impact. Mission area. The Applied Physics Laboratory, a not-for-profit division of The Johns Hopkins University, meets critical national challenges through the innovative application of science and technology. For more information, visit www.jhuapl.edu. Media contact.
Three Johns Hopkins APL innovations earn 2026 R&D 100 honors. Audio generated using AI voice technology. Aug 6, 2026 Three technologies developed by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, have been named as winners of 2026 R&D 100 Awards, which recognize the year's most revolutionary technologies across industry, government, and academia. APL's winning innovations span health care, space communications, and advanced manufacturing, reflecting the Laboratory's breadth of expertise and capability, and its commitment to translating research into technologies that address complex national and global challenges. "These cutting-edge technologies demonstrate how APL combines deep research and development expertise with an understanding of real-world missions to create solutions that have meaningful impact," said APL Director Dave Van Wie. "We're proud to see our researchers recognized among this year's R&D 100 honorees." This year's winners are: APL has won several R&D 100 Awards in recent years, including for its ultra-efficient thermoelectric cooling technology in 2025; the Frontier-X radio system in 2024 that introduced a compact, high-performance communications platform for space missions; and the Wearable Thin-Film Thermoelectric Cooling device - an ultracompact system that uses controlled hierarchically engineered superlattice structures to deliver cooling sensations in phantom limbs, prosthetics, and haptics - in 2023. Access APL innovation. Areas of impact. Mission area. The Applied Physics Laboratory, a not-for-profit division of The Johns Hopkins University, meets critical national challenges through the innovative application of science and technology. For more information, visit www.jhuapl.edu. Media contact.
Johns Hopkins APL battlefield care innovation named a Fast Company 'World Changing Idea' Audio generated using AI voice technology. Augmented Reality capability aims to improve Trauma Care in remote, high-risk environments. Jun 16, 2026 An augmented-reality-enabled medical guidance system developed at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, has been recognized by Fast Company as a "World Changing Idea" for its potential to improve trauma care where advanced medical expertise and imaging tools are not readily available. The World Changing Ideas Awards recognize organizations and projects developing innovative solutions to critical global challenges. APL was named a winner in the health care and general excellence categories. APL's Augmented Reality for Lifesaving Trauma Care blends augmented reality (AR), predictive anatomy modeling, and artificial intelligence to help users identify internal injuries and offer lifesaving care in the field. It's designed for military medics, emergency responders, and disaster relief personnel who need to make critical decisions in remote or high-stress situations without access to hospital-grade imaging technologies such as CT scanners or advanced ultrasound systems. "This multidisciplinary project demonstrates the Laboratory's ability to bring deep technical expertise to bear for the warfighter and first responders in innovative ways," said APL Director Dave Van Wie. "Recognition like this highlights the promise of the technology and the team's commitment to developing tools for complex operational challenges and advancing battlefield and disaster response capabilities." The system uses a statistical shape atlas, a data-driven model that captures variations in human anatomy, to estimate the location and shape of internal organs based on a few external body landmarks. Enhanced with deep-learning techniques and data from hundreds of CT scans, it can predict 66 anatomical structures within the chest and abdomen. With results displayed on an AR headset, users get a real-time view of likely organ positions during patient assessments. To support trauma diagnostics, the team also developed a prototype AR-based ultrasound interface with voice-activated commands and step-by-step visual cues that guide probe placement for rapidly detecting internal bleeding or collapsed lungs. "Too often, the people who need trauma care most urgently are farthest from the equipment and expertise that can save their lives," said Suzy Kennedy, APL's program area manager for Warfighter Health and Readiness. "A key part of our work is developing capabilities that improve outcomes when access to care is limited. This technology can bring more informed decision-making closer to the patient in resource-limited, time-constrained settings." Future work will focus on characterizing how the system performs in more realistic trauma scenarios as the team continues refining the technology for field use, added Bobby Armiger, the project's principal investigator and managing executive of APL's Research and Exploratory Development Department. "By integrating predictive anatomy, AR, AI, and portable ultrasound, we are exploring how to make advanced medical guidance more intuitive and usable in the field," Armiger said. A panel of Fast Company editors and reporters selected this year's honorees from a competitive pool of more than 1,500 entries spanning health care, technology, artificial intelligence, education, energy, and more. The listing is the latest in a line of Fast Company awards for APL innovations and is the fifth World Changing Ideas honor the Lab has received in the past seven years. APL has also earned seven consecutive placements on Fast Company's Best Workplaces for Innovators list and has been recognized as one of their Most Innovative Companies five out of the past 10 years. Related work. Areas of impact. Mission area. The Applied Physics Laboratory, a not-for-profit division of The Johns Hopkins University, meets critical national challenges through the innovative application of science and technology. For more information, visit www.jhuapl.edu. Media contact.
Johns Hopkins APL collaborates with U.S. Navy and Army to advance autonomous UXO clearance capabilities. Audio generated using AI voice technology. Jun 2, 2026 Katie kerrigan. The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, is collaborating with the U.S. Army and Navy to develop and prototype autonomous technologies that clear large operational areas of unexploded ordnance (UXO) and other hazards. A central objective of this effort is to integrate autonomous functionality into the Man Transportable Robotic System Increment II (MTRS Inc II) platform, a widely used explosive hazard mitigation system. APL is adapting sensor compute systems developed under prior Office of Naval Research (ONR) and U.S. Army Ground Vehicle Systems Center efforts for integration with MTRS INC II, enabling autonomous navigation, standoff detection, and scalable hazard clearance over operational surfaces such as airfields. "Our objective is to develop an autonomous system that can perceive and understand its environment, plan and execute safe paths, and accurately localize explosive hazards," said Christopher Korpela, a senior roboticist in APL's Intelligent Systems Center (ISC). "Once the system identifies a threat, it will be capable of placing a charge or performing other render-safe procedures before continuing its mission. This requires integrated behaviors for avoiding obstacles, detecting relevant objects, and manipulating them precisely from a safe distance." The team is leveraging proven simultaneous localization and mapping technologies to enable robust autonomous navigation capabilities in the MTRS INC II platform. By adapting algorithms that have been operationally validated, the effort emphasizes high technical readiness. This approach enables the team to accelerate fielding timelines while ensuring the system can operate effectively in the complex environments typical of UXO clearance missions. "Advancing this capability on a rapid timeline is critical to ensuring that warfighters have access to tools that increase standoff and reduce risk in hazardous environments," said Lt. Cmdr. Ty Howell, an Army Civilian software engineer and ONR-Reserve Component officer who is supporting this effort through his Navy Reserve capacity. "By focusing on mature, transition-ready technologies, we're accelerating delivery without compromising reliability or safety." The partnership leverages Army requirements under the MTRS INC II Program of Record and aligns with Navy interests in expeditionary explosive hazard mitigation. As part of the collaboration, Howell and electrical engineer Tim Pietrzyk, who represented the U.S. Army's DEVCOM Ground Vehicle Systems Center, worked alongside Korpela and APL team members in APL's ISC for several days, focusing on integrating and refining the onboard compute package. Prototype development and field experimentation are ongoing, with data collection and operator feedback informing system refinement and transition planning. This effort reflects APL's commitment to advancing mission-relevant autonomy and delivering robust, agile robotic solutions that support the evolving operational needs of the Department of War. Areas of impact. Mission area. The Applied Physics Laboratory, a not-for-profit division of The Johns Hopkins University, meets critical national challenges through the innovative application of science and technology. For more information, visit www.jhuapl.edu. Media contact.