ASPIRE
Areas of Placement
The ASPIRE application period for 2026 will open on January 1, 2026. Please stay tuned for application process updates this December.
A list of possible mentors and/or projects is not available to students or parents. Only one application per student will be considered, so choose your area of interest carefully. Your area of interest determines which mentors view your application.
Expand the accordion below for examples of the kinds of projects that could fall under each area of interest.
- Calibrate algorithms for the Dragonfly spacecraft navigation system using MATLAB
- Design and 3D-print spacecraft models and build out a simulated operations plan
- Use C++ to construct complex trajectories of spacecraft and satellites
- Evaluate the threat of generative AI disinformation, including deepfakes, in multilingual platforms
- Test AI and machine learning models to see whether they accurately identify cyberspace anomalies
- Create deep-learning techniques for detecting drones via generative AI and ChatGPT
- Create a drone that would hover autonomously at a set altitude using specific sensors and controllers
- Develop a tool with Python to analyze and understand the effects of space weather on Earth-orbiting satellites
- Learn 3D printing, laser engraving, and other engineering techniques to create projects in APL’s maker space
- Design and build an autonomous vehicle and sound system to deter geese from being on APL’s campus
- Map minerals on Mars and understand their origins using remote sensing datasets
- Explore ways to help endangered coral reef ecosystems thrive by encapsulating coral larvae with an innovative adhesive
- Investigate the use of eDNA to improve taxonomic classification of marine species
- Use Linux to design a secure password management solution that could be used by the U.S. Navy
- Search for hidden threats in a network to find sophisticated cyberattacks that may have escaped traditional security measures
- Hide secret messages in unexceptional media to enable covert information exchange
- Create a key system to protect access to cryptocurrency
- Visualize the link between bat populations and zoonotic disease through data
- Analyze the impacts of a potential vaccine for the Zika virus and how it might affect virus transmission rate
- Leverage machine learning and analytic techniques to understand historical, and predict future, trends in opioid overdoses
- Create a tool to measure wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation using Arduino Uno
- Study how to improve quantum algorithms using methods developed in nuclear magnetic resonance
- Design and build an electric-field sensor and web-based mapping software to measure low-frequency electric field signals and noise sources
- Use Python to develop an accessibility map of APL’s campus to assist those with mobility challenges
- Improve the ability for robotic arms to learn new manipulation skills via behavior trees
- Reconstruct the Francis Scott Key Bridge in virtual 3D using state-of-the-art tools and drone footage
- Create a new version of Battleship using Java and a set of connected communications links
- Create prototypes and materials for the Maryland MESA STEM club teachers in grades 3–12
- Author a comic book to present astronomy concepts from NASA’s Basics of Space Flight for K–12 students
- Work with niche teen audiences to campaign for, and distribute, NASA-sponsored science kits
We are not a hospital and do not provide medical internships.
Project Types
ASPIRE projects are driven by mentor availability and project need. Nonetheless, we take your preferences and interests into account when matching. You may choose up to three project types from the list below for inclusion on your application, regardless of your area(s) of interest. All three will be considered equally.
- Coding and Software – Primarily working at a computer, learning or using a programming language like Python or C++, building an algorithm, solving a programming problem
- Defense – Researching swarming uncrewed vehicles, learning about undersea surveillance systems, prototyping different defense systems and the tools used to make them
- Design – Creating an application; designing a game; using creativity to investigate, create, or innovate
- Experimental Lab Work – Working with samples in a lab, learning how to safely handle scientific specimens, being on-site in a lab environment, performing experiments
- Public Relations – Writing and editing, creating innovative designs to help tell stories, working on social media posts or online campaigns, helping with multimedia or video projects
- Research and Development – Spending time in deep research, reading and conducting reviews of articles and papers, sifting through survey data or interviews, thinking through difficult problems to propose new and exciting solutions, analyzing financial data or budgets
- Social Impact – Working on projects that directly affect people’s quality of life, such as prosthetics, architecture, or civil engineering; solving problems using psychology or sociology
- Technology, Electronics, and Hardware – Tinkering with robotics, building a computer or drone, working with your hands, learning mechanical engineering
- Theoretical or Abstract – Learning quantum computing, mechanics, or computing; working through problems related to dark matter, energy, or chaos theory; studying the behavior of particles and energy
Each mentor has a different project planned for their ASPIRE student, and no two are the same. The project types listed are examples only and you may work on something entirely different than the preferences you indicate.
Internship Participation
ASPIRE internships are completed entirely on-site at APL. Students may have up to one day per week of intern-from-home flexibility. Virtual internships have been discontinued.