15 Software Internships for High School Students in Maryland

Participating in software internships while still in high school puts you inside working technical environments where you’ll carry out hands-on work, like creating functional code using real data. Depending on the institution, you might spend your summer writing Python scripts to process satellite imagery, contributing to cybersecurity testing, building machine learning pipelines that run against medical imaging datasets, or helping develop software for defense systems. Some placements are more research-oriented, which means working on bioinformatics algorithms, geospatial data analysis, or AI model evaluation alongside scientists and engineers who are using computation to drive their findings. Across all of these settings, you will also practice communicating technical work to non-technical audiences, typically through a poster presentation or a project demo at the end of the placement.

Why should you choose an internship in Maryland?

Maryland’s concentration of federal agencies, national laboratories, and defense contractors makes it one of the densest ecosystems in the country for high school students who want real technical exposure. The National Security Agency, NIST, NIH, and NASA Goddard are all within commuting range of most of the state, and each runs programs designed to bring high school students into active research and engineering work. The state also sits inside the orbit of major defense and intelligence contractors, including Northrop Grumman, MITRE, Leidos, and Booz Allen Hamilton. Beyond the federal and defense side, Maryland’s proximity to Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia means you also have access to a broader regional tech corridor with active cybersecurity, data science, and software engineering industries.

With that, here are 15 software internships for high school students in Maryland.

You can also check out this guide on data science programs for high school students in Maryland. 

Key Takeaways

• These 15 internships span software work across federal research labs, universities, and defense contractors, from AI and cybersecurity at NIST and MITRE to geospatial analysis at the University of Maryland and space systems software at NASA Goddard, along with Horizon’s Research Seminars and Labs, which offers a virtual research track for students who want a fully remote option.
• Program formats vary considerably, from on-site placements at federal campuses requiring daily commutes to fully virtual programs like UMD’s Geographical Sciences internship and Horizon, so location and commute time are worth weighing alongside program content.
• Many of these programs come with a paid stipend, ranging from federal pay scales to program-specific amounts, while a few, like JHU APL’s ASPIRE and NIST SHIP, are unpaid, and Horizon’s cost varies by track with financial aid available.
• Nearly all placements pair you one-on-one with a mentor, whether a federal scientist, university faculty member, or industry professional, and Horizon extends this same mentorship model to a fully independent research project rather than a lab-based placement.
• For students who want to walk away with a completed, publishable research paper rather than a summer’s worth of technical placement work, Horizon’s Research Seminars and Labs offers a mentored path toward a formal academic paper across 600+ specializations, including data science and machine learning.

15 Software Internships for High School Students in Maryland

1. JHU APL: ASPIRE

During the ASPIRE program, you’ll be matched one-on-one with a researcher or engineer at APL and spend the summer working on a project specific to your mentor’s area of focus. Placements span Programming and Computer Science, Information Technology and Cybersecurity, and AI and Machine Learning. Past interns have written Python tools to map campus accessibility for people with mobility challenges, built new versions of strategy games using Java and networked communications links, designed Linux-based secure password management solutions for the U.S. Navy, and trained deep learning models to detect drones using generative AI. You’ll have to work on-site at APL’s Laurel campus and present a digital poster at the close of the program documenting the work you completed.

2. NIST SHIP

Working inside one of NIST’s six research labs, you’ll spend seven weeks contributing to a real scientific research project under the guidance of a staff scientist or engineer. The program runs across all NIST lab areas, but the Information Technology Laboratory track is the most software-focused and asks that applicants have working knowledge of C++ or Java before they arrive. NIST’s IT research covers cybersecurity standards and testing, artificial intelligence, and formal methods for software verification, so what you actually work on depends heavily on which lab group takes you. The program closes with a poster presentation where you’ll explain your findings to the broader NIST community and gain public scientific presentation experience on top of the technical work.

3. Horizon Academic Research Program (HARP)

Horizon offers trimester-long research programs for high school students across subject areas such as data science, machine learning, political theory, and more! Horizon is one of the few research programs for high school students that offers you the choice to engage in either quantitative or qualitative research. Once you select a particular subject track, Horizon pairs you with a professor/PhD scholar who acts as a mentor throughout your research journey. As a participant, you will be expected to develop a 20-page research paper that you can send to prestigious journals for publication as a high school student. The program also provides a letter of recommendation for each student and detailed project feedback that you can use to work on future projects. Apply here!

4. NSA High School Work Study

This program runs during the school year and places you at NSA’s Fort Meade headquarters on a part-time schedule alongside the regular academic calendar. As a participant in the computer and engineering technology track, you’ll work on assignments involving computer systems, software applications, or technical support tasks within an active national security environment. Working inside NSA spaces during the year gives you a practical sense of how computing and technology function within a classified federal setting. The part-time schedule is coordinated through your school’s Work Experience Program.

5. UMD Geographical Sciences: High School Internship Program (HIP)

Over six weeks, you will be paired with a University of Maryland faculty member to work on an original research project covering topics like geospatial analysis, climate modeling, or data-driven environmental research. This program sits at the intersection of geography and computer science, incorporating coding and geospatial methods as core technical skills and providing exposure to data analysis tools and analytical scripts alongside the conceptual research work. The program runs entirely online, so students from anywhere in the DC-Maryland-Virginia region can participate without commuting to campus. You will present your findings in a poster session at the close of the program, which mirrors the format used at academic conferences.

6. NIH Summer Internship Program (SIP)

Eligibility: Graduating high school seniors (18+) who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents and living within 40 miles of an NIH campus; Must have graduated from high school before the internship begins

As a part of SIP, you will be placed in an active research group at an NIH Institute or Center on the main Bethesda campus and assigned to a Principal Investigator whose work aligns with your stated interests. Available research areas include computer science, bioinformatics, epidemiology, biomedical engineering, and data-intensive biological research, offering a look at how software underpins key advances in modern medicine. You will be working inside a federal research institution at the same level of expectation as undergraduate or graduate interns. The program closes with a Summer Poster Day where you will have to present your work to the NIH research community.

7. JHU Whiting Internships in Science and Engineering (WISE)

WISE is an exclusive opportunity to work in a JHU research environment for Baltimore City public high school students. You will be mentored by a JHU researcher, graduate student, or postdoc, contributing to their ongoing research project. You will also learn the basics of scientific communication by presenting your research to WISE students and the JHU community at the closing symposium. The internship is structured to provide an entry point for high-achieving high school students from Baltimore to professional research across a variety of STEM fields, including software, data science, as well as intersectional projects.

8. NASA Goddard Space Club Scholars

Working out of the NASA Goddard campus in Greenbelt, you will be assigned to a specific technical project from a pool that has historically included software platform development for ground systems training, core flight system refinement, test software development, simulation environments for mobile robots, optical navigation hardware and software, and AI-aided wildfire detection from drones. The program runs through the National Space Club Foundation in partnership with NASA Goddard, placing you inside active Goddard research and engineering teams. Because virtually all placements involve computer applications, students with a computing background fit naturally regardless of which project they are assigned to. You will work on-site five days per week for the full six-week duration, experiencing the day-to-day workflow of a real federal research environment.

9. Science and Engineering Apprenticeship Program (SEAP)

During SEAP, you’ll be placed in a Department of the Navy laboratory and assigned to an ongoing research project under a naval scientist or engineer who serves as your primary mentor. Maryland labs participating in SEAP include the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division at Patuxent River, the Naval Surface Warfare Center at Carderock in West Bethesda, and the Naval Academy in Annapolis. Each site comes with distinct technical portfolios covering aircraft systems, ship design, fluid dynamics, and electronic warfare. Whatever lab you’re placed in will treat you as a junior researcher, expected to produce results and present your findings at the end of the placement period.

10. MITRE

MITRE places high school interns in technical project work across cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and engineering, operating out of offices across the nation. Beyond your individual project assignment, the program runs Learning Tracks that all summer interns complete together. Past editions have covered AI and data science, cyber warfare, and positioning and navigation systems, delivered through expert presentations followed by hands-on virtual lab exercises. The Learning Track model lets you build foundational knowledge in high-demand emerging technology areas even if your direct project is narrowly focused. Because interns range from high school through PhD level, you’ll be learning and collaborating in the same environment as people at very different career stages.

11. CCI Virginia Tech High School Cybersecurity Internship

This program opens with a two-week bootcamp covering professional and technical foundations relevant to cybersecurity work and then moves you into a five-week placement at an actual cyber-related company. Past participants have worked across multiple functions during their placement, including software engineering, information security, and product operations, providing a wider view of how cybersecurity intersects with other business and technical roles inside a technology company. Industry placements can be virtual, hybrid, or in-person depending on the host organization. The program is run through Virginia Tech’s Commonwealth Cyber Initiative in partnership with George Mason University and is designed to expose students to the realities of the field before they commit to a college direction.

12. AEOP High School Internship

Across AEOP sites, the research fields span cybersecurity, engineering, mathematics, and computational science. As a participant, you’ll spend the summer working on an individual research project with a dedicated Army scientist or engineer as your mentor. Near-peer mentors, typically college students who have gone through AEOP themselves, provide additional support alongside the primary mentorship relationship, and the program includes college-readiness workshops running parallel to the lab work. At the end, you’ll submit a research abstract that gets published in the AEOP online journal. You’ll also be encouraged to submit your project to the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium for external recognition.

13. George Mason University: ASSIP 

Working one-on-one with a GMU faculty researcher over eight weeks, you’ll contribute to an ongoing research project in a field of your choosing, with available tracks including machine learning, cybersecurity, data mining, natural language processing, dark-pattern detection in technology, data science for social good, and computer modeling and simulation. Past interns have had their work recognized at state science fairs and in competitions including the Cutler-Bell Prize in High School Computing. The program runs in both virtual and in-person formats. You’ll also get to earn three George Mason University college credits upon completing the program and will be expected to present your research at the closing symposium.

14. CISA Cyber and IT Internships

As a paid federal intern with CISA, you’ll work within the Department of Homeland Security’s cybersecurity and IT operations, with specific assignments depending on which component you’re placed in. The scope of possible work includes malicious code identification and analysis, digital forensics, incident handling, intrusion detection and prevention, software assurance, cloud and web services, data management, and network operations. You’ll be working alongside DHS subject matter experts on tasks tied to national infrastructure protection, which gives you a sense of how cybersecurity operates at the federal operational level. The internship runs June through August in a paid capacity, and past cohorts have included positions that were fully virtual.

15. Stanford AIMI Research Internship

The AIMI Summer Research Internship allows you to explore the technical and clinical side of AI in healthcare. You will spend two weeks attending lectures on the basics of AI in healthcare and learning about how AI research in medicine can benefit the public and help promote health equity. You’ll also participate in mentored activities led by Stanford Student Leads and researchers and hands-on group research projects. Aside from this, the program offers the chance to participate in “Meet the Expert” sessions, where you’ll hear from experts from academia, industry, non-profits, government, and more. Once you’ve completed the internship, you’ll get a Certificate of Completion.

Frequently Asked Questions

What kinds of software internships are available to high school students in Maryland?
You’ll find a mix of formats, including federal research placements like JHU APL’s ASPIRE and NIST SHIP, university-affiliated programs like UMD’s Geographical Sciences internship and JHU’s WISE program, and defense and intelligence-focused opportunities like SEAP and the NSA High School Work Study Program. Horizon’s Research Seminars and Labs offers a different kind of option, letting you conduct independent research remotely across subjects like data science and machine learning rather than joining a fixed lab placement.

Do you need prior coding experience to apply?
It depends on the program. Some, like NIST SHIP’s Information Technology Laboratory track, expect working knowledge of C++ or Java before you arrive, while others, like the AEOP High School Internship, are open to students without a specific technical prerequisite listed. Programs with a strong research focus, such as JHU APL’s ASPIRE or George Mason’s ASSIP, will likely be a smoother experience if you’ve had some prior exposure to programming.

Are there fully virtual options if you can’t commute to a lab?
Yes. UMD’s Geographical Sciences High School Internship Program, the CCI Virginia Tech Cybersecurity Internship, George Mason’s ASSIP, Stanford AIMI, and Horizon’s Research Seminars and Labs are all run virtually, which makes them good options if you want technical research experience without relocating or commuting to a physical site.

Which programs offer stipends or paid positions?
Most of these internships come with some form of paid stipend. SEAP pays $4,000 to $4,500 depending on whether you’re a returning participant, the CCI Virginia Tech Cybersecurity Internship pays $2,650, the NSA High School Work Study Program pays $15 an hour, and CISA Cyber and IT Internships pay at a federal GS-1 level. A smaller number, including JHU APL’s ASPIRE, NIST SHIP, George Mason’s ASSIP, and Stanford AIMI, don’t offer a stipend.

Which programs are restricted by residency or citizenship requirements?
Many of these programs require U.S. citizenship or permanent residency, and several also require you to live within a set distance of the host site. NIST SHIP requires residency within 50 miles of Gaithersburg, NIH’s SIP requires living within 40 miles of an NIH campus, and NASA Goddard’s program requires residency within 50 miles of the Greenbelt site. JHU’s WISE program is even more specific, limited to Baltimore City public high school students, so eligibility is worth checking closely before you apply.

Is there a way to pursue independent research beyond a structured internship?
Yes. If you want to move from a structured internship into an original research project, Horizon’s Research Seminars and Labs pairs you with a professor or PhD scholar to develop a 20-page research paper you can submit for academic publication. The program also provides a letter of recommendation and detailed feedback, and covers over 600 research specializations. You can find the application here.

When should you apply?
Application deadlines for these programs are spread throughout the year, so it’s worth planning ahead. SEAP has among the earliest windows, opening August 1 and closing by November 1, while several others cluster between December and February, including Stanford AIMI (December 15 to February 21), NIST SHIP (January 26), the CCI Virginia Tech internship (November 3 to January 31), and NIH’s SIP (February 18). March and April bring a few more deadlines, including JHU’s WISE program (March 1) and NASA Goddard’s Space Club Scholars (April 17). Horizon, by contrast, has multiple deadlines throughout the year across its Spring, Summer, and Fall cohorts, giving you more flexibility if you miss an earlier cutoff.

Image source: Johns Hopkins University