Interactive Live Scripts for Science Education - OSPO Fall Internship Program

Department Overview: The Open Source Program Office (OSPO) is looking to connect interns with meaningful open-source projects as part of a new cohort of the internship program in collaboration with Madison College. During the internship, students will join a mentored open source project, participate in an initial training session, and weekly check-ins with the Open Source Program Office, and learn crucial skills related to managing open source software projects and growing software user communities. Anticipated Start Date: 9/14/2026 Anticipated End Date (If Applicable): 11/20/2026 Remote Work Eligibility Detail: Partially Remote Anticipated Hours Per Week: Minimum: 10 Maximum: 15 Schedule: Internship work schedules will be established in collaboration with the project mentors, with a general expected commitment of 10-15 hours/week. In addition to the work schedule established with the project lead, interns will participate in a weekly group session with the OSPO for check-ins, trainings, and guest speakers. Salary/Wage Range/Lump Sum: Minimum: $15.00 Maximum: $17.00 Number of Positions: 1 Qualifications: UW-Madison and Madison College undergraduate and graduate students with applicable backgrounds in any field are eligible to apply. Students must be enrolled in a degree program during the calendar year with at least one semester remaining after the internship’s conclusion. Application materials should include: - A one-page cover letter that highlights your qualifications based on skills identified in the project listing and your interest in open source broadly. - A resume that includes your name, school email address, phone number, field(s) of study (major, minor, degree, certificate), relevant coursework, extracurricular activities, expected graduation date, relevant sample work (ex: GitHub link, personal website, etc.) and any relevant work or research experience. -The names and contact information of three references. Submit a resume, cover letter, and three references as part of your application. Knowledge, Skills & Abilities : Candidates should address their knowledge of physics and math background (ex: what courses they have taken here or equivalent elsewhere), if they are familiar with MATLAB, neural nets, and AIs in their cover letter. Position Summary/Job Duties: Interactive Live Scripts for Science Education - Professor Carlsmith has developed roughly 90 open source interactive MATLAB Live Script tutorials/labs available at the MATLAB File Exchange introducing physics, astronomy, and engineering students to computation in science. These Live Scripts span topics from analysis of open source gravitational wave and exoplanet data to hands-on measurement of the speed of sound with a mobile phone and laptop. Many have been used in Physics 247-8. They are designed to advance computation throughout the curriculum. Internship tasks - The Live Scripts interleave code, documentation, and interactive devices along with ‘Try this’ suggestions, ‘Challenges’, references, and hyperlinks to MathWorks documentation. Mentorship will involve a weekly virtual meeting with Professor Carlsmith. The intern will test and improve the usability of existing Live Scripts and may have an opportunity to make algorithmic improvements and to develop new scripts. Physical Demands: Interns are expected to be able to sit for extended periods. Specific physical demands will be discussed with mentors during the interview process. Institutional Statements: Equal Employment Opportunity Statement: UW-Madison is an Equal Employment, Equal Access Employer committed to increasing the diversity of our workforce. Institutional Statement on Diversity: Diversity is a source of strength, creativity, and innovation for UW-Madison. We value the contributions of each person and respect the profound ways their identity, culture, background, experience, status, abilities, and opinion enrich the university community. We commit ourselves to the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research, outreach, and diversity as inextricably linked goals. The University of Wisconsin-Madison fulfills its public mission by creating a welcoming and inclusive community for people from every background-people who as students, faculty, and staff serve Wisconsin and the world. For more information on diversity and inclusion on campus, please visit: diversity.wisc.edu Accommodation Statement: If you need to request an accommodation because of a disability, you can find information about how to make a request at the following website: https://employeedisabilities.wisc.edu/disability-accommodation-information-for-applicants/