Internships, returnship programs, and career development resources — whether you're entering STEM for the first time, returning after a break, or advancing mid-career.
Structured, paid programs for people returning to STEM after a career break — typically 8–16 weeks with a path to a full-time offer.
A nonprofit that partners with major companies to offer paid returnship programs for professionals returning to work after a career break fo…
A Society of Women Engineers initiative connecting women returning to engineering after a career break with corporate return-to-work program…
The Association for Women in Science offers multiple annual scholarships including the Distinguished Doctoral Research Scholarship ($10,000)…
The UK's only fellowship program specifically for researchers returning to STEM after a career break of two or more years, combining a perso…
A fellowship program launched in 2004 awarding women from developing and emerging economies up to $50,000 per year to pursue PhD or postdoct…
NIH / Office of Research on Women's Health
NIH administrative supplements that enable researchers returning to biomedical research after a career break of two or more years due to per…
A paid summer software engineering internship at Google designed for first- and second-year undergraduate students from groups historically …
Microsoft
A 16-week paid apprenticeship program at Microsoft for career-changers with non-traditional backgrounds — including bootcamp graduates and c…
JPMorgan Chase
A paid 15-week returnship program at JPMorgan Chase for experienced professionals, including technologists, who have been out of the workfor…
Fellowships of $20,000 to $50,000 for women who are not US citizens or permanent residents to pursue full-time graduate or postgraduate stud…
Association for Women in Science (AWIS)
Up to two awards of $2,500 each for STEM-credentialed professionals returning to careers after being out of the workforce for more than one …
Society of Women Engineers
$2,000 scholarship (established 1978) for women returning to engineering or computer science after a career gap of at least two years out of…
Amazon
Amazon's summer SDE internship places undergraduate and graduate students on engineering teams across AWS, retail, and other business units …
A continually updated directory of paid employer return-to-work programs (returnships) worldwide, many in STEM and technology, for experienc…
Internships, apprenticeships, and structured entry pipelines at major tech and science employers — with structured early-career tracks.
An 11-month tuition-free software engineering program for women and gender-expansive adults, covering full-stack web development through a s…
A fellowship supporting exceptional PhD students in computing and related disciplines, providing tuition, stipend, and a paid research inter…
U.S. Department of Energy
A nationally competitive program placing undergraduate students at DOE national laboratories to conduct research alongside world-class scien…
A paid internship and mentorship program for undergraduate women and gender-minority students passionate about aerospace, providing a summer…
Intel
A scholarship of €3,000 for women enrolled in undergraduate engineering or computer science programs at Irish universities, paired with a pa…
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
An IAEA fellowship providing up to €40,000 in total support for women pursuing a master's degree in nuclear science, engineering, or related…
Amazon
$40,000 scholarship (paid over 4 years) for high school seniors from underrepresented and low-income backgrounds planning to study computer …
NASA MUREP
Scholarship for undergraduate students at women's colleges and universities pursuing STEM degrees. Provides up to $9,000 academic stipend pl…
Microsoft Research
Fellowship for second-year PhD students from underrepresented groups in computing including women. Covers tuition and fees for three years p…
National GEM Consortium
Provides opportunities for underrepresented minority students to pursue graduate education in applied science and engineering through paid s…
U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science
DOE CCI offers community college students 10-week paid internships at one of 17 DOE national laboratories, providing hands-on technical expe…
National Institutes of Health
The NIH SIP provides undergraduate, post-baccalaureate, graduate, and medical students with hands-on research experience at NIH's Bethesda c…
NASA
NASA offers competitive paid internships across all NASA centers for college students pursuing STEM majors, with 10-week summer sessions and…
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
The NOAA Hollings Scholarship provides academically talented undergraduates studying ocean, coastal, atmospheric, and related sciences with …
Sandia National Laboratories
Sandia offers summer, year-round, and co-op internships for undergraduates and graduates across engineering, computer science, cybersecurity…
Oak Ridge National Laboratory / ORISE
ORISE administers competitive paid research internships and fellowships for undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers …
U.S. Department of Defense
The DOD SMART Scholarship provides full tuition, generous annual stipend, and summer research internships to undergraduates and graduate stu…
Microsoft
A 12-week summer internship at Microsoft for first- and second-year undergraduates to explore careers in software engineering and product ma…
Microsoft Research
Microsoft Research offers paid internships for PhD students to collaborate with world-class researchers on projects in AI, machine learning,…
Apple
Apple offers paid internships across hardware engineering, software engineering, machine learning, and design for undergraduate and graduate…
IBM
A free virtual skills-building program for undergraduates providing exposure to IBM technology, career paths, and culture through online mod…
Palantir Technologies
A fellowship designed for students from underrepresented backgrounds in tech, offering mentorship, networking, and a pathway to Palantir int…
Jane Street
Highly competitive paid internships in software engineering, trading, research, and quantitative finance, providing deep exposure to functio…
Software Freedom Conservancy
Three-month paid remote internships with free and open source software organizations for people subject to systemic bias and underrepresenta…
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
A cost-free six-week summer program at MIT, run by the Center for Excellence in Education, bringing together about 100 top high school junio…
An eight-week paid summer program, administered by ASEE for the U.S. Navy, that places academically talented high school students as apprent…
A summer research internship placing undergraduates from North American, British, and Irish universities with research groups at German univ…
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
An NIH/NCI-funded summer internship in laboratory or clinical research at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis for students prep…
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
A 12-week paid summer internship at Fermilab for undergraduate sophomores and juniors majoring in physics, engineering (mechanical, electric…
Matthew Isakowitz Foundation
An annual award presented by the Commercial Space Federation in partnership with the Matthew Isakowitz Foundation Programs, supporting colle…
Patti Grace Smith Fellowship
An award-winning fellowship that gives extraordinary undergraduates their first work experience in the aerospace industry, pairing a paid su…
HHMI Janelia Research Campus
A ten-week summer research internship at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Janelia Research Campus in Ashburn, Virginia, for well-prepar…
U.S. Geological Survey
One of the longest continuously running science internship programs in the United States (since 1965), administered by the U.S. Geological S…
U.S. Department of Agriculture
A USDA scholarship for U.S. citizens pursuing a bachelor's degree at one of the nineteen 1890 land-grant universities in agriculture, food, …
The Actuarial Foundation
A renewable scholarship from The Actuarial Foundation supporting high school seniors pursuing careers in mathematics and the actuarial profe…
NASA
NASA's federal internship program that develops future civil servants across engineering, science, technology, and business disciplines at N…
Funding and support for people already in STEM careers — to advance, transition, or re-skill at any career stage.
A summer research program matching undergraduate women and underrepresented students with faculty mentors at research universities across th…
Grants of up to $8,000 for women who hold a bachelor's degree and are preparing to advance, change careers, or re-enter the workforce in STE…
A UK professional membership society founded in 1919 that supports women in engineering through its MentorSET cross-sector mentoring scheme,…
Fellowships for women scientists from Science and Technology-Lagging Countries (STLCs) to pursue PhD or early-career research in natural sci…
California Institute of Technology
A 10-week summer research program at Caltech for undergraduate students from groups historically underrepresented in STEM, including women, …
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
A highly selective, free six-week residential STEM program at MIT for rising high school seniors from underrepresented backgrounds, includin…
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
A free two-week residential summer mathematics program at MIT for high-achieving high school students from underrepresented backgrounds, inc…
Carnegie Mellon University
A 12-week summer research program at Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute for outstanding undergraduate students from around the world to co…
AnitaB.org
Scholarships awarded by AnitaB.org providing complimentary registration, travel, and hotel support for women and gender-minority students to…
Iota Sigma Pi
A $2,000 scholarship awarded annually by Iota Sigma Pi, the national honor society for women in chemistry, to an undergraduate woman or non-…
Association of Women in the Metal Industries
Scholarships and professional development awards from the Association of Women in the Metal Industries supporting AWMI members pursuing educ…
CRA-WP (Computing Research Association Widening Participation)
Ten-week funded summer research placement pairing undergraduates with faculty mentors at computing departments across the U.S., with a $9,00…
NVIDIA
Up to $60,000 for PhD students doing outstanding research in computing, AI, graphics, autonomous vehicles, and related fields. Now in its 25…
Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)
Supports PhD students from underrepresented backgrounds — including women — in the life sciences with up to 3 years of stipend support and p…
Rotating (MIT, Berkeley, CMU, Stanford, Georgia Tech)
Intensive two-day annual workshop for women graduate students and postdocs pursuing academic careers in EECS. Hosted at rotating top institu…
Ford Foundation / National Academies
Administered by the National Academies, Ford Foundation Fellowships increase faculty diversity by supporting predoctoral, dissertation, and …
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute supports undergraduate research through institutional grants to universities, enabling students to parti…
An undergraduate summer research program in science and biotechnology funded by the Amgen Foundation, placing students in hands-on laborator…
A summer research program from The Leadership Alliance consortium that matches undergraduates with faculty mentors at member research univer…
A 15-month mentored undergraduate research experience in chemistry, biological sciences, and interdisciplinary combinations, funded by the A…
Udall Foundation
A federally funded scholarship recognizing college sophomores and juniors committed to careers related to the environment, Tribal public pol…
Boston University
A six-week residential summer program at Boston University encouraging strongly motivated high school students (ages 14-18) to explore mathe…
Rutgers University
An eight-week summer Research Experience for Undergraduates run by the Center for Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science (DIM…
SLMath (formerly MSRI)
A six-week summer mathematics research program at SLMath (formerly MSRI) in Berkeley for undergraduates who have completed two years of univ…
The flagship international exchange program of the U.S. Department of State, offering Study/Research and English Teaching Assistant awards i…
The highest-growth STEM careers are software engineering, data science, biomedical research, environmental science, and cybersecurity — all fields with strong demand and increasing representation. Computer science and engineering have the most structured entry programs (bootcamps, apprenticeships, internships) for new entrants and career-changers. Biology and biomedical fields already have near-equal gender representation at the PhD level.
Returnship programs are the fastest path back. Path Forward has returnship programs at 100+ companies. Microsoft LEAP is a 16-week paid apprenticeship for people returning to tech. JPMorgan Chase ReEntry is an 8-week paid program. The NIH Re-Entry Supplements fund researchers returning to biomedical science. The Daphne Jackson Fellowship (UK) supports STEM professionals returning after a 2+ year break. There are 14 verified re-entry programs in the WIGSAT directory.
Top STEM industry internship programs: Google STEP Internship (first- and second-year CS students, paid), Brooke Owens Fellowship (aerospace, paid + mentorship), DOE Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships (10-week paid research at national labs), and Caltech WAVE Fellows (undergraduate research). Microsoft and Palantir also run structured internship pipelines.
Yes. AAUW Career Development Grants ($2,000–$12,000) support women pursuing education for career advancement. The Schlumberger Foundation Faculty for the Future Fellowship funds women from developing countries in STEM PhDs. L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science provides €15,000–€25,000 for postdoctoral researchers. AWIS Grants support women at every career stage.
A returnship is a structured, paid re-entry program for professionals returning to work after a career break — typically 8–16 weeks, with mentorship and a path to a full-time offer. They're designed to address the resume gap that disproportionately affects professionals who took time for caregiving. Major employers (Microsoft, JPMorgan, Amazon, national labs) run returnship programs with rolling or annual application cycles.