Native students, national lab engineers collaborate in ASPIRE Summer Academy’s paid internships
‘It’s about creating solutions to the world’s problems’
Indigenous Democracy Reporter
ASPIRE Summer Academy offers an eight-week paid internship where students collaborate with experts from national labs, produce a project and refine their engineering skills. Pictured are interns working on a drone for their project during the 2024 program. (Photo courtesy of Alexa Azure)
The ASPIRE Summer Academy, sponsored by United Tribes Technical College, offers an eight-week paid internship – and applications are open. Students in the hands-on course work alongside experts from national labs, diving into the depths of problem-solving through engineering.
“It’s about creating solutions to the world’s problems,” said Alexa Azure, the Engineering Department chair at UTTC. “Taking less useful materials and making them more useful, using math and science to come up with creative solutions.”
From May 12 to July 3, 2025, the ASPIRE Academy brings together North Dakota tribal college and university peers to collaborate with national lab partners to strengthen their engineering skills. UTTC graduates or current bachelor’s degree candidates provide guidance throughout the program. The academy, an internship for college students, differs from the summer camp for K-12 students.
ASPIRE is the abbreviation of the Advanced Synergistic Program for Indigenous Research in Engineering. The U.S. Department of Energy funds the summer school to provide undergraduates with an immersive experience. For the first three weeks, interns complete coursework that includes tours of industry and engineering labs in Fargo.
Following this, students spend a week at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, participating in tours. Their final four weeks are at UTTC. They work on group projects with the mentorship of experts from esteemed federal scientific institutions, including Sandia National Laboratories, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Kansas City National Security Campus.
Enrollees earn college credit and receive a weekly stipend of $670 each. Additionally, their acceptance covers the costs of food, housing and travel.
“So as long as we have the funding available, we can help with housing and stuff like that when they go to those internships,” Azure said.
Azure, who is a citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, has been leading ASPIRE Summer Academy at UTTC for the past four years. Along with Austin Allard, an engineering instructor at Turtle Mountain Community College, she applied for a grant through the Department of Energy’s Minority Serving Institution Partnership and its Tribal Education Partnership Programs.
The national labs internship programs usually require a minimum grade point average of 3.0. Azure wanted to provide students facing different challenges the opportunity to participate and enhance their skills, regardless of their GPA. So, she maintains a degree of flexibility for applicants.
“We all know, in college life happens,” she said. “Sometimes your GPA might drop. We wanted to create an opportunity for students to work with experts from the labs and also take a class that would potentially help their GPA.”
The instructor has fostered the ASPIRE Summer Academy’s growth since its launch in 2022.
The program began with just five students, who spent their time working on a four-week project focused on drones and sensors. In the second year, a new set of students designed rovers, or planetary surface exploration robots. Azure said this summer’s project is still in the planning stage.
Four students have already applied, and the program can accommodate a maximum of eight. Azure encourages students to apply by the March 30 deadline.
“There’s a lot of people that come into this program not really knowing anything about engineering, but it’s a chance to learn, grow your skills and get exposure to the field,” she said.