Summer student program update

As Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) remains in Reduced Mission-Critical Operations until further notice, most employees continue to work from home and operate under protective measures — to self-isolate, practice social distancing, reduce travel and telecommute when possible.

After careful consideration to maintain the safety of our staff and students during these uncertain next few months, we have determined that we will not host a summer student program on site this summer. Instead, we will offer a remote summer program allowing students the opportunity to carry out a research project by telecommuting from their current location, if their original project can be modified for online work. Students will remote onto a server using their personal laptops.

It will not be possible to modify all student projects for meaningful remote online summer engagement, and internships that have an onsite requirement will be canceled. As a result, our summer program is expected to operate at about 50 percent of the normal size.

Over the next week, we will communicate the status of their summer employment to students. Staff mentors have been modifying projects and delaying start dates where appropriate. Individual communication to students will be forthcoming in the next weeks.

It is our intention to provide a summer experience that is as engaging as possible given the challenges with the coronavirus pandemic, and we are working to be able to provide lectures, virtual tours and other programs for our remote students. We recognize that this path forward will leave some disappointed, and we regret the impact this will have on our students and our summer student program. While we hope many students will join us remotely, a student’s decision not to participate in a remote learning program will not be a factor in any future employment.

Pat Falcone 
Deputy Director for Science & Technology