STARLIT Scholars Program

What is the STARLIT Scholars Program at CU ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ?

The STARLIT Scholars program at CU ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ connects bright undergraduate and community college students with grant-funded summer internships. 

STARLIT Scholars participate in 10 - 12 week 'research track' or 'industry track' internships, depending on their professional goals and available program slots. All internships focus on STARLIT topics, including cislunar SDA.

All STARLIT Scholars receive a competitive stipend, wraparound support, professional development programming, and community-based activities.

Flow diagram illustrating the dual-track STARLIT Scholars program.

To be considered for the STARLIT Scholars program, students must: 

  • Be a US Citizen.
  • Be enrolled at a Colorado-based community college OR a national four year institution.
  • Demonstrate interest in STARLIT-related topics, including cislunar space domain awareness, astrodynamics, object detection and tracking, sensing, conflict simulation and decision-making in cislunar space, and/or space policy.
  • Submit a Research Track application via SPUR or an Industry Track application via Handshake. 
  • We partner with the Summer Program in Undergraduate Research at CU ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ to offer research track internships. 
  • We list STARLIT-specific projects on the SPUR project page. Interested students will apply to these specific projects. If selected for the project, students will become STARLIT Scholars.
  • SPUR begins accepting student applications in early winter (February/March) of 2025. Students are notified of their selection in April 2025.
  • The research internship lasts for 10 weeks, from mid-May to mid-August 2025. STARLIT Research Scholars work for 30 hours per week and participate in biweekly community-building events with other STARLIT Scholars.
  • STARLIT Scholars, like all SPUR students, receive an internship stipend totaling $4,800.
  • If you have additional questions or would like to learn more, please reach out to Meaghan Allyn at meaghan.allyn@colorado.edu. 
  • We partner with ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ- and Denver- area aerospace companies to offer industry internships for 8 - 10 STARLIT Scholars.
  • We will post applications for each company-specific internship on the CU ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ Handshake portal in late fall 2024. Applications will close in late January 2025. 
  • As of November 10, 2025, we are still developing internship applications and have not yet posted on Handshake. 
  • STARLIT Industry Scholars commit to a 10 - 12 week internship. Industry Scholars are paid a generous stipend via STARLIT grant funding. 
  • Like STARLIT Research Scholars, STARLIT Industry Scholars participate in biweekly meetings focused on professional development, community-building and networking. 

We will consider external students for Research Track positions in the STARLIT Scholars program! If interested, please email Meaghan Allyn at meaghan.allyn@colorado.edu with your resumé and a one-page description of your research interests related to the STARLIT award.

Thank you for your interest! Please contact Meaghan Allyn, STARLIT Outreach Project Manager, at meaghan.allyn@colorado.edu.