Summer 2025 - AI/ML Research Internship - PhD Students

Overview:

At ACT, Your Work Makes a Difference

Education has power – a power that changes lives forever. It creates opportunities that lift up individuals, their families, and sparks societal change that echoes through generations to come. From our grassroots we have fought the good fight for equity in education, and we remain devoted to helping anyone who struggles to access that power. This is what matters to us and we must do better -- we’ve never been more sure of our purpose.

ACT team members are part of an organization dedicated to an important mission:  Helping people achieve education and workplace success.  Advancing the mission internally, by helping team members achieve education and workplace success of their own, is core to our values. ACT values a diverse workplace and is committed to fostering an inclusive, equitable environment in which every team member has an opportunity to grow.

We are seeking a Summer Research Intern for our AI/ML Research Internship.

Location:  This is a remote internship.

Duration:  The internship is scheduled to run from Monday June 9, 2025 to Friday August 15, 2025, but can be flexible for the right candidate.

Pay Rate: For this position, we anticipate offering an hourly rate of $23.00.  The position is not incentive not benefits eligible.

Work Hours: Monday - Friday 8:00am - 4:30pm Central Time

The summer research intern will work with researchers and content developers within the ACT’s Design and Digital Science team. Our research goal is to establish ACT’s authority as a trusted leader in the field of educational research and to use this expertise and knowledge to increase the efficacy and equity of our products and solutions. 

In addition to gaining experience by working with the current team members to create and refine assessments and learning materials, candidates will have the opportunity to design and conduct original research studies on building machine learning applications in educational context and publish to peer-reviewed venues. Successful candidates will be matched to research studies in their field of study and interests. Possible research studies for Summer include, but are not limited to: 

• Creating and refining machine learning models used for automated essay scoring
• Develop AI/ML-based applications
• To help subject matter experts to author assessment items, passage, or data visualizations
• To streamline the editorial process
• Automated item tagging
• Sensitivity and bias analysis in AI/ML outputs
• Improve accessibility and diversity of assessment items with AI/ML solutions

Typical work-related activities include:

• Design and execute original research studies
• Develop machine learning models and prototype applications
• Data cleaning and analysis 
• Write and share reports on analysis results

Minimum Qualifications:  

Education:   

• BA in psychometrics, educational psychology, statistics, computer science, machine learning, human-computer interaction, or related field
• Must be working toward Ph.D. in related field 

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:  

• Proficient in programming languages (Python or R preferred) and AI/ML packages (e.g., scikit-learn, pytorch, etc.)

• Excellent writing skills 
• Thrive in cross-team collaboration environments
• Excellent communication skills
• Strong work ethic 
• Knowledge of:  
• Artificial intelligence/Machine learning methods
• Psychological/educational assessments
• User-experience research/design methods

When ACT was founded in 1959, it disrupted the assessment industry with a new approach to helping students better understand their readiness so they could take steps to improve it.  By leveraging our expertise and authority in assessment and research, we will again disrupt the industry—helping more people learn, better measure their progress, and improve their navigation through life’s transitions. 

More than ever before, ACT is fulfilling its mission of helping people achieve education and workplace success. We’re doing it by pushing the boundaries of learning innovation through the work of our people, who we call team members because we’re all in this together.

We know transformation does not come without challenge. That’s why ACT invests in a variety of experiences for team members to strengthen their connections, explore ideas, learn from customers, and celebrate success.

Learn more about working at ACT at act.org!

ACT is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. ACT values diversity in people and ideas and participates in E-verify. ACT's online position announcements are intended only to provide general descriptions of employment opportunities; none of the information provided for any position should be interpreted as a commitment by ACT to specific terms and conditions for employment.

Application FAQs