MISTI Ukraine

Past Internships

MISTI Ukraine organizes internships during the summer break and over IAP for students across a range of disciplines to support critical needs in Ukraine.  Here is a sampling of internships completed through MISTI Ukraine over the past two years since the program's inception:

• Aid logistics: Three students, including seasoned US veterans and reservists, worked with the Kyiv Engineering Corps (Warsaw, Poland), on optimizing aid distribution logistics to the Ukrainian front-line zones. The project aimed to make delivery of critical supplies more efficient and timely, thus saving more lives and alleviating suffering.
• Refugee support: One student worked on a research project (Belgrade, Serbia), that aimed to identify issues faced by Ukrainian refugees in Europe; Europe is currently sheltering millions of Ukrainian refugees. Two students developed and taught interactive STEM curriculum for children at refugee centers in Europe (Helsinki, Finland; Vilnius, Lithuania).
• Economic development: One student worked remotely at the Kyiv School of Economics on a project aiming to identify success strategies employed by prominent Ukrainian businesses in the context of war and create an online support program for Ukrainian businesses. Another student worked with MIT faculty and other Ukrainian and international experts on developing funding strategies for Ukraine’s post-war economic recovery.
• Housing for internally displaced: Five DUSP and Architecture students worked over IAP and summers (Zurich, Switzerland; Rotterdam and the Hague, the Netherlands; and remotely) with different community-based organizations in Ukraine that design and build housing for families who have lost their homes due to Russian shelling. One of these organizations works to repurpose abandoned or damaged building for new housing, and another - on building a brand new housing community to house 25,000 residents.
• Scientific diaspora: Six students have worked remotely over the span of one semester on creating an online platform for displaced Ukrainian scientists; the platform aims at creating a research community and a network of support for the Ukrainian scholars around the world. One student worked over the summer to complete and help launch the site.
• Leadership development: Six different students worked on implementing the Ukraine Leadership and Technology Academy (ULTA), through which they taught and mentored 20 rigorously-selected Ukrainian high school students.  Interns traveled to Barcelona, Spain, in 2023 and Warsaw, Poland, in 2024, as well as mentored students remotely over AY 2023-2024 to complete the educational program.
• Strategic industries: One student worked with Ukraine's Ministry of Strategic Industries (Warsaw, Poland) towards improvement of operational efficiency of state-owned enterprises in strategic industries, and developed collaboration projects between Ukraine's government and private companies.

2026 Opportunities

Resilient Communication & Autonomy of Field Robots

Overview: Autonomous systems used for critical applications increasingly require robust communication in degraded environments and reliable access to key components. This project leverages Taiwan’s world-leading AI electronics ecosystem to  accelerate the prototyping of next-generation, AI-first systems suitable for challenging conditions.  Two internship positions for the summer in Taipei, Taiwan:

1. This internship will focus on developing jam-resistant, layered, and adaptive communication architectures for autonomous field robots, including Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) and Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs) with the goal of ensuring persistent connectivity in degraded or contested environments 
2. Contemporary robotic systems face critical vulnerabilities in their supply chains. Current dependencies on components of limited origins pose strategic risks, especially for critical infrastructure and operations. Through this internship, students will prototype, (re)integrate, and evaluate relevant communication, navigation, and control modules for UGV/USV platform with trusted partners in Taiwan, Japan, and other friendly nations

Preferred Qualifications:

• Seeking advanced students, 3rd year+ undergraduate, SM, MEng and PhD candidates
• Experience in electronics, electrical/mechanical engineering, signal processing, wireless communications, etc.

• Courses: MechE, EECS, AeroAstro, CSAIL, LIDS, Physics, Mathematics, Media Lab, etc.

   

Digital Frontlines: Uncovering Russian Propaganda with AI-assisted Mixed Method Research

Overview: AI-driven analysis of Russian visual propaganda on Ukrainian Telegram, focusing on MLLMs, data pipelines, and feature engineering to study identity impact and virality. Hands-on, global research in Taipei, Taiwan.

• Research on how the media content of Russian IOs spreads on Ukrainian Telegram channels and how it impacts people's sense of identity.

• Internship will focus specifically on visual media—its rhetoric, participatory reproduction, and the role of bots—to understand how propaganda spreads across different channels and what makes certain messages more viral than others

   

Digital Democracy: Mastodon & Decentralized Social Network Pilots

Overview: In Ukraine, Telegram has become a critical source of news during the war with Russia. However, it is also prone to the spread of Russian propaganda and remains at the center of a complex, unresolved relationship with Ukrainian society, which continues to rely on it. This internship will entail research to explore the development of core components and strategies to facilitate potential user migration from Telegram to a healthier media and communication environment.  The internship will take place in Taipei, Taiwan, and will include the following:

• Identifying effective practices in media content and community management
• Testing new content moderation method on Mastodon communities or in simulations with AI agent

• Improving the context-inclusion and interoperability of content moderation information

   

Reconstruction and development

• Various research projects in urban planning, architecture, organizational development for an organization designing a brand-new 25,000-unit housing community the internally displaced persons - summer internship in the Netherlands or Italy (TBA)
• Various research and feasibility study projects for an organization repurposing used and imperfect materials sourced from European countries to refurbish abandoned dorms for IDP housing - summer internship, remote or a European location (TBD)
• Research projects on the reconstruction and development of efficient, carbon-neutral water distribution systems in Mykolaiv, Ukraine - summer internship in Berlin, Germany

Education enrichment for Ukrainian youth

• Summer camp STEM education enrichment for refugee children at the Ukrainian Center (possible additional opportunities for research at the Vytautas Magnus University) - summer internship in Vilnius, Lithuania

   

Logistics optimization

• Software development for optimizing logistical routes for Ukrainian companies, as well as developing a ridesharing software for Ukrainian refugee families (additional opportunities to volunteer at the refugee center for Ukrainian youth, and participate entrepreneurship workshop at the US Embassy) - summer internship in Ljubljana, Slovenia

Cultural diplomacy research

• Academic research on cultural diplomacy, including the effects of international song competitions, Eurovision (additional opportunities to volunteer at the refugee centers teaching English) - summer internship in Prague, Czechia

Civil defense

• Several possible projects entailing research on land demining technology for the reconstruction of Ukrainian agriculture, and aerial drone detection - European location (TBD)

   

Please contact MISTI Ukraine Program Manager Svitlana Krasynska for more information.

If you are taking a class in the fall or spring with an applied project component that you think might benefit a Ukrainian cause, please contact us to discuss!

How to Apply

Applications for Summer 2025 can be found on the MISTI Portal. First, begin by filling out your Launchpad Application and meeting with the Program Coordinator by February1. 

How to Apply