Aeronautics Drone Internship Summer 2025

Position Summary

MassDOT’s Aeronautics Division is searching for an Intern to support the MassDOT Drone Program. This role will work alongside stakeholders in MassDOT Aeronautics, MassDOT Highway, and the MBTA, and will work directly with Drone Program leadership to address and develop unmanned aircraft system (UAS, or “drone”) projects supporting transportation use cases.  The Aeronautics Division is the Commonwealth lead to evaluate the utility of drones across MassDOT and other Commonwealth agencies, and is developing the policy, procedures, and operational best practices for the team to use drones to realize cost savings, optimize data quality, improve safety, and increase timeliness of business operations within MassDOT and the MBTA. This is a Summer internship that runs from June through August. Opportunities exist for interns both to support the operational development of drone use cases - exploring how data collected by drones can meet immediate MassDOT and MBTA needs, as well as to help develop data solutions to more efficiently ingest and analyze drone-collected data, and disseminate final data products to end users.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Assist in the planning, implementation, execution, and evaluation of pilot programs to demonstrate how drones can contribute to existing MassDOT and MBTA use cases.
• Work with Highway personnel to determine how drone data can supplement design and construction projects.
• Work with rail personnel to determine how drone data can supplement regular rail inspections.
• Work with Aeronautics personnel to develop the workflow and to process data sets for using drones to survey obstructions at airport.
• Track an entire drone project from initial drone request to final dissemination of data products, and suggest process improvement based on feedback from the end users.
• Work with Drone Team data analysts to evaluate the process for ingesting, saving, securing, analyzing, and disseminating drone collected data and data products.
• Investigate how to integrate geospatial information systems (GIS) and artificial intelligence (AI) applications to transportation use cases. Example projects could include automatically tagging vegetation along railroad tracks using multi-spectral imaging data, or training AI algorithms to identify features that require more detailed inspection.

• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to work effectively in a small and collaborative team environment.
• Demonstrated aptitude in written and verbal communication.
• Desire to innovate and think creatively.
• Critical thinking and problem-solving abilities.
• Excellent analytical skills.
• Knowledge of GIS applications or imagery analysis tools.
• For data position\: knowledge of artificial intelligence tools or database management a plus.
• Proficiency in all Microsoft Office applications, especially Excel, and in virtual collaborative tools such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom, etc.
• Experience and interest in transit or transportation infrastructure a plus.
• Experience flying drones a plus, but not required.
• Enrolled in a related Undergraduate or Graduate degree program such as Aeronautical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Aviation Planning, Public Administration, Computer Engineering, Cyber Security, Drone Technology, Project Management, etc. 
• Graduate student preferred.
• This internship may require travel to the 10 Park Plaza, Boston, MA location. The operational position may require travel to project sites across the Commonwealth.

About MassDOT

The 4,000+ employees of Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) takes great pride in connecting the Commonwealth’s residents and communities. MassDOT is responsible for developing, implementing, and coordinating transportation policies and projects for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and to efficiently plan, design, construct, and maintain a safe statewide transportation system which effectively meets the transportation needs of the Commonwealth. Information about MassDOT’s inclusive culture and career opportunities can be found at mass.gov/massdot-careers.

MassDOT’s divisions include\: Highway, Registry of Motor Vehicles, Aeronautics, and Rail & Transit. Headquarters (Planning & Enterprise Services) provides business and administrative support and policy leadership for each of the four (4) divisions.