IAE Mechanical Engineering Internship - Fall 2026

About the role

SOFWERX is a venue operated under an agreement between USSOCOM and DefenseWERX, designed to increase collaboration and innovation to solve warfighter problems. SOFWERX is a forum for accelerating delivery of innovative capability and facilitating capability refinement through exploration, experimentation, and assessment of promising technology. The internship program is administered by USF Institute of Applied Engineering.

Responsibilities

• Assist the SOFWERX team in mechanical design of various projects, working closely with a small team on multidisciplinary engineering problems.
• Assist with fabrication, assembly, and testing of mechanical systems and components.
• Support engineering evaluations, testing, and data collection activities.
• Aid in prototype integration efforts involving electrical and software engineering teams.
• Conduct technical research and market analysis on emerging technologies and engineering solutions.
• Document engineering findings, test results, and recommendations.

Qualifications

• Pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering at a local accredited University, Junior or Senior level, with a current GPA of 3.0 or above.
• Must be comfortable operating general shop tools.
• Experience with 3D printing and 3D modeling with Solidworks.
• Strong technical and organizational skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• The ability to work in a dynamic, fast-paced, rapidly changing environment.
• Participate in weekly market research and submit minimum required entries for new capabilities, technologies, companies, organizations, etc. that could contribute to the innovative ideas needed to create solutions for the warfighter.