Research Intern in Redmond, WA

Overview

Research Internships at Microsoft offer a dynamic setting for research careers, with a network of world-class research labs led by globally recognized scientists and engineers. They work across many disciplines to tackle complex challenges in computing, healthcare, economics, and the environment.

The Interactive Multimodal Futures (IMF) group at Microsoft Research is looking for a PhD-level Research Intern to work on a project at the intersection of situated interaction, social computing, ubiquitous computing, and human-centered Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems. The project includes multimodal sensing (physiology, speech, gaze, gestures, olfaction/gas, etc.), signal processing, and real-time interaction.

The group's research covers several sub-areas:

• Human-centered AI for affective and social computing and adaptive experiences.
• Situated interaction between humans and AI systems, such as robots deployed in the physical world.
• Conversational AI Agents that are socially and context aware.
• Ubiquitous sensing and ambient intelligence with unobtrusive sensing in the real world.

You will work with IMF researchers to prototype systems, run user studies, develop machine learning models, and explore generative AI for human-AI interaction.

Responsibilities

Research Interns apply inquiry and theory in practice, alongside doctoral candidates and leading researchers. During the 12-week internship, they are paired with mentors, collaborate with other interns and researchers, present findings, and take part in the research community. Internships are available in all areas of research and are offered year-round, though they typically begin in the summer.

Additional Responsibilities

• Design and implement research prototypes for real-time situated and adaptive interaction.
• Explore the latest generative AI techniques for interpreting multimodal interaction, conversation, and behavioral signals.
• Conduct user studies and analyze multimodal data.
• Contribute to publications and share findings with the research community.

Other Requirements

Research Interns must be physically located at their manager's Microsoft worksite for the full internship. Include a cover letter indicating which research topics interest you most and which preferred qualifications you have.

Preferred Qualifications

• 2+ years of research experience using human-centered approaches in HCI, HRI, Machine Learning (ML), Computer Vision (CV), Ubiquitous Computing, or Affective Computing.
• Experience writing peer-reviewed publications.
• Experience with generative AI techniques, ML frameworks (e.g., PyTorch), and real-time interactive systems.
• Strong collaboration and communication skills.
• Conducting human-subjects research.
• Experience implementing research prototypes (frontend, backend, or both).
• Using human-centered design and research methods.
• Familiarity with reinforcement learning or time-series signal processing.
• Working with large datasets (e.g., text, vision, physiology, behavioral).

Sub-area preferences include affective computing and physiological sensing, wearable data collection, situated interaction with real users, real-time conversational AI agents (e.g., OpenAI Realtime API), and ubiquitous sensing with multimodal AI models.

Pay range: USD $6,810 to $13,480 per month. In the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City metro, the range is USD $8,920 to $14,610 per month. Certain roles may also be eligible for benefits. Details are available at the Microsoft intern pay page.

Microsoft accepts applications on an ongoing basis throughout the academic calendar (September to April). The position will remain open for a minimum of 5 days, and applications are accepted until it is filled.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants receive consideration without regard to protected characteristics under applicable law. For accommodation requests, see the Microsoft accessibility page.