Internship - Multi-Modal Sensing and Understanding

merl; Cambridge (MA); On-site; USD 67,000 - 89,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation stipend

Travel to MERL covered

Charlie Card for local commuting

Weekly research talks and professional

Health insurance after 90-day waiting

Job summary

MERL's Computational Sensing team is seeking a highly motivated intern to conduct fundamental research on multi-modal sensing and understanding algorithms that can understand, explain, and act on multi-sensor data (e.g., RF, infrared, LiDAR, event camera).

Ideal candidates will bridge state-of-the-art perception with higher-level semantic understanding and reasoning, contribute to experiments using MERL’s testbeds, and work toward results suitable for patents and publication.

Qualifications

• Experience with RF, infrared, LiDAR, and event-camera data.
• Experience with transformer-based and diffusion-based frameworks.
• Text, visual, and multimodal semantic understanding experience.
• Experience with open large-scale multi-sensor datasets (e.g., nuScenes, Waymo).
• Proficiency in Python and deep learning frameworks (PyTorch/JAX); GPU clustering and data pipelines.
• Proven publication record in top venues.

Responsibilities

• Conduct fundamental research on multi-modal sensing algorithms.
• Bridge perception with semantic understanding and reasoning.
• Design experiments using MERL’s in-house testbeds and develop novel approaches.
• Prepare results for patents and publication.

Skills

Multimodal sensing

Python

Deep learning

Transformer models

Research publications

Multimodal reasoning

Tools

PyTorch

JAX

CUDA

GPU clusters

Job description

The Computational Sensing team at MERL is seeking a highly motivated intern to conduct fundamental research on multi-modal sensing and understanding-algorithms that can understand, explain, and act on multi-sensor data (e.g., RF, infrared, LiDAR, event camera). Ideal candidates will be comfortable bridging state-of-the-art perception (detection/segmentation/tracking) with higher-level semantic understanding and reasoning capabilities. Experience with text, visual, and multimodal reasoning is a plus. The intern will work closely with MERL researchers to develop novel algorithms, design experiments using MERL’s in-house testbeds, and prepare results for patents and publication. The internship is expected to last 3 months, with a flexible start date.

Required Specific Experience

• Expertise in physical sensing across RF (radar, UWB, Wi‑Fi), infrared, LiDAR, and event‑camera modalities. Experienced with radar systems and concepts including FMCW and MIMO configurations, Doppler signature interpretation, radar point cloud and heatmap representations, and raw ADC waveforms;
• Solid understanding of state‑of‑the‑art transformer-based (e.g., DETR) and diffusion‑based (e.g., DiffusionDet) frameworks;
• Demonstrated work in text-, visual-, and multimodal semantic understanding and reasoning.
• Hands‑on experience with open large‑scale multi‑sensor datasets (e.g., nuScenes, Waymo Open Dataset, Argoverse) and open radar datasets (e.g., MMVR, HIBER, RT‑Pose, K‑Radar).
• Proficiency in Python and deep learning frameworks (PyTorch/JAX), plus experience with GPU cluster job scheduling and scalable data pipelines.
• Proven publication record in top‑tier venues such as CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, NeurIPS, ICLR, ICML (or equivalent).

The pay range for this internship position will be 6-8K per month.

Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs, Inc. "MERL" provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetics. In addition to federal law requirements, MERL complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

MERL expressly prohibits any form of workplace harassment based on race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran status. Improper interference with the ability of MERL's employees to perform their job duties may result in discipline up to and including discharge.

Working at MERL requires full authorization to work in the U.S and access to technology, software and other information that is subject to governmental access control restrictions, due to export controls. Employment is conditioned on continued full authorization to work in the U.S and the availability of government authorization for the release of these items, which might include without limitation, obtaining an export license or other documentation. MERL may delay commencement of employment, rescind an offer of employment, terminate employment, and/or modify job responsibilities, compensation, benefits, and/or access to MERL facilities and information systems, as MERL deems appropriate, to ensure practical compliance with applicable employment law and government access control restrictions.

Benefits and Compensation

• relocation stipend
• covered travel to and from MERL
• monthly Charlie Card for local commuting
• weekly social gatherings and professional development opportunities, including research talks by both internal and external speakers
• health insurance coverage after 90-day waiting period
• immigration support for qualified candidates as needed

Employment is considered "at-will", and the Company reserves the right to modify base salary or any other compensation program at any time, including for reasons related to individual performance, departmental or Company performance, and market conditions.