Embedded Systems Hardware Co-op Applied Embedded Systems Division​/ELSYS

The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) is the nonprofit, applied research division of the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech).Founded in 1934 as the Engineering Experiment Station, GTRI has grown to more than 2,900 employees, supporting eight laboratories in over 20 locations around the country and performing more than $940 million of problem-solving research annually for government and industry.

GTRI's renowned researchers combine science, engineering, economics, policy, and technical expertise to solve complex problems for the U.S. federal government, state, and industry.

Georgia Tech's mission is to develop leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition. The Institute has nine key values that are foundational to everything we do:

1. Students are our top priority.
2. We strive for excellence.
3. We thrive on diversity.
4. We celebrate collaboration.
5. We champion innovation.
6. We safeguard freedom of inquiry and expression.
7. We nurture the wellbeing of our community.
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Over the next decade, Georgia Tech will become an example of inclusive innovation, a leading technological research university of unmatched scale, relentlessly committed to serving the public good; breaking new ground in addressing the biggest local, national, and global challenges and opportunities of our time; making technology broadly accessible; and developing exceptional, principled leaders from all backgrounds ready to produce novel ideas and create solutions with real human impact.

GTRI's Cooperative Education (“co-op”) program offers you extensive opportunities to participate in diverse scientific and technological endeavors, use state-of-the-art equipment and rapidly improve your technical and leadership skills. The program allows you to alternate three semesters of full-time work at GTRI with semesters of full-time school.

The Electronic Systems Laboratory (ELSYS) is currently seeking Embedded Systems Hardware Co-op Students in the Applied Embedded Systems (AES) Division for Spring 2027.

AES predominantly focuses on the research, development, testing, and deployment of embedded electronic and electromechanical systems. These systems are used for electronic warfare, control, communications, avionics, entertainment, physiological monitoring, and other uses.

This broad range of research will provide a solid foundation for the student as a future embedded systems engineer. The student will work under the guidance of GTRI researchers performing research in one or multiple of the following areas:

• Sensing and processing broad bands of the electromagnetic spectrum including Electronic Warfare Applications
• Technology Insertion efforts porting legacy system functionality to modern FPGA-based designs
• Embedded software development for electronic warfare systems
• Creating a complex electromagnetic environment used to test Aircraft Protection systems
• Digital Signal Processing
• Mechanical Engineering efforts supporting legacy avionics systems reverse engineering and modeling
• Researching and deploying processes, tooling and practices of modern software engineering
• Data engineering, infrastructure and automation
• Open Architecture hardware standards development and prototyping efforts

The student researcher will perform one or more of the following activities:

• Design, prototype, and test embedded hardware circuits (e.g., microcontroller-based boards, sensor interfaces, power regulation, and communication interfaces) using schematic capture and PCB layout tools.
• Bring up and debug new hardware, including programming microcontrollers, verifying power and signal integrity, and validating interfaces (SPI, IC,…