Work at the frontier. Build real skills.
Lab Fellows are undergraduate and graduate students who do real work at the UW Tech Exploration Lab — at the frontier of emerging technology, on problems that matter. There are two paths into a Lab Fellowship.
TEL Lab Fellows
Work inside the Lab. Help others build.
TEL Lab Fellows are the Lab’s internal student hires — paid hourly positions for students who want to run experiments with AI and frontier tools, support Lab operations, and serve as peer mentors across all tracks.
You’ll know what’s happening in the Lab before anyone else, and you’ll help shape how it happens. TEL Lab Fellows are part of a two-tier fellowship structure alongside our graduate-level Leadership Fellows.
Who it’s for: Students already plugged into the Lab — showing up, curious about how it operates, and ready to contribute beyond their own projects.
Applied Innovation & Commercialization Lab Fellows
Go deep on real problems. Build proof of work.
Applied Innovation & Commercialization Lab Fellows work on project-based engagements with industry partners and campus researchers exploring what’s possible with AI and emerging technologies. We’re early-stage by design — structured experimentation, not production development. Low-risk for partners, high-learning for students.
Projects draw from computer science, engineering, design, business, data science, AR/VR, and more. Students commit approximately 8–10 hours per week and are paid a stipend or hourly based on effort and project length.
Industry Innovation — industry partners bring real problems and genuine curiosity. Student teams explore use cases, build early prototypes, and generate insight that helps companies decide whether and how to move forward.
Research & Translational Innovation — researchers bring early-stage ideas with commercial potential. Student teams help answer the question: is there a use case here, and what would it take to get there?
Projects come in on a rolling basis and teams are built based on project needs — not a semester calendar. The students we match most often are the ones we already know from Build Nights and other events and Lab programs. A form tells us your skills. Showing up tells us who you are.
→ We are working on updating our Lab Fellow Interest Form for both Applied Innovation & Commercialization and TEL roles. Check back soon.
While you’re in the pool: come to Open Labs, join a Build Night, participate in Challenges and Hackathons, and attend industry and alumni events. These aren’t just ways to pass the time — they’re how you become someone we think of first.
The best way to stay plugged into events and other things happening in the Lab is to subscribe to our email list, join discord and subscribe to our calendar. You can also email us with questions.