ucla amazon science day photo.jpg
Left to right, Pietro Perona, Amazon Fellow; Prem Natarajan, Alexa AI vice president of Natural Understanding; Leonard Kleinrock, distinguished professor of computer science at UCLA; Jayathi Murthy, the Ronald and Valerie Sugar Dean of UCLA Samueli; Andrea Ghez, Lauren B. Leichtman and Arthur E. Levine Professor of Astrophysics at UCLA; Jens Palsberg, UCLA computer science professor; and Stefano Soatto, vice president for applied science for Amazon Web Services mark the launch of the Science Hub for Humanity and Artificial Intelligence.
Courtesy of UCLA

Amazon and UCLA establish Science Hub for Humanity and AI

The collaboration, Amazon’s first of this type with a public university, will support academic research, education, and outreach efforts in areas of mutual interest around artificial intelligence and its applications to benefit humanity.

Amazon and UCLA today announced the establishment of the Science Hub for Humanity and Artificial Intelligence. The collaboration, Amazon’s first of this type with a public university, will support academic research, education, and outreach efforts in areas of mutual interest around artificial intelligence (AI) and its applications to benefit humanity. Initially, Amazon will provide gift and sponsored research funding to support a combination of research projects and doctoral fellowships on UCLA’s campus.

The hub’s goals are to ensure that AI research and engineering are aimed at addressing humanity’s most pressing challenges, while creating solutions whose benefits are shared broadly across all sectors of society, with particular attention to issues of bias, fairness, accountability, and responsible AI.

The hub, which will be based at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, will engage Amazon scientists and UCLA faculty to jointly identify and solve research challenges, and will support AI research by UCLA faculty and students through an advisory group headed by Jens Palsberg, a UCLA computer science professor. The group will develop, solicit, and select research proposals, and review nominations for fellowship recipients.

The Science Hub for Humanity and Artificial Intelligence will advance AI-related discoveries and deepen our understanding of a discipline that is revolutionizing the way we use and understand modern technology.
Gene Block, UCLA chancellor

“We are delighted to collaborate with Amazon on this effort to examine the future of artificial intelligence and its implications for our world,” said Gene Block, UCLA chancellor. “The Science Hub for Humanity and Artificial Intelligence will advance AI-related discoveries and deepen our understanding of a discipline that is revolutionizing the way we use and understand modern technology.”

The hub is designed to foster the educational mission of the university, so it can best educate the diverse talent needed to sustain the AI revolution in the years to come, in a way that benefits all sectors of society. It will also create opportunities for university researchers, by exposing them to challenging unsolved problems that arise in the diverse array of Amazon businesses,” said Stefano Soatto, vice president for applied science for Amazon Web Services AI. Soatto, who is on leave from his position as a UCLA professor of computer science, has taught at UCLA for more than 20 years. “These collaborations with Amazon scientists can lead to new avenues of academic investigation that expand their research scope. The hub is also designed to enable faculty who think big to realize their vision, if it is not attainable within the resources of their labs.”

Hub funding will include annual fellowships contributing to living and tuition expenses for students in the second, third, or fourth year of a doctoral program within UCLA Samueli. As Amazon Fellows, they will have an opportunity to pursue paid summer internships at the company.

In an effort to expand access to AI research, the hub also will support community and outreach activities, such as symposiums and workshops designed to facilitate networking and collaboration among UCLA and Amazon researchers, and across the Los Angeles metro area.

The new hub represents an extension of Amazon’s commitment to connecting with universities to advance research in AI and other fields of research. The hub also underscores Amazon’s and UCLA’s shared vision of improving access to AI technologies and diversifying the perspectives and practices involved in AI research and technology development.

“Amazon has long been at the forefront of AI breakthroughs, and we are incredibly excited to be working with them,” Jayathi Murthy, the Ronald and Valerie Sugar Dean of UCLA Samueli said. “We will strive to harness the power of AI for the greater good and to provide myriad opportunities for students and faculty alike.”

Amazon Science Day

To mark the launch of the hub, UCLA Samueli held “Amazon Science Day at UCLA,” an event that coincided with the 52nd anniversary of UCLA computer science professor Leonard Kleinrock’s supervision of the first internet transmission from his lab in UCLA’s Boelter Hall to the Stanford Research Institute on Oct. 29, 1969. Kleinrock is now a UCLA distinguished professor of computer science.

The daylong program featured speakers from both institutions including Kleinrock; UCLA astrophysicist Andrea Ghez, winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize in physics; Murthy, and Soatto. Soatto was instrumental in helping Amazon and UCLA establish the collaboration.

Amazon participants included Prem Natarajan, Alexa AI vice president of Natural Understanding; Gerard Medioni, vice president and distinguished scientist; and Pietro Perona, Amazon Fellow for Amazon Web Services Deep Learning.

Amazon in Southern California

The UCLA collaboration builds upon existing relationships Amazon has with several UCLA professors, in addition to Soatto. Ying Nian Wu, a professor in UCLA’s Department of Statistics, joined Amazon as a Scholar in November 2020, and Yizhou Sun, an associate professor at the Department of Computer Science, joined as a Scholar in June. Additionally, Cho-Jui Hsieh, Kai-Wei Chang, and Violet Peng, each of whom is an assistant professor of computer science, are Amazon Visiting Academics.

The collaboration is also intended to foster connections among UCLA academics and Amazon researchers in the Southern California area. Several Amazon research teams are located in the region, including scientists working in artificial intelligence, applied mathematics, machine learning, quantum computing, and computer vision. In just the past few years, Amazon’s presence in Southern California has grown significantly and includes Amazon Studios in Culver City, Prime Video in Santa Monica, just minutes from UCLA, Gaming in Irvine, Alexa Search in Marina del Rey, and Quantum Computing in Pasadena.

In addition, Amazon Air launched a new facility at San Bernardino International Airport, marking Amazon’s seventh air site in California and creating hundreds of jobs. Amazon has invested tens of billions across California, creating more than 150,000 jobs.

In the 2021 cycle, the Science Hub will award funding in foundations of AI and machine learning; fairness, explainability, and accountability in AI; AI for robotics, computer vision, speech, and natural language processing; AI in medicine and biology; and AI in business, law, humanities and art.

Research areas

Related content

GB, London
Are you a MS or PhD student interested in a 2026 internship in the field of machine learning, deep learning, generative AI, large language models and speech technology, robotics, computer vision, optimization, operations research, quantum computing, automated reasoning, or formal methods? If so, we want to hear from you! We are looking for students interested in using a variety of domain expertise to invent, design and implement state-of-the-art solutions for never-before-solved problems. You can find more information about the Amazon Science community as well as our interview process via the links below; https://www.amazon.science/ https://amazon.jobs/content/en/career-programs/university/science https://amazon.jobs/content/en/how-we-hire/university-roles/applied-science Key job responsibilities As an Applied Science Intern, you will own the design and development of end-to-end systems. You’ll have the opportunity to write technical white papers, create roadmaps and drive production level projects that will support Amazon Science. You will work closely with Amazon scientists and other science interns to develop solutions and deploy them into production. You will have the opportunity to design new algorithms, models, or other technical solutions whilst experiencing Amazon’s customer focused culture. The ideal intern must have the ability to work with diverse groups of people and cross-functional teams to solve complex business problems. A day in the life At Amazon, you will grow into the high impact person you know you’re ready to be. Every day will be filled with developing new skills and achieving personal growth. How often can you say that your work changes the world? At Amazon, you’ll say it often. Join us and define tomorrow. Some more benefits of an Amazon Science internship include; • All of our internships offer a competitive stipend/salary • Interns are paired with an experienced manager and mentor(s) • Interns receive invitations to different events such as intern program initiatives or site events • Interns can build their professional and personal network with other Amazon Scientists • Interns can potentially publish work at top tier conferences each year About the team Applicants will be reviewed on a rolling basis and are assigned to teams aligned with their research interests and experience prior to interviews. Start dates are available throughout the year and durations can vary in length from 3-6 months for full time internships. This role may available across multiple locations in the EMEA region (Austria, Estonia, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain, South Africa, UAE, and UK). Please note these are not remote internships.
US, CA, Sunnyvale
The Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) team is looking for a passionate, talented, and inventive Applied Scientist with a strong deep learning background, to build Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) technology with Large Language Models (LLMs) and multimodal systems. Key job responsibilities As an Applied Scientist with the AGI team, you will work with talented peers to support the development of GenAI algorithms and modeling techniques, to advance the state of the art with LLMs. Your work will directly impact our customers in the form of products and services that make use of speech and language technology. You will leverage Amazon’s heterogeneous data sources and large-scale computing resources to accelerate advances in GenAI. About the team The AGI team has a mission to push the envelope with GenAI in LLMs and multimodal systems, in order to provide the best-possible experience for our customers.
US, CA, Pasadena
The Amazon Web Services (AWS) Center for Quantum Computing (CQC) is a multi-disciplinary team of theoretical and experimental physicists, materials scientists, and hardware and software engineers on a mission to develop a fault-tolerant quantum computer. Throughout your internship journey, you'll have access to unparalleled resources, including state-of-the-art computing infrastructure, cutting-edge research papers, and mentorship from industry luminaries. This immersive experience will not only sharpen your technical skills but also cultivate your ability to think critically, communicate effectively, and thrive in a fast-paced, innovative environment where bold ideas are celebrated. Join us at the forefront of applied science, where your contributions will shape the future of Quantum Computing and propel humanity forward. Seize this extraordinary opportunity to learn, grow, and leave an indelible mark on the world of technology. Amazon has positions available for Quantum Research Science and Applied Science Internships in Santa Clara, CA and Pasadena, CA. We are particularly interested in candidates with expertise in any of the following areas: superconducting qubits, cavity/circuit QED, quantum optics, open quantum systems, superconductivity, electromagnetic simulations of superconducting circuits, microwave engineering, benchmarking, quantum error correction, etc. In this role, you will work alongside global experts to develop and implement novel, scalable solutions that advance the state-of-the-art in the areas of quantum computing. You will tackle challenging, groundbreaking research problems, work with leading edge technology, focus on highly targeted customer use-cases, and launch products that solve problems for Amazon customers. The ideal candidate should possess the ability to work collaboratively with diverse groups and cross-functional teams to solve complex business problems. A successful candidate will be a self-starter, comfortable with ambiguity, with strong attention to detail and the ability to thrive in a fast-paced, ever-changing environment. About the team Diverse Experiences AWS values diverse experiences. Even if you do not meet all of the qualifications and skills listed in the job description, we encourage candidates to apply. If your career is just starting, hasn’t followed a traditional path, or includes alternative experiences, don’t let it stop you from applying. Why AWS? Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform. We pioneered cloud computing and never stopped innovating — that’s why customers from the most successful startups to Global 500 companies trust our robust suite of products and services to power their businesses. Inclusive Team Culture Here at AWS, it’s in our nature to learn and be curious. Our employee-led affinity groups foster a culture of inclusion that empower us to be proud of our differences. Ongoing events and learning experiences, including our Conversations on Race and Ethnicity (CORE) and AmazeCon (gender diversity) conferences, inspire us to never stop embracing our uniqueness. Mentorship & Career Growth We’re continuously raising our performance bar as we strive to become Earth’s Best Employer. That’s why you’ll find endless knowledge-sharing, mentorship and other career-advancing resources here to help you develop into a better-rounded professional. Work/Life Balance We value work-life harmony. Achieving success at work should never come at the expense of sacrifices at home, which is why we strive for flexibility as part of our working culture. When we feel supported in the workplace and at home, there’s nothing we can’t achieve in the cloud. Hybrid Work We value innovation and recognize this sometimes requires uninterrupted time to focus on a build. We also value in-person collaboration and time spent face-to-face. Our team affords employees options to work in the office every day or in a flexible, hybrid work model near one of our U.S. Amazon offices.
US, MA, N.reading
Amazon Industrial Robotics is seeking exceptional talent to help develop the next generation of advanced robotics systems that will transform automation at Amazon's scale. We're building revolutionary robotic systems that combine cutting-edge AI, sophisticated control systems, and advanced mechanical design to create adaptable automation solutions capable of working safely alongside humans in dynamic environments. This is a unique opportunity to shape the future of robotics and automation at an unprecedented scale, working with world-class teams pushing the boundaries of what's possible in robotic dexterous manipulation, locomotion, and human-robot interaction. This role presents an opportunity to shape the future of robotics through innovative applications of deep learning and large language models. At Amazon Industrial Robotics we leverage advanced robotics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to solve complex operational challenges at an unprecedented scale. Our fleet of robots operates across hundreds of facilities worldwide, working in sophisticated coordination to fulfill our mission of customer excellence. We are pioneering the development of dexterous manipulation system that: - Enables unprecedented generalization across diverse tasks - Enables contact-rich manipulation in different environments - Seamlessly integrates low-level skills and high-level behaviors - Leverage mechanical intelligence, multi-modal sensor feedback and advanced control techniques. The ideal candidate will contribute to research that bridges the gap between theoretical advancement and practical implementation in robotics. You will be part of a team that's revolutionizing how robots learn, adapt, and interact with their environment. Join us in building the next generation of intelligent robotics systems that will transform the future of automation and human-robot collaboration. Key job responsibilities - Design and implement methods for dexterous manipulation with single and dual arm manipulation - Leverage simulation and real-world data collection to create large datasets for model development - Develop a hierarchical system that combines low-level control with high-level planning - Utilize state-of-the-art manipulation models and optimal control techniques - Collaborate effectively with multi-disciplinary teams to co-design hardware and algorithms for dexterous manipulation
US, MA, N.reading
Amazon Industrial Robotics is seeking exceptional talent to help develop the next generation of advanced robotics systems that will transform automation at Amazon's scale. We're building revolutionary robotic systems that combine cutting-edge AI, sophisticated control systems, and advanced mechanical design to create adaptable automation solutions capable of working safely alongside humans in dynamic environments. This is a unique opportunity to shape the future of robotics and automation at an unprecedented scale, working with world-class teams pushing the boundaries of what's possible in robotic dexterous manipulation, locomotion, and human-robot interaction. This role presents an opportunity to shape the future of robotics through innovative applications of deep learning and large language models. At Amazon Industrial Robotics we leverage advanced robotics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to solve complex operational challenges at an unprecedented scale. Our fleet of robots operates across hundreds of facilities worldwide, working in sophisticated coordination to fulfill our mission of customer excellence. - We are pioneering the development of robotics dexterous hands that: - Enable unprecedented generalization across diverse tasks - Are compliant but at the same time impact resistant - Can enable power grasps with the same reliability as fine dexterity and nonprehensile manipulation - Can naturally cope with the uncertainty of the environment - Leverage mechanical intelligence, multi-modal sensor feedback and advanced control techniques. The ideal candidate will contribute to research that bridges the gap between theoretical advancement and practical implementation in robotics. You will be part of a team that's revolutionizing how robots learn, adapt, and interact with their environment. Join us in building the next generation of intelligent robotics systems that will transform the future of automation and human-robot collaboration. Key job responsibilities - Design and implement novel highly dexterous and reliable robotic dexterous hand morphologies - Develop parallel paths for rapid finger design and prototyping combining different actuation and sensing technologies as well as different finger morphologies - Develop new testing and validation strategies to support fast continuous integration and modularity - Build and test full hand prototypes to validate the performance of the solution - Create hybrid approaches combining different actuation technologies, under-actuation, active and passive compliance - Hand integration into rest of the embodiment - Partner with cross-functional teams to rapidly create new concepts and prototypes - Work with Amazon's robotics engineering and operations teams to grasp their requirements and develop tailored solutions - Document the designs, performance, and validation of the final system
US, CA, San Francisco
The Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) team is looking for a passionate, talented, and inventive Member of Technical Staff with a strong deep learning background, to build industry-leading Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) technology with Large Language Models (LLMs) and multimodal systems. Key job responsibilities As a Member of Technical Staff with the AGI team, you will lead the development of algorithms and modeling techniques, to advance the state of the art with LLMs. You will lead the foundational model development in an applied research role, including model training, dataset design, and pre- and post-training optimization. Your work will directly impact our customers in the form of products and services that make use of GenAI technology. You will leverage Amazon’s heterogeneous data sources and large-scale computing resources to accelerate advances in LLMs. About the team The AGI team has a mission to push the envelope in GenAI with LLMs and multimodal systems, in order to provide the best-possible experience for our customers.
GB, London
Are you a MS or PhD student interested in a 2026 Research Science Internship, where you would be using your experience to initiate the design, development, execution and implementation of scientific research projects? If so, we want to hear from you! Is your research in machine learning, deep learning, automated reasoning, speech, robotics, computer vision, optimization, or quantum computing? If so, we want to hear from you! We are looking for motivated students with research interests in a variety of science domains to build state-of-the-art solutions for never before solved problems You can find more information about the Amazon Science community as well as our interview process via the links below; https://www.amazon.science/ https://amazon.jobs/content/en/career-programs/university/science Key job responsibilities As a Research Science Intern, you will have following key job responsibilities; • Work closely with scientists and engineering teams (position-dependent) • Work on an interdisciplinary team on customer-obsessed research • Design new algorithms, models, or other technical solutions • Experience Amazon's customer-focused culture A day in the life At Amazon, you will grow into the high impact person you know you’re ready to be. Every day will be filled with developing new skills and achieving personal growth. How often can you say that your work changes the world? At Amazon, you’ll say it often. Join us and define tomorrow. Some more benefits of an Amazon Science internship include; • All of our internships offer a competitive stipend/salary • Interns are paired with an experienced manager and mentor(s) • Interns receive invitations to different events such as intern program initiatives or site events • Interns can build their professional and personal network with other Amazon Scientists • Interns can potentially publish work at top tier conferences each year About the team Applicants will be reviewed on a rolling basis and are assigned to teams aligned with their research interests and experience prior to interviews. Start dates are available throughout the year and durations can vary in length from 3-6 months. This role may available across multiple locations in the EMEA region (Austria, Estonia, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain, UAE, and UK). Please note these are not remote internships.
IT, Turin
Are you a MS or PhD student interested in a 2026 internship in the field of machine learning, deep learning, generative AI, large language models, speech technology, robotics, computer vision, optimization, operations research, quantum computing, automated reasoning, or formal methods? If so, we want to hear from you! We are looking for students interested in using a variety of domain expertise to invent, design and implement state-of-the-art solutions for never-before-solved problems. You can find more information about the Amazon Science community as well as our interview process via the links below; https://www.amazon.science/ https://amazon.jobs/content/en/career-programs/university/science https://amazon.jobs/content/en/how-we-hire/university-roles/applied-science Key job responsibilities As an Applied Science Intern, you will own the design and development of end-to-end systems. You’ll have the opportunity to write technical white papers, create roadmaps and drive production level projects that will support Amazon Science. You will work closely with Amazon scientists and other science interns to develop solutions and deploy them into production. You will have the opportunity to design new algorithms, models, or other technical solutions whilst experiencing Amazon’s customer focused culture. The ideal intern must have the ability to work with diverse groups of people and cross-functional teams to solve complex business problems. A day in the life At Amazon, you will grow into the high impact person you know you’re ready to be. Every day will be filled with developing new skills and achieving personal growth. How often can you say that your work changes the world? At Amazon, you’ll say it often. Join us and define tomorrow. Some more benefits of an Amazon Science internship include; • All of our internships offer a competitive stipend/salary • Interns are paired with an experienced manager and mentor(s) • Interns receive invitations to different events such as intern program initiatives or site events • Interns can build their professional and personal network with other Amazon Scientists • Interns can potentially publish work at top tier conferences each year About the team Applicants will be reviewed on a rolling basis and are assigned to teams aligned with their research interests and experience prior to interviews. Start dates are available throughout the year and durations can vary in length from 3-6 months for full time internships. This role may available across multiple locations in the EMEA region (Austria, Estonia, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain, South Africa, UAE, and UK). Please note these are not remote internships.
US, WA, Redmond
Amazon Leo is Amazon’s low Earth orbit satellite broadband network. Its mission is to deliver fast, reliable internet to customers and communities around the world, and we’ve designed the system with the capacity, flexibility, and performance to serve a wide range of customers, from individual households to schools, hospitals, businesses, government agencies, and other organizations operating in locations without reliable connectivity. Export Control Requirement: Due to applicable export control laws and regulations, candidates must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (i.e., current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum. We are searching for a senior manager with expertise in the spaceflight aerospace engineering domain of Flight Dynamics, including Mission Design of LEO Constellations, Trajectory, Maneuver Planning, and Navigation. This role will be responsible for the research and development of core spaceflight algorithms that enable the Amazon Leo mission. This role will manage the team responsible for designing and developing flight dynamics innovations for evolving constellation mission needs. Key job responsibilities This position requires expertise in simulation and analysis of astrodynamics models and spaceflight trajectories. This position requires demonstrated achievement in managing technology research portfolios. A strong candidate will have demonstrated achievement in managing spaceflight engineering Guidance, Navigation, and Control teams for full mission lifecycle including design, prototype development and deployment, and operations. Working with the Leo Flight Dynamics Research Science team, you will manage, guide, and direct staff to: • Implement high fidelity modeling techniques for analysis and simulation of large constellation concepts. • Develop algorithms for station-keeping and constellation maintenance. • Perform analysis in support of multi-disciplinary trades within the Amazon Leo team. • Formulate solutions to address collision avoidance and conjunction assessment challenges. • Develop the Leo ground system’s evolving Flight Dynamics System functional requirements. • Work closely with GNC engineers to manage on-orbit performance and develop flight dynamics operations processes About the team The Flight Dynamics Research Science team is staffed with subject matter experts of various areas within the Flight Dynamics domain. It also includes a growing Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) team.
LU, Luxembourg
Are you a MS student interested in a 2026 internship in the field of machine learning, deep learning, generative AI, large language models and speech technology, robotics, computer vision, optimization, operations research, quantum computing, automated reasoning, or formal methods? If so, we want to hear from you! We are looking for a customer obsessed Data Scientist Intern who can innovate in a business environment, building and deploying machine learning models to drive step-change innovation and scale it to the EU/worldwide. If this describes you, come and join our Data Science teams at Amazon for an exciting internship opportunity. If you are insatiably curious and always want to learn more, then you’ve come to the right place. You can find more information about the Amazon Science community as well as our interview process via the links below; https://www.amazon.science/ https://amazon.jobs/content/en/career-programs/university/science Key job responsibilities As a Data Science Intern, you will have following key job responsibilities: • Work closely with scientists and engineers to architect and develop new algorithms to implement scientific solutions for Amazon problems. • Work on an interdisciplinary team on customer-obsessed research • Experience Amazon's customer-focused culture • Create and Deliver Machine Learning projects that can be quickly applied starting locally and scaled to EU/worldwide • Build and deploy Machine Learning models using large data-sets and cloud technology. • Create and share with audiences of varying levels technical papers and presentations • Define metrics and design algorithms to estimate customer satisfaction and engagement A day in the life At Amazon, you will grow into the high impact person you know you’re ready to be. Every day will be filled with developing new skills and achieving personal growth. How often can you say that your work changes the world? At Amazon, you’ll say it often. Join us and define tomorrow. Some more benefits of an Amazon Science internship include; • All of our internships offer a competitive stipend/salary • Interns are paired with an experienced manager and mentor(s) • Interns receive invitations to different events such as intern program initiatives or site events • Interns can build their professional and personal network with other Amazon Scientists • Interns can potentially publish work at top tier conferences each year About the team Applicants will be reviewed on a rolling basis and are assigned to teams aligned with their research interests and experience prior to interviews. Start dates are available throughout the year and durations can vary in length from 3-6 months for full time internships. This role may available across multiple locations in the EMEA region (Austria, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain and the UK). Please note these are not remote internships.