Intern Data Scientist AI/ML

Job Title: 2027 Intern Data Scientist AI/ML

Founded in 1920, Eastman is a global specialty materials company that produces a broad range of products found in items people use every day. With the purpose of enhancing the quality of life in a material way, Eastman works with customers to deliver innovative products and solutions while maintaining a commitment to safety and sustainability. The company’s innovation-driven growth model takes advantage of world-class technology platforms, deep customer engagement, and differentiated application development to grow its leading positions in attractive end markets such as transportation, building and construction, and consumables. As a globally inclusive company, Eastman employs approximately 13,000 people around the world and serves customers in more than 100 countries. The company had 2025 revenue of approximately $8.8 billion and is headquartered in Kingsport, Tennessee, USA. For more information, visit www.eastman.com.

Responsibilities

Data Scientists at Eastman provide actionable insights using advanced analytics to help the company make better and faster decisions. Our centralized Data & Analytics organization includes specialized groups in Applied Statistics, AI/Machine Learning, Operations Research, and Generative AI.

As an AI/ML Data Science Intern, you will apply engineering or scientific domain knowledge, data analysis, machine learning, and software-development practices to meaningful problems in manufacturing, research and development, and business operations. You will work alongside data scientists, chemical engineers, process engineers, chemists, and business partners to explore data, develop models, evaluate results, and communicate practical recommendations.

This internship provides hands-on experience applying AI/ML in a chemical-industry setting. Interns will contribute to active projects while developing an understanding of industrial processes, business needs, responsible AI, and the practical considerations involved in moving an analytical solution toward operational use.

• Support data exploration, cleaning, transformation, visualization, and analysis for manufacturing, R&D, supply-chain, and business applications.
• Assist in developing, testing, and evaluating statistical, machine learning, forecasting, optimization, or computer-vision models using Python.
• Collaborate with technical and business partners to understand the underlying process or business problem, available data, and practical requirements for a solution.
• Help prepare clear documentation, visualizations, presentations, and summaries that communicate methodology, results, limitations, and recommendations to technical and nontechnical audiences.
• Contribute to well-organized, reusable, and documented code using established team practices, including version control.
• Participate in team meetings, technical discussions, code reviews, and knowledge-sharing activities.
• Learn and follow established data-management, cybersecurity, ML governance, and Responsible AI practices.
• Gain exposure to modern enterprise data and ML platforms, such as Databricks, Azure, MLflow, and related development workflows, as applicable to assigned projects.

Qualifications

Required

• Currently pursuing a master’s or doctoral degree in Chemical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Chemistry, Process Control, Computer Science, Data Science, Statistics, Operations Research, or a related technical discipline.
• Expected graduation date before July 1st, 2028.
• Coursework, academic research, internship, co-op, or project experience involving data analysis, statistics, machine learning, optimization, programming, or scientific computing.
• Experience using Python for data analysis, modeling, automation, or technical problem solving.
• Familiarity with common Python libraries such as pandas, NumPy, scikit-learn, matplotlib, plotly, PyTorch, TensorFlow, XGBoost, or similar tools.
• Strong quantitative reasoning and problem-solving skills, with an interest in understanding the real-world technical or operational context behind a problem.
• Ability to communicate clearly, collaborate effectively, and learn from feedback.
• Ability to work in Kingsport, Tennessee, in an in-person or hybrid environment for the duration of the internship.

Preferred

• Pursuit of a degree or prior experience related to chemical manufacturing, process engineering, process control, product development, materials science, laboratory work, plant operations, utilities, or other industrial applications.
• Coursework or experience in time-series analysis, process modeling, optimization, computer vision, experimental design, forecasting, or statistical quality methods.
• Experience using Git, SQL, Jupyter notebooks, APIs, dashboards, or software-development practices.
• Familiarity with cloud computing, Databricks, Azure, Docker, MLflow, or data-engineering concepts.
• Demonstrated interest in applying data science and machine learning to physical systems, manufacturing processes, or scientific and engineering problems.

Location: Kingsport, TN (in-person/hybrid)

Eastman will not accept applicants for this offered position who require visa sponsorship, including those whose status is F-1 visa OPT who subsequently would require ongoing visa sponsorship.

Eastman is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to creating a highly engaged workforce, where everyone can contribute to their fullest potential each day.