---
title: 'Summer Intern - Metallurgy and Chemistry at Kunin Technologies'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/summer-intern-metallurgy-and-chemistry-kunin-technologies-chattanooga-hp54hxchvhgf'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-14'
---

# Summer Intern - Metallurgy and Chemistry at Kunin Technologies

- **Company:** Kunin Technologies
- **Location:** Chattanooga, TN
- **Employment:** internship
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-10-13
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-14
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/kunin/dedbeeaf-423b-4490-9572-f7c7653d6170

## Job description

## WHO WE ARE

Kunin Technologies is revolutionizing the critical mineral supply chain by implementing advanced separation technologies to capture value from overlooked resources. Metals are everywhere, in solar panels, smartphones, electric vehicles, but as ore grades plummet globally, traditional extraction methods are failing. China dominates critical minerals markets by developing superior separation technologies that extract value from materials American mines discard as waste. Utilizing Kunin Technologies' breakthrough mass manufacturable nano-separation systems, significantly more value can be produced from each resource, reducing waste, and unlocking metal abundance. To achieve metal abundance, humanity must bring separation science down its own Moore’s Law: fix the idiot cost index for micro and nano scale separation materials. This requires mass manufacturing novel ion-exchange media form factors which previously struggled from high costs.

## THE ROLE

Kunin's research team in Chattanooga develops the flowsheets that recover critical metals from dilute and complex feeds, and the chemistry of the ion-exchange media that makes those flowsheets work. Both run on experiments: leach and separation tests on real feeds, and organic synthesis of the functional groups that give the media its selectivity. You join the research team for the summer on one of two tracks. Metallurgy: flowsheet development, running leach, precipitation and ion-exchange experiments on candidate resources, closing mass balances and recommending process routes. Chemistry: organic synthesis of selective ligands and functional monomers, their attachment to the media, and characterization of the result. By the end of the summer we expect a documented experimental campaign with a flowsheet recommendation or a synthesized and tested functional chemistry that the team takes forward.

## RESPONSIBILITIES

- Plan and run bench experiments: leaching, solvent extraction and ion-exchange tests on your track, or multi-step organic syntheses and media functionalization.
- Analyze samples by ICP-OES, titration, NMR, FTIR or other techniques as appropriate, and keep complete laboratory records.
- Build mass balances and flowsheet options from experimental data, or characterize ligand loading and selectivity.
- Present results weekly to the research team and write a final technical report.
- Maintain safe handling of acids, oxidants, solvents and air-sensitive reagents.

## QUALIFICATIONS AND PREFERRED SKILLS

- Undergraduate or graduate student in metallurgical engineering, extractive metallurgy, chemistry or chemical engineering, graduating 2027 or 2028.
- Experimentalist fluent in wet-chemistry laboratory technique; organic synthesis experience (Schlenk technique, purification, NMR interpretation) for the chemistry track.
- Comfortable with mass balances, speciation and solution chemistry; exposure to hydrometallurgy preferred for the metallurgy track.
- Careful record keeper; comfortable with spreadsheets and laboratory data systems.
- Ability to work in fast paced and demanding atmosphere.
- Team player who takes ownership of shared equipment and keeps the laboratory safe and organized.

## ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

- Position located in Chattanooga, Tennessee for the summer of 2027 (approximately 12 weeks, start date flexible).
- Extended hours during critical project phases.
- Strong performers will be considered for a full-time position at Kunin upon graduation.

Chattanooga is more beautiful than expected, and Tennessee has no income tax. "The Whole World Is Ion-Exchange And The Rest Are Merely Details!" Dr. Robert Kunin of Rohm and Haas, The Pioneer of the Ion-Exchange Industry, 1951

## About Kunin Technologies

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Kunin Technologies develops modular ion-exchange equipment to recover critical minerals from U.S. mining waste streams, helping mines unlock byproduct metals.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Early-stage, pre-revenue)
- **Headquarters**: Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States
- **Founded**: 2025
- **Founders**: Daniel Rau (CEO)

## Core Business
- Primary industry/industries: Critical mineral extraction, mining technology, industrial process engineering
- Target customers: U.S. mining operations (B2B, Industrial/Enterprise), particularly mines that produce copper, lithium, or other primary metals and want to recover secondary byproducts like gallium, germanium, scandium, rhenium, and vanadium
- Mission or purpose statement: “Bringing mining back to America” by recovering trillions of dollars in stranded critical minerals from existing mining waste

## Products & Services
- **Modular Ion-Exchange Skids**: Pre-assembled, prefabricated treatment trains that use proven ion-exchange resin technology (invented by the company’s namesake, Robert Kunin, during the Manhattan Project) to separate target metals from mining wastewater and tailings streams.
- **Byproduct Financing & Asset Ownership Model**: Kunin helps mine owners finance critical mineral byproduct assets, sharing upside from recovered metals that would otherwise be lost.
- **Multiphysics Digital Twins & Process Controls**: Automated optimization systems that maximize metal capture rates and speed of recovery for each specific mining operation.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed (early-stage startup)
- **Key Metric**: Small team of ~2-6 employees (as of mid-2026); active hiring spree with 4 open positions
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Tied into Department of Energy projects; selected by the DOE Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation to restart domestic primary gallium recovery; based at Brickyard in Chattanooga
- **Growth Signals**: Selected for DOE critical minerals program; reports its technology can uplift mine revenue by 10–30% over 10 years; U.S. mining industry facing critical supply shortages due to Chinese export restrictions on gallium, germanium, and other metals — creating massive tailwind for its market

## Competitive Advantages
- **Proven Chemistry, Novel Form Factor**: Uses ion-exchange resin chemistry with decades of in-field operating experience — no new material science required. The innovation is in the modular form factor and automated process controls, which dramatically reduce cost.
- **Vertically Integrated**: Kunin is America’s only vertically integrated ion-exchange technology developer, covering design, manufacturing, deployment, and financing.
- **Strategic Positioning**: Headquarters in Chattanooga strategically near Vanderbilt, Georgia Tech, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory — all hubs for engineering talent.
- **Massive Addressable Market**: Estimates over $3 trillion in stranded critical minerals across U.S. mining waste that are currently not recovered.

## Strategic Focus
- Moving from pilot-scale demonstration to full production and deployment across the United States
- Scaling manufacturing to apply a lithium-ion battery-style learning curve to skidded system costs
- Building automated process controls for optimized metal recovery at existing mine sites
- Helping restore U.S. competitiveness in critical mineral production amid geopolitical supply chain disruptions

## Why Work Here
- **High-Impact Mission**: Directly contribute to U.S. critical mineral independence, domestic manufacturing, and national security — with measurable environmental benefit by recovering metals from existing waste rather than new mining
- **Tiny Team, Huge Ownership**: Currently 2-6 people; new hires (titles include “Damn Good Engineer,” Senior Scientist, Hydrometallurgist, Mechanical Lead) will have outsized influence on technology and company trajectory
- **Engineering-First Culture**: Emphasis on chemical process engineering, mechanical design, and multiphysics simulation — building real hardware that goes into the ground
- **Location**: Chattanooga, Tennessee — lower cost of living with proximity to top engineering universities and DOE national labs
- **EY: Remote/Hybrid/Office**: Likely onsite/hybrid given the hardware and lab focus; careers page does not specify remote options
- **Backed by DOE**: Credibility from federal selection for critical mineral recovery projects
- **Growth Trajectory**: Active hiring spree signals company is scaling from R&D toward deployment — early-stage equity opportunity

## Sources
1. [kunin.tech](https://www.kunin.tech/)
2. [Jobs.ashbyhq.com/kunin](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/kunin)
3. [Hypepotamus](https://hypepotamus.com/startup-news/kunin-technologies-critical-minerals-mining-waste/)
4. [LinkedIn - Kunin](https://www.linkedin.com/company/kunin)

## Other roles at Kunin Technologies

- [VP of Manufacturing](https://feeny.ai/job/vp-of-manufacturing-kunin-technologies-chattanooga-krky86pgqk1e) — Chattanooga, TN
- [Controls Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/controls-engineer-kunin-technologies-chattanooga-gtcd05qbsryh) — Chattanooga, TN
- [Mechanical Engineer - Facilities](https://feeny.ai/job/mechanical-engineer-facilities-kunin-technologies-chattanooga-4311d8fth3vk) — Chattanooga, TN
- [Facilities Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/facilities-engineer-kunin-technologies-chattanooga-kngfhyk8e3nb) — Chattanooga, TN
- [Chemical Process Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/chemical-process-engineer-kunin-technologies-chattanooga-hfzfqwf7fcbv) — Chattanooga, TN
- [Summer Intern - Engineering](https://feeny.ai/job/summer-intern-engineering-kunin-technologies-chattanooga-9ph7kzpmmwez) — Chattanooga, TN
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- [Head of Finance](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-finance-kunin-technologies-chattanooga-xf4jt96dx6w7) — Chattanooga, TN
- [Director of Government Relations](https://feeny.ai/job/director-of-government-relations-kunin-technologies-washington-39361rcv1yfm) — Washington, DC
- [Chief of Staff](https://feeny.ai/job/chief-of-staff-kunin-technologies-chattanooga-mzv1r77zcqkv) — Chattanooga, TN