Internships

We have developed relationships with various local companies and strongly encourage students to do internships with them to prepare for entering the workforce. 

CBE students outside 3M Manufacturing.

An ideal time to do an internship is the summer between your junior and senior years, although many students also do them during the fall or spring semester. Some companies offer internships to sophomores as well. Internships are a great professional experience, and they look very attractive on your resume. Based on their positive experience with a student, companies often offer permanent jobs to interns before they graduate. It is essentially impossible to overstate how valuable the direct hands-on experience afforded by an internship can be.

Aside from the money earned, you can also receive course credit for an internship. The procedure is to register for 3 credits of CE 496 Internship/Practicum for the semester or summer during which you carry out the work. Together with your industrial supervisor, you must fill out a form specifying the project goals and work to be performed in advance. This form is available from the Internship Coordinator, and must be signed by both this person and the Director of Undergraduate Studies. No CE 496 credit is given retroactively for work performed earlier at a company. The advantage of getting course credit for an internship is that (3 credits of) CE 496 satisfies the requirements for one CE Technical Elective.

Internships are valuable experiences whether or not you sign up for CE 496 credit and use the internship as one of your CE Technical Electives. Students who choose this option sometimes prefer to do the internship during the fall or spring semester (usually during their senior year) in order to avoid paying summer tuition (required for summer registration in CE 496).

To get started, contact Marlo Roetzer, CBE Academic Advisor.