The Department encourages graduate students in all of its Masters and PhD programs to do internships.

The internships can be in industrial or in regulatory agency settings, e.g., Food and Drug Administration.

The Department does not directly endorse or arrange these internships and experiential learning opportunities. However, faculty will frequently forward information regarding internships to the student list-serve. Students should follow-up and make the necessary arrangements on their own.

Students should have completed a substantive amount of graduate course work and conducted some research under the guidance of their dissertation or project advisor before doing an internship as these will better prepare the student for the internship.

Students should obtain approval from their dissertation or project advisor prior to taking up an internship. Students should complete the internship form, obtain their dissertation or project advisor’s signature and turn in the form to the Departmental Office. The Departmental Office will place the form in the student’s file.

A student should not do more than one internship during the duration of a given degree program. Even a single internship will likely delay academic progression toward the degree.  Doing more than one internship could delay the academic progression toward the degree further. Students should avoid internships during the school year.

Some PhD students who are receiving stipends from an industrial collaboration may be required to spend a certain amount of time conducting a research project at the sponsor site.

The departmental PhD stipend will be suspended during the period of the internship.

International students should consult with International Students Services well in advance of the internship to ensure compliance with the conditions of their visas.