Graduate Internships

Internships, whether in industry, government ,or nonprofits, can provide unique experiences and valuable contacts related to later employment. However, students must consider a number of factors in evaluating a potential internship:
 What do you expect to gain (knowledge, experience, contacts, inside track on job)?
 What will the internship require of you in terms of time and commitment?
 What will be the impacts on your progress towards degree?
 What will be the impact on your eligibility for assistantship support?
 Who will pay tuition and benefits during the internship?
 (For international students) How will the internship impact your visa status?

A. Is it an internship? (from the context of an enrolled graduate student).
An internship is an activity, whether paid or unpaid, in an outside organization that will provide professional experience, knowledge and/or qualifications related to professional development.
 The following are not internships (but do require permission-see section C).
 • A research collaboration within the university. Example: a graduate student in Chemistry who conducts research in a lab in Engineering for a half-semester.
 • Travel to another lab or facility for a short-term experience directly related to your research project (for example, travel to a DoE lab or the labs of a collaborator to acquire data or to work with your collaborators).

B. Finding Internships:
As of spring 2019, the UNL Handshake system does not directly access internships. However, Career Services provides general information about internships and may be able to provide you with information about the company or companies involved.
The American Chemical Society search engine for jobs may give you an idea of employers who could offer internships. Many on-line job sites also post internships but we have no experience with these.

C. Support for Internships:
• Companies and organizations may be willing to pay you for your time as an intern. Talk with your advisor and the Graduate Chair before getting too far down this road-please read the next section.
• The NSF INTERN (Non-Academic Research Internships for Graduate Students) program provides supplemental funding opportunities for students in labs that have current NSF. Applications may be submitted at any time but must be submitted no later than May 1 for funding that would involve the current fiscal year (e.g., May 1, 2020 for FY 2020 funds).
• The State of Nebraska INTERN Nebraska program can provide businesses up to 50% of an intern’s wages up to a maximum of $5,000. The applications are limited to professional or technical positions and to full-time students require partnership with a business.
• NUtech Ventures, a nonprofit organization that handles patenting/licensing issues for UNL, has hired Chemistry graduate students as interns.

D. If you are considering an internship:
 1. Talk with your advisor about how the internship would (or would not) assist your professional development and how it would impact your graduate progress. If the internship or equivalent activity, whether paid or unpaid, would cut significantly into the time available for your studies (defined here as six hours a week), you must seek permission from your Supervisory Committee (doctoral students) or Graduate Committee (Master’s students).
  a. Any substantial collaboration in another university lab, whether paid or unpaid, must be discussed in advance with your advisor. If there are differences of opinion regarding the appropriateness of these activities, then the issue must be discussed with the Supervisory Committee (doctoral students) or the Graduate Committee (Master’s students).
 2. Talk with the Graduate Chair. Students supported on an assistantship (TA or RA) must receive permission from the Graduate Committee before beginning any outside employment (any work for which you are paid separate from your assistantship). Failure to secure advance permission for outside employment or exceeding the allowed number of total hours (19.6 hrs/week including the assistantship) may result in loss of your assistantship and disqualification for future support.
 3. There may be need for an agreement as to how tuition and benefits will be funded during the internship. Working out the details of this agreement could require a minimum of several weeks.
 4. International students studying at UNL must consult with the ISSO; a training visa may be required and this may put constraints on the timing of the internship.

E. Timing of Internships:
• The Graduate Committee will rarely approve an internship prior to completion of the RUI (Ph.D. program) or at least two years in a Master’s program; exceptions may be possible when experiences will clearly advance progress towards degree. Doctoral students may be wise to wait until they are candidates. International students will need to pay close attention to requirements of CPT or OPT training visas in considering the timing of internships.
• Academic year vs. summer: Although internships can be arranged during the academic year, the limit on total employment (see above) can complicate the issue of who is responsible for paying tuition and benefits. Along these lines, it should be noted that doctoral candidates on a full-time waiver can register for as little as 1 credit/academic semester. Students who have been supported as full-time assistants (RA or TA) during the previous academic year may be able to register for as few as 2 cr (1 cr for PhD candidates with a waiver) each summer session. Students needing to demonstrate full-time enrollment (e.g., for scholarship or financial aid purposes) will typically need to register for 6 cr over the summer.