AEM Internships and Co-op Program
Why an Internship?
Internships provide valuable on-the-job experience for students to learn and develop in a professional engineering environment. Students graduate with on-the-job experience making them more valuable to future employers and increases opportunities for more responsible initial career assignments. It provides career perspective that can't be learned in a classroom.
The Internship Program provides students with industrial experience during their junior and senior years. Through the intern program, students gain an understanding of an engineer's role in industry. For future employers, it provides graduates who know what they want in their careers, who are familiar with the environment, and have an understanding of the corporate culture. Internships prepare students by teaching them to work with others as a team, and how to apply classroom knowledge in the real world.
More information can be found on the Internships Job Contacts page and the College of Science and Engineering Career Center site.
What is the Co-op Program?
Qualified AEM students may participate in the CSE Engineering Co-op Program in order to gain valuable work experience while maintaining a full-time-student status and earning elective credits towards their degree.
Completion of the program requires engagement in co-op work over at least two terms, including a summer term.
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Eligibility Criteria
- Applicants must be upper-division AEM majors in good academic standing as determined by the AEM Director of Undergraduate Studies.
- All required coursework through the spring semester of the junior year must be completed before a student can begin their co-op.
- Applicants are required to indicate that they plan to do a co-op when submitting a one-year plan and should not apply for a co-op until the plan has been approved by their faculty advisor.
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Required Coursework
Students admitted to the Engineering Co-op Program are required to register for the courses:
- ME 3041 Industrial Assignment I (2 credits) (first co-op semester)
- ME 4043W Industrial Assignment II (4 credits) (second co-op semester)
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Technical Elective Credits
The 4 credits from the second semester Industrial Assignment course may be applied towards the 9 required technical elective credits for the BAEM degree. Lower division technical elective credits will not be accepted in conjunction with technical elective credits for a co-op.
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Co-op Schedule
Standard option: Students following the standard AEM 4-year plan can complete a co-op in one of two ways.
Option 1: Summer after junior year followed by fall of senior year.
Option 2: Fall of senior year followed by summer after senior year.
In both cases, students will need to take classes in the fall of their fifth year.
Non-standard options: Students who are ahead of schedule with their classes may be able to create their own timelines for doing co-ops. In such cases students will need to contact the AEM Director of Undergraduate Studies for approval of their plan.