Student Programs

Graduate Student Internship Program
Information, Rules and Guidelines

Goals

CMDITR is focused on developing the research and education infrastructure needed to advance the field of organic and hybrid photonics and electronics. In order to advance this rapidly growing field, CMDITR must promote university-industry knowledge transfer as well as prepare the next generation of scientific leaders in this field. To this end, the CMDITR mission statement includes the goal of building a "...better-trained, diverse workforce in the area of materials and devices for information technology." The Graduate Student Industrial Internship Program focuses particular attention on the career development of graduate students whose work contributes vitally to the research enterprise and who will become the next generation of leaders in the field.

Objectives

• Strengthen the Industrial Affiliates Program (IAP) by encouraging the cross-transfer of knowledge and the building of scientific Center-industry collaborations.
• Increase the level of industry and student member participation in the center by building the resume database and providing additional mentoring opportunities for participants.
• Promote valuable career development opportunities for CMDITR students. Internships provide students with an opportunity to experience both the academic and the industrial research environments, increase breadth of knowledge and experience, and expand network building.

Requirements

The sponsoring company will provide compensation for the graduate student no less than the amount equivalent to a full time research assistantship during the course of the internship. The student may also request funds through the sponsoring company to help defray travel costs to and from the location of the internship.

The majority of intern work hours will be spent in research at the level of an advanced graduate student, and must represent a clear educational benefit for the student.

Interns must be provided with at least one hour per week of supervisor contact.

Internships with a duration longer than 6 months for PhD candidates or 3 months for pre-candidates must be pre-approved by both the academic advisor and the CMDITR Director. Furthermore, the internship may not interfere with the student's ability to fulfill institutional requirements without express written approval from the appropriate University official.

The CMDITR Intellectual Property (IP) manager will work with the home institution and the company to guide the appropriate management of IP. We expect that if the student is working on a project completely separate from CMDITR research and if the internship does not involve any use of university resources, then IP developed during the course of the internship will be owned by the company.

Any IP resulting from an intern performing company work using university resources (including student salary), or an intern performing university work using company resources must be reported to the student's home institution, the academic research advisor(s), and the company supervisor(s).

It is desirable (but not necessarily required) for the CMDITR institution(s) and the company to have in place a mutual nondisclosure agreement to facilitate the student's ability to report on her/his research experience during the internship to the home institution.

If a nondisclosure or other confidentiality agreement is needed, the terms of the agreement must be negotiated between the home institution and the company, with approval from the CMDITR IP Manager. The student is required to understand and follow the terms of the confidentiality agreement. If situations arise in which the student feels that his/her ability to fulfill responsibilities to either the CMDITR host institution or the company could be compromised, the student must inform her/his home institution, the company supervisor, and the academic advisor of the potential conflict so that steps may be taken by the appropriate parties to address the potential conflict.

Expectations

After completing the internship, you must provide a report on your internship activities. You may also be asked to complete a survey for the purpose of program assessment.

Questions? Please Contact:

Janelle Leger, Research Associate
University of Washington
Chemistry Building 204L
jmleger@u.washington.edu
206-543-2349